Mladá Fronta DNES, 25 October 2010
"A left-wing Senate. But what will it change?" wonders the front page of Mladá Fronta DNES, in the wake of the second round of elections to the Czech Senate. In fact, "not much," concludes the daily: even if the Social Democratic Party now has a majority (41 from a total of 81 seats) in the upper house of parliament, "its chances of effectively thwarting the government" – the centre-right coalition which is preparing to introduce austerity measures – "remain limited." As the Prague newspaper explains, the senate "has no hope of blocking reforms if they are supported by a solid majority in the lower house." But it will be able to delay the “painful” measures by several few weeks.
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.