The Administrative Court in the eastern German city of Dresden ruled in favor of two plaintiffs challenging German border control procedures.
In its ruling, the court found that the internal border control operations ordered by the Federal Ministry of the Interior at the borders with the Czech Republic and Poland were illegal at that time. The court considered that the two lawsuits met the legal requirements for acceptance.
The first lawsuit was filed by a man from the city of Gorlitz, located in eastern Germany on the border with Poland. This man crossed the German-Polish border almost daily, because his family members live on both sides of the border in the city. The man specifically appealed the procedure for verifying his identity when he entered Germany in September 2024. As for the second lawsuit, it was filed by a man from the city of Michendorf in the state of Brandenburg in eastern Germany, and he challenged the surveillance procedure he was subjected to when he entered Germany in May of this year.
In both cases, the court had to decide what is known as a claim to prove the illegality of the administrative procedure after its completion. The court's role in such cases is limited to determining whether the control measures are illegal, without this automatically giving rise to the right to compensation. The Administrative Court's decision can be appealed before the Supreme Administrative Court in the city of Bautzen, which is also located in eastern Germany.
On Thursday, the Spanish Parliament approved measures that impose restrictions on housing evictions and aim to make housing more affordable, after a general strike and weeks of protests related to this issue that prompted calls for early elections.
But the representatives rejected the automatic renewal of the lease contracts, which was among the most prominent demands of the activists. The right-wing opposition, which leads most opinion polls ahead of the November 29 elections, has pledged to cancel these measures.
Expensive housing has always been a crisis in Spain, but the eviction of retiree Maricarmen Abascal (87 years old) from the home where she had lived all her life in Madrid, last September, and her subsequent death, sparked a massive wave of anger in the country.
Large demonstrations swept the country, and sit-in sites were held for weeks in various cities, the largest of which was in Puerta del Sol Square in Madrid.
In an effort to calm the widespread wave of anger, the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez quickly presented two decrees that include greater protection for tenants against evictions and automatic renewal of lease contracts.
But his government, which only has a minority, failed to pass them in Parliament, which prompted Sanchez to call for general elections that were originally scheduled for 2027.
On Wednesday, hundreds of thousands of Spaniards took to the streets, as part of a general strike to demand affordable housing and better wages and public services, which were called for by unions after the two decrees were rejected.
Sanchez issued two other decrees, almost identical to those rejected, which were discussed in a small parliamentary session, giving the government a greater chance of being approved.
The measures approved included some of the activists' most prominent demands following Abascal's eviction from her home after the real estate company that owned him raised the rent significantly.
The new measures prohibit the eviction of vulnerable tenants without providing them with alternative shelter until the end of 2030, and impose restrictions on the acquisition of homes by funds that seize real estate at low prices in the hope of achieving high profits.
The 69-member Permanent Council of Parliament reflects; Among them are deputies and the Speaker of Parliament, the proportional representation of parliamentary blocs in the 350-seat House of Representatives, which has repeatedly blocked Sanchez's initiatives.
The position of the Catalan separatist party, Unites, in support of the business sector, whose seven representatives voted against the two original decrees, is no longer decisive - the party’s representation in the permanent council is limited to only one member.
The People's Party, the most prominent conservative opposition party and the leader in most opinion polls, says that these measures will negatively affect the real estate market, suggesting a move to increase construction as a solution to the crisis.
A bomb alert temporarily disrupted train services at Calais-Freton station in northern France on Thursday morning, affecting local and international rail services.
The French National Railway Company (SNCF) reported that train services resumed later in the day after the Gendarmerie allowed it.
The Eurostar international high-speed train service said that some trains between London and Paris were affected, as trains running on this line pass through Calais-Fretton station. The company added that the incident caused delays in services to and from London.
The warning comes amid a broader wave of false bomb threats and reports that have been reported in France and other European countries recently, targeting flights, schools, and in some cases media organizations.
It is not yet clear whether Thursday's warning is related to any of the previous threats.
