Germany

The Federal Constitutional Court said that a policy to freeze rents in Berlin for the next five years to combat soaring living costs was unlawful in a ruling published on Thursday morning.

The capital’s “Mietendeckel” law or rent cap “violates the Basic Law and is thus ruled void”, the court in the southwestern city of Karlsruhe said in a blow to millions of tenants.

The federal government has said "emergency brake" measures to combat rising case numbers are legally mandated in all federal states, replacing a patchwork system. The change needs to be approved by the Bundestag.

If approved, the new system means that any region in any state with a high Covid-19 case incidence will be legally required to implement a uniform set of rules set out by the federal government.

The leaders of Germany's biggest conservative party will support Armin Laschet to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor candidate at the next election.

CSU's Markus Söder told the party leadership meeting that he was against a hasty decision, and called for talks with the CDU at the end of the week.

On Wednesday, the number of Covid-19 vaccinations in Germany reached a new high: 656,357 doses were administered according to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) - 290,000 more than the previous day. This means that around 11.5 million citizens have now received at least one vaccination against Covid-19. 4.7 million people - and thus 5.7 percent of the population - are now fully vaccinated.

North Rhine Westphalia (NRW) State Premier Armin Laschet called for a harder lockdown on Monday as Germany struggles to contain a third wave of the coronavirus. The chairman of Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) and one of her potential successor as chancellor said that Germany needed harder lockdown measures to stem a rise in cases of Covid-19.

"We need a bridge lockdown. We have to build a bridge to the point in time when a lot of people are vaccinated," Laschet told.

Berlin districts have imposed fines in the millions against providers of unauthorised holiday flats since 2018. In seven districts of the capital alone, the sum amounted to 3.4 million euros, according to a survey by the news agency dpa among the twelve district offices, nine of which responded. Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg holds the largest share.

Anyone who wants to rent out their flat as a holiday home has needed a permit for this in Berlin since 2014. The corresponding law was tightened by the Senate in 2018. Since then, even those providers who only want to sublet a room to tourists need at least a registration number. They need a further permit if the room is at least half the size of the entire flat.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the president of Germany, has been vaccinated with AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine at the Bundeswehr Hospital in Berlin on Thursday, his office reported.

"I trust the vaccines approved in Germany," Steinmeier said in a statement. "Today I received my first vaccination with AstraZeneca. Vaccination is the crucial step on the way out of the pandemic. Take advantage of the opportunities. Get involved!"

The Berlin Senate agreed on Thursday on stricter contact restrictions from Good Friday. The governing mayor Michael Müller (SPD), announced this after a Senate meeting. According to this, Berliners are initially only allowed to be outside alone or in pairs between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Over Easter, the previous regulations with a maximum of five people from two households will remain. In both cases, children up to the age of 14 are not counted.

Michael Müller (SPD), the governing mayor, defended the stricter rules at a press conference after a senate meeting on Thursday afternoon. "Infections arise through direct contacts in the professional, school and private environment.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn and the 16 state health ministers on Tuesday decided to suspend the routine use of the AstraZeneca vaccine for people under age 60 at an emergency meeting. The decision came amid fresh concern over unusual blood clots reported in a tiny number of younger people who received the vaccine.

Several European countries briefly suspended the use of the vaccine earlier this month, albeit in that instance for more elderly people rather than the young, but resumed jabs after EU regulators said the shot was safe for use.

As of today, entry by air to Germany is only possible with a negative Covid-19 test. A corresponding amendment to the Coronavirus Entry Regulation came into force at midnight. The new regulation applies regardless of the Corona situation in the country from which someone is flying to Germany. The test may be no more than 48 hours old at the time of entry. The measure is limited until 12 May.

Union politicians and several businessmen are alleged to have received several million euros as commission for brokering protective masks to ministries. The affair has been exposed - now the Munich Public Prosecutor's Office has applied for an arrest warrant against one of the accused. This was reported by several news agencies and the Bayerischer Rundfunk.

The accused was arrested on Thursday, the investigating authority announced. The investigators did not give a name.

