The Greek crisis may have drastic consequences for the autonomy of Eurozone countries. European Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn wants to intervene in national budgetary policy in member states to prevent a repeat of the Athens debacle, reports Financial Times Deutschland. On 14 April, the Commission will consider a proposal for "control of the amount and development of public spending," which will effectively transform the meeting of European finance ministers, Euro Group, "into a supervisory council." The Hamburg daily warns that the plan, which aims to profit from the lessons of "economic imbalances that contributed to the Greek crisis," will not be welcomed with open arms by member states who will be anxious to safeguard full control of their budgets in line with the terms of the Maastricht Treaty.
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.