Rzeczpospolita, 15 September 2010
“An autumn wave of strikes”, headlines Rzeczpospolita on a series of demonstrations planned by Poland’s two largest union organisations, OPZZ and Solidarity. The daily notes that as in Greece, France and Spain, the protests are fuelled mainly by economic factors. Over the next fortnight, Polish miners, railway workers, firemen and even tax officials are all expected to take to the streets to show their discontent. “It shouldn’t be the case that all over Europe employees are being made to bear the brunt of the crisis, rather than those who are actually responsible for it”, a union leader explained.
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.