"There is nothing wrong with Belgium," announces Herman Van Rompuy on the front page of Le Soir. In the country which has been without a government since the general election six months ago, the daily remarks that "weeks of negotiations, tensions, hopes and disappointments" have failed to bear fruit, and proposes a solution: the widespread adoption of the "Van Rompuy attitude." Unlike other leading figures in Belgian politics, the President of the European Council tends to restrict his public statements to a "few words, which are worth their weight in gold." He was also one of the key players that enabled Belgium to make a success of its EU presidency, which turned out to be better than expected. "The Belgian political crisis was good news for Europe!" notes Le Soir. With national politics restricted to the management of ongoing matters, Yves Leterme’s outgoing government was able to devote itself to European issues "and to get through a lot of work in just six months."
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.