WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE BELGIUM BRUSSELS - euobserver - The Friday Five - EU’s week of anxiety: Russian sabotage, a weak SOTEU, Canada's friendship and Sweden's election fallout.

 

The Friday Five Editor-in-chief picks her favourite stories of the week. 25 years after 9/11, have the terrorists won? As Donald Trump gambles on chaos at home and Vladimir Putin’s missiles pound Ukrainian cities, Timothy Snyder warns that Americans now face a new, self-inflicted 9/11-style test of whether they will – again – react exactly as the terrorists hope. Sweden Democrats’ ‘era of deportations’ leaves lasting mark across Europe as Stockholm forms new government As the final ballots are counted before an official result on Wednesday, Sweden’s outgoing government was one tainted with one of the strongest deportation rates and most stringent migration policies in the EU. Details emerge on Canada’s ‘associate membership’ EU offer, as Brexit UK left looking on EUobserver understands that Ursula von der Leyen did not consult EU governments before making the offer to Canada and there is anxiety in some EU capitals that cosying up to Mark Carney could inflame Donald Trump into re-starting his tariff war with Europe. Putin and Netanyahu will be laughing at EU after von der Leyen’s State of the Union speech EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen’s answer to spiralling Russian aggression was one new strategy document and two new sets of meetings. Her answer to Israel’s killing spree was to call it “unacceptable”. Not every incident is Russian sabotage. But it suits the defence sector to say so Europe’s challenge is not only to protect critical infrastructure and deter Russian aggression, but also to maintain credibility by clearly establishing what Russia has actually done.   Copyright © 2026 EUobserver.com. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: EUobserver.com, Rue de la loi 155, Brussels 1040, Belgium