Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV, far right) has made a breakthrough: chances are it will jump from 0 to 4 seats (out of the 25 seats assigned to The Netherlands). Though the PVV still lags behind the Christian Democrats (5 seats), it is the only party to boast such a spectacular surge. For De Volkskrant, “the populist PVV is the party that has benefited most from the wave of Euro-criticism […]. This is a distressing development because The Netherlands cannot do without Europe.” The newspaper blames the country’s political leaders, who “have failed to convince voters of the utility of the European Parliament”. Trouw, on the other hand, takes the total number of seats into account and finds that “the most pro-European parties, the Democrats 66 and The Greens, have also made a great deal of headway” (advancing from 1 to 3 and 2 to 3 seats, respectively]. If this year’s voter turnout is roughly on a par with the 2004 showing, it will be “considerably higher than in the 1990s”: in fact, concludes Trouw, “Europe is more present […] in the hearts and minds of the Dutch”.
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.