Público, 13 October 2010
Portugal has been elected a temporary member of the UN Security Council “with a record number of votes”, applauds the Lisbon daily Público. Süddeutsche Zeitung observes that Germany, which has also been handed a seat on the Council, “will have a say in the next global policy chapter of the years to come”. The two countries were selected for a two-year stint by the UN General Assembly on 12 October. The Munich daily notes that both countries initially were pitted once against the other for a single seat. MEP Martin Schulz complained, “Germany and Portugal have put themselves in confrontational positions”, which goes to show “once again that the EU doesn’t speak with one voice”.
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.