After massive criticism, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has decided to put a stop to the extended 'Easter lockdown' that had been planned to go from Maundy Thursday to Easter Monday. This was announced by Merkel on Wednesday in a meeting with the Minister-Presidents of the federal states, which was convened at short notice, as SPIEGEL learned from several participants. At the federal-state roundtable on Monday, Merkel and the heads of the states had initially agreed on a comprehensive cut over the Easter holidays.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and German state leaders have agreed on an even stricter shutdown over the Easter holidays. From April 1 to April 5, over the Easter holiday period, shops, including grocery stores, will largely have to close.

Tuesday's announcement marks a reversal from earlier this month when state leaders agreed to begin a cautious reopening process.

According to Germany's Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases (RKI), the seven-day incidence rate stood at 107 on Monday, above the 100 threshold at which hospitals often become overwhelmed.

Karin Strenz, a member of the Bundestag, died on a flight from Cuba to Germany. According to media reports, the crew of the plane decided to make an emergency landing in Ireland's capital Dublin. Last year the German Bundestag lifted the politician's immunity because the public prosecutor's office was investigating her on suspicion of corruption.

Due to the suspicion of avian influenza (bird flu), 30,000 hens have to be killed in Delbrück (Germany). On Monday morning, this will be done by fumigation with carbon dioxide, the district of Paderborn announced on Sunday. According to the avian influenza ordinance, the animals in the epidemic flock must already be killed if there is a clear clinical suspicion. In addition, a surveillance zone is set up around the suspected infection area, where chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry on other farms must remain in their enclosures.

Lars Schaade, Vice President of the Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI), has warned that Germany is facing "another tough few weeks" as Covid-19 cases rise and hospitals are "heavily burdened". Germany has seen an increase in infections with the more potent B.1.1.7. strain and Schaade warns of an "exponential" rise in cases that could potentially overwhelm hospitals.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said on Friday he would be in favour of signing a national supply deal with Russia for its Sputnik V vaccine for Covid-19.

"I can also well imagine that we conclude contracts - and conclude them quickly," Spahn told a weekly news conference, adding that Germany was in close contact with Russia on questions to do with the vaccine. A prerequisite, however, is that there is more detail on how many doses could be delivered, he said.

The number of coronavirus cases in Germany grew 20% in the past week, as lockdown restrictions are gradually eased, an expert at the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases (RKI) said Tuesday.

RKI epidemiologist Dirk Brockmann told German broadcaster ARD that the loosening of measures was particularly unhelpful given the exponential growth of the British virus variant B117. And since they're also combined with descriptive terms, the possibilities of creating new words are endless: "hard" and "light" were the most popular, but "yo-yo," referring to ever-changing lockdown rules, was another one, as well as "Flockdown," when heavy snow ("Flocken"=flakes) keeps everyone inside anyway.

Bars and restaurants in parts of Germany have gotten a warning from the authorities: anyone who has closed their business for one year without interruption is threatened with the expiry of their restaurant licence. This mainly affects pubs, bars and clubs, many of which have had to close not only since the recent lockdown, but consistently since March 2019.

The city administration of Bad Waldsee stated: "We certainly didn't want to annoy the innkeepers with this information letter, on the contrary, we see the letter as support to prevent the deletion period from taking effect. In order to make this notification as informal as possible, we have deliberately offered a non-bureaucratic phone call or email as feedback in the letter,"

Germany on Monday halted the use of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine, the Health Ministry announced in a statement. Italy, France and Spain follow suit later in the day.

"After new reports of thrombroses of the cerebral veins in connection with the vaccination in Germany and Europe, the PEI considers further investigations to be necessary," the Health Ministry announced.

The European Medicines Agency will decide "whether and how the new information will affect the authorization of the vaccine"

The largest provider Eurowings spoke of bookings "in an unprecedented dynamic" and launched 300 additional flights between Germany and Mallorca at short notice for the Easter period.

Since Sunday, the RKI no longer classifies the Balearic island as a risk area. Many Germans therefore book flights to Mallorca for the Easter period.

Voters in Baden-Württemberg continue to back the Greens. According to the projections of infratest dimap, Minister-President Winfried Kretschmann's party landed at 32.4 percent - 2.1 percentage points more than the record result of 2016 with 30.3 percent. Kretschmann was pleased with the good results of his party. "Greens and Baden-Württemberg - that goes well together," said the 72-year-old. He understands the result "as a mandate to continue to serve our state as Minister-President". He accepts this mandate with "great gratitude and humility".

