Gadaffi’s second Roman holiday
Muammar Gadaffi is back in Rome, and he's getting himself noticed, quips L'Unità. As during his controversial 2009 visit, the Libyan leader came with the usual retinue of female body guards, pitched his bedouin tent in the ambassador's garden and held a meeting with 500 girls – paid 70€ each by a hostess agency – reportedly converting three of them to the true faith. "Islam should be the religion of the whole of Europe", he is reported to have said, prompting the anger of Catholics in the government and embarassing his close friend Silvio Berlusconi, who commented "It's just folklore". Deeper controversies remain about the Bengasi agreement, whose second anniversary Gadaffi came to celebrate. Besides its infamous anti-immigration clauses and hefty compensation for the Italy’s occupation of the North African country in the first half of the 20th century, the deal is accused of opening the doors to Libyan capital penetration in Italy and contributes to the "mercantilistic drift" of its foreign policy", complains MP Matteo Mecacci.
As Greece pimps its ancient monuments to bring in the tourists, lovers of cultural heritage are up in arms. But the country is only doing openly what the whole of Europe is: looting historic sites to drum up more ready cash. 
Asserting national values is central to the political project of the Hungarian PM. Since the start of the year, fifteen paintings, specially commissioned for an exhibition in the Castle of Buda, have been putting this ambition on show. 
The game has gone on for nearly two years: Athens pretends to comply with the demands of its creditors and partners, and they pretend to believe in Greece’s commitments. As the spectre of default comes nearer, however, the Greek bluff cannot go on much longer, writes an El Mundo editorialist.