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The Friday Five Editor-in-chief picks her favourite stories of the week. Dear reader, We’ve always tried to be transparent over the past 26 years. When things got tough, we didn’t hide it; we told you what we were dealing with. We want to keep being just as open today. 2026 has been a year of new beginnings. In March, we joined the Slovak independent publishing house Dennik N, and many things have changed since, so here are a few things I’d like you to know: Read more on what is new for you at EUobserver. Leaked memo: EU has known since 2017 it had legal right to freeze Israel trade deal A “strictly confidential”, but leaked, EU legal memo from 2017 said Europe was entitled to freeze Israel science grants and free-trade perks over its West Bank aggression. “What was then a legitimate option, today is a legal obligation,” an Italian expert said. Trump’s World Cup is a low point – even after Qatar and Russia After four years of waiting, the World Cup has finally arrived. For us football fans, it is a very captivating month. Sadly, the corporate capture of our beloved sport persists. Football has become a huge business, but in the last two decades, it has also become a geopolitical tool. FIFA found the need to invent […] Israel calls Nato ally Turkey ‘the new Iran’. Europe’s answer? Three settlers and some oranges Europe does not need to break with Israel. But it needs to stop pretending that three settlers and a fight over oranges are a position while the border with Lebanon moves north and a Nato ally, Turkey, becomes the enemy. The two no longer want the same things, and a vote in Jerusalem is unlikely to change that.  From Evian to Brussels: five-days of non-stop G7 and EU summits. What are they achieving? The EU’s successful push back on a US pricing plan for critical minerals and more commitments on sanctions and defence support for Ukraine were the main breakthroughs at the French-hosted G7 summit – which is followed immediately by an EU summit. EU leaders to pick from menu of anti-China trade measures over summit dinner The European trade deficit with China amounted to €360bn in 2025, or roughly €1bn a day. The commission and a growing group of member states want to take stronger measures to save European industries.    Copyright © 2026 EUobserver.com. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: EUobserver.com, Rue de la loi 155, Brussels 1040, Belgium