If the double defeat in local elections and in referendums fuelled doubts about whether the Berlusconi government could hang onto its majority, the annual meeting of the Northern League in Pontida, near Bergamo, has confirmed that crisis is shaking the coalition. League activists have challenged the alliance with Berlusconi, and party leaders are setting a high price for their continued support, demanding the transfer of some ministries to the north, cuts in taxes and withdrawal from the conflict in Libya. Italy, notes the Corriere della Sera, is beginning to join in with the challenges to austerity and military action that are spreading across Europe. Columnist Antonio Polito compares “the green Pontida crowd” to “the angry Greeks,” adding that “what brings us closer to Greece is that if we crash, if we help to break up Europe and the euro, we’ll be losers too.” On June 21, Berlusconi is scheduled to negotiate with his allies in an attempt to ensure that his parliamentary majority still exists. Meanwhile, notes La Repubblica, the credit agency Moody's is threatening to cut the rating of many key Italian assets.
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.