WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE BELGIUM BRUSSELS - euobserver - The Friday Five - Friday 30 Oct. 2026.

 

The Friday Five Editor-in-chief picks her favourite stories of the week. ‘Let me die’: tortured migrants and rescue ships face off against EU-sponsored Libyan forces Gaia Neiman reports from onboard the Humanity 1 rescue ship in the Mediterranean. The EU continues to fund the Libyan regime that is imprisoning men, women, and children, as a form of migration prevention. Survivors onboard an NGO rescue ship recount what they lived through, while Brussels sets its eye on a new migration facility in authoritarian-led eastern Libya. Frontex gets 17,000 extra officers for deportations while human-rights monitoring suffers downgrade The European Commission says Frontex’s human rights monitoring won’t fundamentally change, citing the need to avoid duplication with EU states. But the text of its proposal suggests otherwise. Ex-EU commissioner Reynders faces new Belgian and Polish scrutiny after EUobserver revelations EUobserver revealed last week that a director in the Belgian intelligence service had exchanged WhatsApp messages with ex-EU commissioner Didier Reynders, which may have been part of a criminal conspiracy to block reports into Reynders’ alleged wrongdoing. [Interview] There are still more American soldiers than Western ones on Nato’s eastern border, says defence expert Robert Pszczel Donald Trump’s 9 October diesel deal with Vladimir Putin left Europeans – including Ukraine – out in the cold, as US dollars will now become key aid in the financing of Russia’s war. I led Israel’s oldest peace group and advised the Knesset. Netanyahu may fall on Tuesday, but the West Bank annexation policies won’t Israel’s election on Tuesday could bring a new government without changing the country’s course. Having worked as a parliamentary adviser in the Knesset and later as executive director of Peace Now, I know how that can happen, writes Shaqued Morag.   Copyright © 2026 EUobserver.com. All rights reserved.