Latin America "wants Europe to give it a chance", leads El País, on the occasion of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean summit opening on 17 May in Madrid. The region “has consolidated democracy and avoided the global economic crisis”, writes the Spanish daily, noting that Central American states are poised to enjoy better trading relations with the EU as of 19 May, and that Mercosur, the South American trading bloc that includes Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, is hoping to conclude a free trade agreement. With China set to become the second largest investor in the region after the US by 2020, this is an unprecedented opportunity for Spain’s EU presidency to press forward on negociations, El País argues. Otherwise, "the chance will be lost forever”. Mercosur now has the world’s fifth highest GDP, with Brazil having risen to the status of a global power in recent years, concludes the daily.
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.