"State embarks on shock therapy," headlines România liberă, in the wake of yesterday's announcement by President Traian Basescu of austerity measures designed to cut Romania's budget deficit and prevent a Greek style economic meltdown in the country. In contrast to the package proposed by the International Monetary Fund – based on a tax and VAT increase – the government's plan focuses on massive cuts to public sector salaries (-25%) and pensions (-15%), and unemployment benefit (- 15%) to be introduced as of 1 June. The cuts will also be accompanied by the mass lay-off of close to 140,000 civil servants before the end of the 2010. România liberă notes that "the head of state and the governor of the National Bank of Romania held their own in negotiations with representatives of the IMF, overcoming their distrust with a semblance of confidence," however, socialist politicians and trade unions have deplored the Greek style measures as "genocide".
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. 