"Lenihan delays €10bn bank boost until after election," headlines the Irish Times. With the rescue bill for Ireland’s zombie banks already a staggering €50 billion euros, Ireland’s outgoing finance minister has announced that another cash injection is due, but only after the 25 February general election. Just two weeks ahead of a poll which should see his ruling Fianna Fail party – widely blamed for Ireland’s economic disaster – obliterated, Mr Lenihan handed on what must be a poisoned chalice to the incoming government. Blaming the delay on the collapse of the government on 21 January, and insisting that the EU, the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB) approved, Mr Lenihan said, “I am following constitutional practice. It would be different if the Government hadn’t lost its majority.” The €10 billion is “to be sourced from the National Pension Reserve Fund,” 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.