The second of nine regional elections to be held in Germany in 2011 was expected to be a major test for Angela Merkel’s government. However, the electorate in Saxony-Anhalt finally granted another four-year mandate to the CDU (Christian Democrat) and SPD (Social Democrat), that garnered 33% and 22% respectively. In its editorial, Tageszeitung remarks on the unshakeable position of the “eternal grand coalition,” in an election where there was no real winner but a definite loser in the shape of the extreme-right NPD, which did not obtain the requisite 5% of the vote needed to occupy seats in the regional parliament. The alternative daily further laments the CDU and SPD’s refusal to govern with Die Linke, a political grouping partly descended from the Communist Party that ruled the ex-GDR, second placed with a score of 24%. “No matter who wins, the CDU and the SPD continue to hold power with an eternal grand coalition which is harmful to political culture,” insists TAZ.
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.