Monday's top story: Autumn storms cause damage and travel disruption across Germany
Storms Luise and Manja swept across Germany over the weekend, bringing hurricane-force gusts, power cuts and widespread transport disruption, while the North Sea coast remained under threat from storm surges.
Around 10,000 households in Freiburg lost electricity after trees struck power lines and a metal roof was blown into a substation. Most supplies were restored on Sunday, although the university hospital temporarily limited its emergency department to life-threatening cases.
In Nastätten, Rhineland-Palatinate, two men were seriously injured when a structure collapsed at a festival on Friday. Fallen trees and damaged overhead wires disrupted rail services elsewhere, while roads were closed in the Harz region.
Ferries to Heligoland and other islands were cancelled or restricted. A fresh storm-surge warning was in place on Monday morning, with another surge expected around midday.
In Bremerhaven late on Sunday, the cruise ship Mein Schiff 3 collided with at least one container ship while leaving port in stormy weather. Police said three vessels were involved, while operator Tui Cruises mentioned only one container ship. None of the 2,428 passengers or 922 crew members was injured. The ship returned to its berth as water police began investigating.
Emergency crews handled dozens of incidents in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Winds reached 135 kilometres per hour on the Brocken. Conditions were expected to ease inland on Monday, although coastal and mountain areas remained exposed to strong winds.
READ ALSO:Storms batter Europe hitting power supplies, flights and phonesGerman interior minister outlines tougher rules for housing expropriation
Germany’s federal government has outlined legislation designed to make state-level expropriations and public acquisitions of rental housing more difficult.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt’s Investment Protection Act would require authorities to prove that nationalisation is necessary and that alternatives, including housing construction and subsidies, have been exhausted.
Compensation would have to be paid immediately in cash at an independently assessed market value. The proposal responds to plans by a possible SPD-Green-Left coalition in Berlin to nationalise landlords owning more than 10,000 homes.
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Dobrindt said the legislation would protect constitutional principles and investment confidence. The Left accused the government of prioritising shareholders over tenants and argued that the law would fail before the Federal Constitutional Court.
Constitutional expert Ulrich Battis said requiring market-value compensation could unlawfully restrict existing constitutional flexibility. However, he considered the remaining provisions feasible and said federal legislation could limit states’ room for manoeuvre.
Government politicians warn of risks around youth protests
German government politicians have warned that nationwide youth demonstrations planned for October 31st could be infiltrated by extremist groups, following unrest at protests elsewhere in Europe.
CDU domestic policy spokesperson Alexander Throm said calls circulating on social media were worrying. While supporting peaceful demonstrations for better education and intergenerational fairness, he said violence against police or public institutions was unacceptable.
SPD counterpart Sebastian Fiedler said security agencies were preparing early and analysing who was fuelling tensions online. The warnings follow large protests over living costs and education in France, where riots and arrests occurred, alongside demonstrations in Italy.
Green parliamentary co-leader Britta Haßelmann defended young people’s right to protest over schools, educational opportunity, affordable housing and climate protection. She also renewed calls to lower the voting age to 16 in federal elections.
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The Left’s Clara Bünger accused Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of placing young people under general suspicion and criminalising legitimate protest.
“When right-wingers take to the streets, the Union regularly says that their concerns must be taken seriously and that we must listen to them,” Bünger told the Rheinische Post. When, on the other hand, young people protest against social injustice, “they are suddenly declared a security risk.”
Bünger added that she accepted that concrete threats should be investigated, but said allegations of extremist infiltration or foreign influence must be supported by firm evidence.
German Environmental Prize honours engineer and climate lawyer
Membrane filter engineer Klaus Vossenkaul and environmental lawyer Roda Verheyen have received this year’s German Environmental Prize for advancing wastewater technology and climate protection.
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier presented the €500,000 award in Aachen, describing both recipients as role models who demonstrate that individuals can make a difference.
Vossenkaul, founder and chief executive of Membion, holds 28 patents. He developed membrane-filter technology that enables wastewater plants to operate with less energy and space, reducing costs while helping to conserve groundwater.
Verheyen, a Hamburg lawyer and member of the city’s Constitutional Court, advises policymakers and civil society, drafts legislation and pursues environmental lawsuits. Her constitutional complaint against Germany’s Climate Protection Act contributed to a landmark 2021 ruling concerning climate neutrality by 2045.
Steinmeier praised Verheyen for giving individuals and organisations a voice in disputes with governments and companies, while calling Vossenkaul a technological pioneer whose work protects natural resources.
The prize is awarded by the German Federal Environmental Foundation. Established by federal law in 1990, the foundation describes it as one of Europe’s most valuable environmental awards.
Suspected arson attack on Hitler-era Eagle’s Nest in Bavaria
A suspected arson attack has almost completely destroyed the Kehlsteinhaus, the Nazi-era mountain retreat known as the Eagle’s Nest, near Berchtesgaden in Bavaria.
Police arrested a 33-year-old German man near the scene after he reportedly approached officers on a motorcycle along the steep Kehlsteinstraße.
Prosecutors said an initial psychiatric assessment indicated possible mental illness and that investigators would seek his placement in a secure forensic facility. A possible political motive is also being examined.
Around 200 firefighters and medical personnel tackled the blaze after emergency crews reached the site late on Friday evening. Rain, snow and the building’s remote location, more than 1,800 metres above sea level, complicated the operation. Nobody was believed to have been inside.
The full extent of the damage remained unclear on Saturday. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said experts would assess the site and argued that the historically significant building should be rebuilt.
Completed in 1938, the Kehlsteinhaus was used for occasional Nazi receptions but played only a minor official role. It became a mountain restaurant in 1952 and now receives tens of thousands of visitors annually.
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