The current financial crisis is not confined to economies, writes former Romanian finance minister Daniel Daianu. The erosion of the middle class, the spread of extremism and the threat to democracy are some of the more obvious social effects demanding attention. [Danish version added]

The dark warnings of the Polish finance minister about the prospect of war in Europe if the crisis deepens were met with scepticism. But there is no call for complacency about where current, nationalist tendencies might lead, writes the editor of "Adevarul Europa". [Danish version added]

There urgently needs to be an increase on the 0.05 per cent available in the current EU budget for funding cultural experimentation around common European concerns. The "We are more!" campaign wants to see this deficit corrected in the next EU budget from 2014 to 2020.

Is the return of Serbian nationalism to be dismissed as domestic political point-scoring in an election year, or does it pose a deeper threat to the region? And will Russia step in as the rift with the EU over Kosovo deepens? Slavenka Drakulic considers the possibilities.

Salman Rushdie had to back out of attending the 2012 Jaipur Literature Festival because of an assassination threat against him. The lack of support for Rushdie shows that the defence of free speech is no longer seen as an irrevocable duty, writes Kenan Malik.

Democracy, humanism and diversity have little to do with a "European inheritance". Yet EU cultural policy instrumentalizes cultural heritage to promote common identity. This narrative bias needs to be challenged, says Erik Hammar.

"Osteuropa" analyses Hungarian politics in upheaval; the "Dublin Review of Books" says together, small EU-states are strong; "Reset" asks Napolitano what Einaudi would have done; "Le Monde diplomatique" (Oslo) goes deep into debt; "dérive" inspects the foundations of Red Vienna; "Esprit" says home-owning is not the solution to the French housing crisis; and "Studija" urges western art critics to get past Cold War clichés.

Hungary's new constitution contradicts European standards on numerous counts: it sets in stone government policy; it is biased towards "ethnic" Hungarians; and it undermines the independence of regulatory institutions including the constitutional court and media.

In a "New Year's appeal", thirteen intellectuals and public figures who opposed Hungary's communist regime in the 1970s outline their concerns about Hungary's new constitution and call on Europe to help halt a slide towards a new dictatorship.

Abortion is still illegal in a number of EU countries and LGBT people are publicly harassed. The conservatives of Europe favour policies that limit sexual and reproductive freedom. What are progressives doing about this? asks Anna Hellgren.

The "Dublin Review of Books" has joined the Eurozine network. A free online journal of ideas, the DRB publishes review-essays on Irish questions as well as issues of Europe's literary and cultural heritage and the future of its institutions and forms of government.

Ireland, like other small EU member-states, must be especially smart in responding to the euro crisis, since it does not command the resources that better enable larger states to protect their interests. How coherent has the Irish approach been so far and are the alternatives more convincing?

The euro will be brought down by a European Tea Party-type movement, predicts Björn Elmbrant. But the EU has a role to play beyond the euro. Instead of a neoliberal politics of austerity we need a Marshall plan for Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

How was it possible in too many post-communist countries that incredible riches accumulated in the hands of the parasitic few? Why is political power so often fused with wealth? Two philosophers search for an answer as to what went wrong in the post-communist world after 1989. [Russian version added]

"New Humanist" predicts religion might be Romney's downfall; "Mittelweg 36" wants more justice through more Europe; "Merkur" seeks guidance in founding principles; "La Revue nouvelle" reports on a big day for democracy in Belgium; "Osteuropa" finds European standards wanting in Croatian history books; "Magyar Lettre" exposes the Belarusian blind spot in Milosz's native realm; and "The Hungarian Quarterly" talks to László Krasznahorkai about God, the world and (the end of) literature.

Religion isn't the most important factor in the Republican primaries, but it's always there. Abby Ohlheiser explains the religious calculus in Republican politics and why the "Mormon question" might turn out to be Mitt Romney's undoing.

Hungarian South Slav folk band Söndörgö's "delicate, transparent" sound derives from the tambura, a mandolin-like instrument that is plucked and strummed, and is very different to the elegiac music of Transylvanian folk, writes Simon Broughton.

Having become the European hegemon against its will, Germany must now act as a moderating power and gauge diverging interests and powers within the EU, argues Christoph Schönberger.

The EU shouldn't be surprised by the Tymoshenko verdict: its support of anything nominally reformist has been perceived as acceptance of a range of repressions. Tough measures are now needed to prevent another authoritarian state forming on the EU's borders. [German version added]

The discontent fuelling the Arab revolutions has its roots in a western politics of divide and rule, argues Gérard Khoury. Will democratically elected Arab leaders break with the past, or will new repressive regimes emerge sustained by western complicity?