<p>It could be a breath of fresh air in a region gone stale. Greece's new prime minister, George Papandreou, will bring new initiatives and energy to some apparently intractable problems in southeastern Europe.</p>

<p>It seems paradoxical: Across Europe, the economic crisis has been blamed on greedy bankers and excessive deregulation. You'd expect the Left to benefit, but it hasn't. Yet even as analysts call the death of socialism in Europe, Greeks have voted their Socialsts into power.</p>

<p>Germans get on with their elections in a very matter-of-fact way and the day after the vote,&nbsp;there's a very back-to-normal air about Berlin.&nbsp;For Mrs Merkel, there is a new centre-right coalition to form, and many commentators are wondering whether we'll now see more of the Angela Merkel that we saw in the 2005 election campaign.</p>