“Europeans are liberal, anxious and don't trust politics,” reports the Guardian, opening a month-long “New Europe” series of reports from the continent, with the aim, according to the London daily editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger, “to get to know our neighbours better.” A poll commissioned by the Guardian in five EU states – Britain, France, Germany, Poland and Spain – reveals a continent “confident in its liberal values and still mostly committed to EU institutions” but also mistrustful of its leaders. “Only 6% of people across Europe say they have a great deal of trust in their government, 46% say they have not very much and 32% none at all. Only 9% of Europeans think their politicians – in opposition or in power – act with honesty and integrity.” Economic worries are also a concern – “Overall, 40% of those polled think their economy will get worse over the next 12 months, against 20% who think it will improve.” Despite the gloomy outlook, EU states using the euro wish to keep it. “Spain (71%) is keenest, followed by France (60%). But a majority of Germans (59%) also want to keep the euro despite national concern about the Greek bailout.”
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.