Público, 11 May 2011
"Euribor rise punishes interest rate Portugal will pay EU", headlines Público, adding that the interest rate varying between 5.5 and 6 percent, is higher than Ireland’s. The rate was announced on May 10 by Commissioner Olli Rehn after the European Commission validated the Portuguese financial aid programme. The Lisbon daily notes that the exact value will be established by European finance ministers on 16 May, when the whole package is expected to be approved. Correio da Manhã, another Portuguese daily, adds that Brussels will garner an annual 1.3 billion euro profit on 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.