On Wedneday 19, Air-France KLM Group, Europe's largest airline, withdrew from negotiations to buy the state-owned company Czech Airlines (CSA). The front page of Hospodářské Noviny leads with the headline "CSA: failed deal." The report in the daily points out that Czech authorities have already turned down offers from Aeroflot and the Odien investment group. As result, there is only one remaining potential buyer, the consortium formed by Unimex and Travel Service. The duo may be able to gain control of the 91.5% of CSA's capital without having to bid against the competition. In an editorial, the business daily emphasizes that "from the outset this privatization has been an attempt to sell a company that is relatively unattractive" in a period of financial crisis.
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.