Barroso, the fireman who got there late
To perfect the “Stabilisation Mechanism” set up by the EU 27 on 9 May, the European Commission suggests Brussels vet member state master budgets before they are reviewed by national parliament. This prospect, reports Le Monde, has "annoyed some and angered others[…].Appointing an overseer is light years from the intelligent coordination we need”, editorialises the Parisian daily. "First of all, the president of the European Commission is in no position to suggest anything of the sort. Barroso was absent and as though paralysed by the 2008 financial crisis, the 2009 recession and the Greek debt crisis in 2010: he’s the fireman who got there late.” Ultimately, concludes Le Monde, "and this is the main thing, this initiative once again shows Europe’s democracy deficit. Re-elected to head the Commission a few months ago by the heads of state – whom he does not overshadow by any stretch of the imagination – Barroso doesn’t seem to have learned anything since the European Constitution went belly-flop in 2005".
In a time of crisis with high unemployment, young Lithuanians are following in the footsteps of their emigrant ancestors. Tens of thousands have left the country in search of a better life, mainly in the British Isles and Scandinavia. The weekly Veidas reports: 
The new Eurogroup meeting on February 9 is not enough to banish the spectre of a Greek bankruptcy. While Athens may largely be responsible for the crisis, the EU and its partners are not blameless themselves. La Stampa argues that their confused messages and the absence of any strategy have transformed a resolvable problem into an explosive chaos. 
Two camps, two theories, and two visions of France: 18 years after the massacre of 800,000 Tutsis, the precise role played by Paris is still the subject of heated debate, fueled by the findings of successive criminal investigations.