"Barbara and her husband have spent the last two decades issuing solemn warnings: stop immigration, do not trust Muslims, outlaw minarets, save the family, ban homosexuality, expel feminists, and stay German!” notes Profil, in a special biographical feature on Barbara Rosenkranz. The presidential candidate for the extreme-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), who is often referred to as “the iron lady of the vineyards,” could find herself in a two-horse race against the outgoing head of state, social democrat Heinz Fischer. To date, no other candidates have gathered the necessary 6,000 signatures to participate in the 25 April election, and the March 26 deadline for the submissions is now less than three weeks away. Polls predict that the stonewalling mother of ten children (all named after figures from German mythology), and owner of a German shepherd called “Greif” (Catch), will take 28% of the vote.
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.