The Economist, 9 July 2010
“Can anything perk up Europe?” wonders the front page of The Economist. Over the past 18 months of economic and political crises, the EU “seems a diminished force in the world,” the London business weekly opines. Harking back to the European Commission presidency of “brilliant and irascible French politician” Jacques Delors, The Economist argues that the Union’s leaders must seize the chance of completing his initiatives, “freeing its economy and setting up the single market. By boosting economic growth the EU could ease its political difficulties and help its citizens. At the moment EU leaders are putting their effort into cutting spending: if only they were to add a dose of 1992-style reform.”
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.