“A crisis presidency’, headlines Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, worried about possible fallout over the arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn on charges of attempted rape. According to the Warsaw daily, lack of visibility in the financial markets (no decision on continued aid for Greece, the question of Strauss-Kahn’s possible successor) may “thwart the Polish presidency’s plans”. Furthermore, Greek bankruptcy, a foregone conclusion for certain IMF experts, will mean that “all other EU issues will be pushed into the background”, according to Hugo Brady at London’s Centre for European Reform. Echoing such sentiments is DGP columnist Andrzej Talaga, who writes that “in July we may be in the middle of a fundamental debate on the future of the EU that will reduce the [Polish] presidency and its goals to an insignificant episode”. Hence, in order to make progress in areas such as the Eastern Partnership or energy security, Warsaw should make sure it has Germany’s backing, because “as the number one donor for the European weaklings, Berlin will have the greatest say in the debate”.
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.