"The protesters weren't a bunch of reactionaries, neither were they acting under the orders of bishops", writes the conservative daily ABC, in the wake of the 17 October rally in Madrid. A demonstration against the changing of the 1985 abortion law, which involved hundreds of thousand of people (250,000 according to police, 1.2 million according to organizers). Controversy over abortion has engulfed Spain ever since the government tabled its reform plan, including authorizing girls over 16 to terminate their pregnancies without their parents' knowledge, as well as introducing abortion on demand before 14 weeks. According to El Mundo, debate over the reform is marked by "an absence of a search for consensus", yielding "a partial law, unacceptable for millions of Spaniards", which explains why the head of the government, José Luis Zapatero, "must heed to the hue and cry in the streets and conclude agreements, so that the greatest majority of the country's citizens feel close to this law". El Pais expresses surprise at the "massive presence of leaders from the right-wing opposition at the protest, and the "amnesia" they demonstrate, after failing to modfiy the law during the eight years they were in power.
The leader of Greece’s leftist alliance SYRIZA is the new bright hope of Greek politics. Steering a course between pragmatism and the rhetoric of class warfare, he has unsettled Berlin, and not just those who back Angela Merkel's austerity policies. 
Europe’s economic woes have forced us to try to understand the secret Olympian world of global finance. But now that we pay more attention to bond yields and stability mechanisms, isn’t it clear that the experts up on their lofty peaks don’t know what’s going on either? 
This year’s Eurovision Song Contest is hosted by Azerbaijan, a country that is far from being a model democracy. An Estonian journalist takes a critical look at the deferential treatment enjoyed by the regime in Baku.