After the death by hunger strike of Cuban dissident Orlando Zapata on 23 February, relations between the EU and Havana are at a low, leads El Mundo. The Spanish EU presidency, which had initially intended to sign “a political, commercial and even humanitarian agreement” with the Castrist regime, now believes that “the atmosphere is not appropriate”. Spanish minister of Foreign Affairs, Miguel Angel Moratinos has declared that the Union’s 1996 common position calling for a democratic transition and dialogue with dissidents will no longer be “modified or eliminated” when it comes up for review by EU foreign ministers in June. El Mundo also reports that the European Parliament’s has passed a resolution condemning “by a very large majority” Zapata’s death and lack of democratic progress. Havana has retaliated by cancelling a meeting with EU’s representatives in Madrid, the Madrid daily concludes.
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.