On Wednesday 2 June, the European Commission announced that it wants credit rating agencies to be regulated by the new European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched in 2009, reports Le Soir. The Brussels daily notes that the agencies, including the industry leaders – US-based Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, and the Anglo-American Fitch – "have come under fire since December for their role in the eurozone crisis." The new authority "will have exclusive supervisory power over ratings agencies registered in the EU" and that includes subsidiaries of non-European agencies. It will also have a mandate "to demand information, open investigations and conduct on-site inspections." The European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier, "who aims to go further," is "campaigning for the creation of a European ratings agency, which would counterbalance the 'Anglo-Saxon' monopoly in the sector," adds Le Soir. The Commission's proposals will be debated at the next European Council meeting on 17 June.
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.