In the wake of the funeral of Nicolae Ceauşescu’s "court poet," România liberă explains "how Adrian Păunescu became a hero" and looks back on the controversy that surrounded the author who died on 5 November, aged 67. A prolific writer who produced more than 50 books and founded "Cenaclul Flacăra" – “Flame Circle,” which was one of the major social and artistic movements of the communist era, and a key influence on Romanian youth in the 1970s and 1980s – Păunescu was ostracised following the 1989 revolution. However, he later recovered sufficient popularity to run for the Socialist Labour Party in the 1996 presidential election. He "is still viewed as a hero by the man in the street," notes România liberă, although "intellectuals continue to question his integrity and the literary value of his 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.