In Rhineland-Palatinate, the Social Democrats remain the strongest political force despite slight losses. According to Infratest dimap projections, the party headed by Minister President Malu Dreyer achieved 36 per cent. Although this is slightly worse than five years ago (36.2 per cent), it is enough for another clear victory in the state election. For the seventh time in a row since 1991, the SPD is the strongest party in Rhineland-Palatinate.

Nikolas Löbel, a lawmaker from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), stepped down on Monday over a government deal to procure face masks.

"In order to avoid further damage to my party, I am resigning my Bundestag mandate with immediate effect," Löbel said.

Last year, CDU MP Nikolas Löbel brokered deals with Corona protection masks to German companies and earned more than a quarter of a million euros in commissions, according to information from Business Insider. According to the report, Löbel offered potential customers in Germany "mask deliveries reliably and quickly from China via Bricon Technology GmbH, based in Wurmlingen". Löbel had contact with this member of the People's Chamber after he had written to the Chinese raw materials company Sinopec, which sells Corona protective masks on a large scale all over the world.

The German Federal Government is expected to start paying for rapid tests starting next week, as part of the latest pandemic plan agreed to late Wednesday between Chancellor Angela Merkel and 16 state leaders to moving Germany out of lockdown.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn announced on Twitter the government had secured at least 200 million self-tests and 800 million rapid tests, of which 150 million are already in stock with suppliers.

"Opening schools without rapid tests will drive up the incidence rate," Karl Lauterbach, a Bundestag deputy for the Social Democrats (SPD) and an epidemiologist, wrote on Twitter.

The German Standing Commission on Vaccination (Stiko) at the Robert Koch Institute now recommends AstraZeneca's vaccine for people older than 65. The Ministry of Health confirmed the change in a statement. The interval between the two vaccination doses is also to be extended.

The new Berlin urban development plan - abbreviated StEP MoVe - focuses on the period up to 2030. One of Berlin's transport policy goals is to achieve a combined share of cycling, walking, and public transport of at least 82 per cent by then. At 30 per cent, walking should get the relatively largest share.

Primarily for climate protection and air pollution control, the Senate is aiming for a zero-emission zone "in the medium term". Initially in the city centre, later in the whole of Berlin, no vehicles with combustion engines are to be allowed. Günther had originally fought to achieve these goals by 2030 and 2035, respectively. However, the new urban development plan no longer mentions any dates after the red-red-green coalition had been at loggerheads over this issue.

According to SPIEGEL, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) has declared the entire AfD a suspected case of right-wing extremism. This means that the agency can also observe the party using intelligence means.

However, in an ongoing legal dispute before the Cologne Administrative Court, the Office for the Protection of the Constitution has committed itself to refrain from intelligence surveillance of members of the federal, state and European parliaments for the time being. The same applies to candidates in the upcoming elections in 2021.

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) is also currently not allowed to disclose its classification as a "suspected case".

The basis for the observation of the entire AfD is a roughly 1000-page report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution. Since the beginning of 2019, the office's lawyers and experts on right-wing extremism have compiled a great deal of evidence of suspected violations of the free democratic order.

According to SPIEGEL information, the report is to provide evidence that the AfD violates the guarantee of human dignity and the principle of democracy in the Basic Law. Several hundred speeches and statements by officials at all party levels are to serve as evidence.

According to information from the ARD capital city studio, the German grand coalition has agreed on the introduction of an official lobby register. According to the report, professional lobbyists must in the future be registered in a database that is to be set up and maintained at the German Bundestag. Violations are to be punished with a fine of up to 50,000 euros.

The Reporters Without Borders (RSF) announced it has filed a criminal complaint with the German Public Prosecutor General of the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, detailing a litany of crimes against humanity committed against journalists in Saudi Arabia.

The complaint targets Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and other high-ranking Saudi officials and addresses 35 cases of journalists: slain Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, and 34 journalists who have been jailed in Saudi Arabia, including 33 currently in detention -- among them, blogger Raif Badawi.

"In Saudi Arabia, journalists, who are a civilian population according to international law, are victims of widespread and systematic attacks for political reasons in furtherance of a state policy aimed at punishing or silencing them," an RSF statement said.