Poland risks open conflict with the European Commission over the signing of a gas imports contract with Russia scheduled for 29 October, leads Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. EU energy commissioner Günther Oettinger has asked Warsaw to send the agreement by 28 October to decide whether it complies with EU law, the daily reports. The Commission wants to allay fears that the deal, which increases Polish gas imports from Russia from 7.45 to 10.27 billion cubic metres annually until 2022, could restrict access for other operators to the Polish leg of the pipeline, in breach of EU rules. The Polish government has so far refused to comply on the grounds that this is a bilateral agreement. "The European Commission should not demand the details of the contract as they are confidential," industry expert Andrzej Szczęśniak told the daily.
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.