"Polish Government: no prospects for joining the eurozone in 2012", announces Rzeczpospolita in Warsaw. In August, the government will present a new road map for euro adoption, says Ludwik Kotecki, deputy finance minister responsible for the European currency. Hopes for an earlier entry to the euro zone were raised in May by Finance Minister Jacek Rostkowski, who suggested that the earlier date was still realistic in an interview with “The Financial Times.” According to Kotecki, the delay has been caused by Poland’s economy deteriorating as a result of the global crisis. Poland currently does not meet the Maastricht criteria required for euro adoption. Analysts predict that Poland may adopt the euro in 2014 at the earliest, Rzeczpospolita says.
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.