"Fillon, the hyper-Prime Minister," headlines La Tribune, in the wake of the government reshuffle orchestrated by "hyper-president" Nicolas Sarkozy. The business daily emphasises Fillon’s vice-like grip on the post of prime minister and his complementarity with Sarkozy. Libération explains that after eight months of suspense and hemming and hawing, the reshuffle – first announced in March – "has turned out to be a political damp squib." There are very few new faces, "and continuity has taken precedence over change." For the left-wing daily, the initiative also "amounts to an end to the policy of openness [to left wingers such as former Minister of Foreign affairs Bernard Kouchner] and a closing of ranks to a team of staunch right-wingers ahead of the 2012 elections – in short it is a cabinet designed for the campaign trail rather than government."
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.