On the occasion of "his first official encounter with President Dmitri Medvedev" at the EU-Russia summit, "the new permanent President of the European Union did not mince his words with regard to the issue of human rights in Russia," reports Le Figaro. Herman Van Rompuy notably spoke of the climate of impunity that reigns in Chechnya and the North Caucasus. It was "a short but scathing declaration," which destabilised the Russian delegates and took Commission President José Manuel Barroso, "who remained silent on the issue", by surprise. Le Soir, however, notes that the President of the European Council appeared to be "overwhelmed by the event," where he read "a prepared speech before silently returning to his seat." At the same time, Catherine Ashton, the head of Europe's diplomatic service was nowhere to be seen. The Brussels daily quotes a Russian diplomat who remarked with an ironic smile that the new European leadership "is still being broken in."
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.