I Kathimerini, 14 October 2010
"Repatriation attracts migrants" headlines the English edition of Kathimerini, reporting that an EU financed scheme to encourage illegal immigrants to return home voluntarily has proved more popular than expected. More than 1,300 applications have been lodged with International Organization for Migration (IOM) administered programme, launched at the beginning of this year with the aim to repatriate 450 migrants. Three hundred have already been repatriated at a cost of 1,300 euros each. Nearly half of the 630 applicants were Afghans, 299 Pakistanis, and 89 Syrians. Most of the them wish to return home because they can't find work.
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.