“ECB fears on Irish bank bill,” leads the Irish Times. In a report signed off by ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank has expressed “serious concerns” about Ireland’s controversial Credit Institutions (Stabilisation) Bill, passed in parliament on 15 December. The emergency legislation gives Ireland’s Minister of Finance Brian Lenihan sweeping powers until 2012 to reorganise Ireland’s crippled banking sector, including “the power to overrule shareholders, sack directors, impose losses on bondholders and transfer loans and deposits out of Irish banks.” The ECB is fearful of the risks involved in providing liquidity to Irish banks and is concerned that the bill could infringe on its own rights. “The most recent data show Irish banks having €136 billion in loans outstanding from the ECB – a quarter of the total in the euro zone”, the Dublin daily notes.
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.