In order to finance its policies, "Brussels foresees a European tax", headlines the Financial Times Deutschland, following budget commissioner Janusz Lewandowski's announcing his intention to submit several options to the twenty-seven member states come September. Among them: taxes on plane flights, financial transactions and on the revenues from the auction of CO2 emissions credits. It is an "explosive proposition", considers the FTD, since most of the member states have recently expressed hostility to such measures. But confronted by the depressing state of public coffers in this time of austerity, more than one finance minister could be tempted by the idea of transferring such contributions directly to EU operations, which would be less costly – for taxpayers.
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.