WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE Eu - euobserver - The Friday Five - Friday 25 September 2026.

 

The Friday Five Editor-in-chief picks her favourite stories of the week. No Israeli bonds on sale in EU for now, in de facto €2.2bn sanction Neither Ireland nor Luxembourg have been authorising sales of Israeli bonds since the start of September, potentially costing Israel €2.2bn a year, as shock over Gaza and West Bank grows. Poland’s pushback drive and EU asylum ‘emergency’ plan put rights ‘on a cliff edge’, warns Europe’s top rights chief Poland is taking credit for a new so-called European emergency response framework, announced last week by the European Commission president. Details are scant but Poland is seeking to loosen UN rules on pushbacks, citing article 33(2) of the 1951 Refugee Convention. Macron’s ego may just have permanently damaged EU unity on Russia France has a history of non-compliance with EU rules, such as its years-long trampling on the Stability and Growth Pact, and is second only to Italy in the number of EU-law infringement cases it has fought in the European Court of Justice over the decades. [Interview] Le Pen and Mélenchon are ‘economically illiterate’ and weaponising migration, says French scholar ahead of 2027 race French political scientist Jacques Rupnik says the economic illiteracy of Marine Le Pen and Mélenchon is astonishing. He anticipates that in the first round of France’s presidential election, most voters will back a candidate they believe can stop Le Pen. A Mamdani moment could happen, since people feel that politics has exhausted itself. Deporting humans becomes big business, as Brussels and Washington race to pay African countries to take them The Americans have secured some 35 deals to deport people, often with no strings attached. The multi-million US dollar business appears to have turned into a race with the Europeans, who are hoping to secure their first deal with the Rwandans.   Copyright © 2026 EUobserver.com. All rights reserved.