Communication routes are cut off and destruction is visible everywhere. The torrential rains that killed at least 43 people over the weekend have left Madeira in a state of havoc. To foot the upcoming bill for the reconstruction of the Portuguese island, “the EU is placing no limit on financial aid”, announces Diário de Notícias. The exceptional nature of the disaster already entitles the island to €75 million in emergency aid from the EU Solidarity Fund, though it could well be more, explains the Lisbon daily. "This fund is used in cases of massive damage equivalent to €3 billion or 6% of the GNP of the country concerned. In the event of a regional disaster, there is no such value threshold,” adds MEP Graça Carvalho. Público hopes the reconstruction will establish new town and country planning regulations on the island, where development along the river banks and the desertification of the mountains have aggravated the effects of the rain.
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.