The Der Spiegel headline has sent shockwaves across Germany: “Killing links Left to the Stasi – The truth about the shot that changed West Germany.” Over the last few days, controversy has erupted over a historical detail that may transform perceptions of modern Germany. It has now been revealed that Karl-Heinz Kurras, the policeman who shot dead a student protester, Benno Ohnesorg, in West Berlin on 2 June, 1967, was a Stasi ("Staatssicherheit," or East German secret service) agent and a member of the ruling East German SED party. The death of Ohnesorg proved to be a turning point in the radicalization of the 1968 student protests. This latest revelation “will require us to revise our understanding of recent history,” reports the weekly magazine.

The policeman, whom the supporters of the ’68 movement have long believed to be an incarnation of the oppressive power wielded by the West German government was in fact motivated by socialist beliefs. Today saw the emergence of many questions in the German press: Did the Stasi attempt to radicalize the student protest movement? Or even more improbably: Was the 1968 movement the unwitting instrument of an East German attempt to undermine the government of its western neighbour? There is no evidence to prove that Karl-Heinz Kurras was following Stasi orders. “But this major date in history, which had come to symbolize the dawning of a new Germany with more democracy, more women’s rights and more freedom, has now been tainted with sinister Stasi associations,” reports Der Spiegel.

After three weeks of relentless campaigning, “a quarrel has erupted over the question of Turkey,” reports Le Monde. Several candidates have accused President Nicolas Sarkozy of indulging in doublespeak when he reaffirmed his opposition to the inclusion of Turkey in the EU. President Sarkozy officiated at the opening of two stages of accession negotiations with Turkey, when he was EU President in 2008. “The UMP (Union for a Popular Movement, President Sarkozy’s party) is fighting back, obviously delighted with the opportunity to raise such a divisive issue," says Le Monde.

The other major campaign theme is the current economic crisis — which tops the list of concerns expressed by France’s voters. Individual candidates are interpreting this in their own way: François Bayrou of the centrist MoDem (Movement for Democracy) criticized Nicolas Sarkozy and José Manuel Barroso for failing to establish a plan for European recovery, the sovereigntist Philippe de Villiers demanded an end to “unregulated free-market economics” with more national powers for member states, while the pro-European parties are insisting that member states “are better off in a united Europe.” In short, the main question seems to be: Is Europe a safeguard or a threat?” As for the idea that the vote on June 7 will be influenced by a desire to punish the current French government, Le Monde noted that “the UMP campaign’s ardent defence of the president’s record in office has made opposition to Sarkozy one of the most common campaign topics."

The  re-election of Horst Köhler as German President on 24 May, has been hailed as proud moment by the Romanian and Moldavian media. Cotidianul reports that the triumph of the Christian-Democrat, who defeated Social-Democrat rival Gesine Schwan, would give his party “a major boost in the run-up to legislative elections set to take place this year.”

But party politics play only a small part in the enthusiasm expressed by the Bucharest daily. The report’s main focus was on the Romanian and Moldavian background of the 66-year-old ex-director of the International Monetary Fund, whose mother came from Brasov, a town in central Romania. Koehler  himself was born in what is now the Republic of Moldova, in a region that used to known as Bessarabia. According to Cotidianul, “His family lived in Moldavia until the end of WWII.” “The German from Bessarabia,” as he is dubbed by the Romanian daily, recently referred to the topic of his background when he spoke to an audience of Moldavian students: “I am a Moldavian German from Bessarabia. In 1939, when Hitler and Stalin divided up Europe, my ancestors had to choose Russian citizenship or return to their country of origin. My parents opted to leave Moldavia, but I am still very  attached to this country."

In Britain, there is “no passion for Europe for Europe's sake,” writes Will Hutton in The Observer. Even the Labour party campaigns on the slogan "Make the EU work for Britain", with the inference that it usually works against it. It might be less surprising that the Conservative party is hostile to Brussels. Now, however, that David Cameron’s party will choose not to sit with the centre-right grouping in the future European Parliament but “with a rag bag of east European MEPs with less than progressive attitudes towards gypsies, homosexuals and Jews,” Britain’s participation in the union might even be trivialised.

Cameron wishes to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. A No would be “a European suicide note” argues Hutton. “26 other countries are not going to spend another three years ratifying another treaty amended to meet David Cameron's and his party's prejudices.”

As a pro-European, however, Hutton wonders whether this wouldn't be better for Europe. Living outside the union as the eurosceptics want  - “creating a politically diminished Britain fit for hedge funds, tax-avoiders and asset-strippers - is likely to convince the British majority that the option is a disaster.”

A Europe without Britain, he argues, could well deepen the EU and empower the European Parliament. In 25 years, he predicts, an impoverished, embittered country would seek readmittance. “Reality will have imposed political maturity. And elections for the European Parliament will be much more serious.”