Europe is united in support of the Czech Republic and aims to force Canada to back down. On 14 July, Ottawa decided to impose a visa requirement for citizens of the Czech Republic, in the wake of an upsurge in asylum claims, many of which were filed by Roma migrants. At a meeting in Brussels on 27 July, Europe's foreign ministers expressed their solidarity for a fellow member of the EU, reports Hospodárské Noviny. "The contention that the Czech Republic or any other EU state is exporting political refugees is in direct contradiction to the founding principles of the Union," said Italy's Franco Frattini, for whom anti-Roma discrimination did not constitute sufficient grounds for an asylum claim. The Prague business daily also notes that the foreign ministers did not discuss a possible retaliatory measure, which would impose a visa requirement on all Canadians entering the EU.
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.