Público June 8, 2009.
In Portugal, Público leads with the headline “Left-Wing Roses Withered.” In the home country of European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, the socialist-left currently in office won only 26% of the vote, while the right-wing opposition, which is Barroso’s group, won 31%. The daily further deplores lukewarm support for the Left across Europe, insisting that “gains made by the Right are a loss for Europe.” Público blames a failure to emphasize Europe, “which was largely absent from campaign,” and the fact that “most voters stayed away from the polls.”
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.