How Europe slammed its borders shut: As ten nations including Germany and France introduce police checks to tackle mass migration 'jihadi threats', how they're heading to Britain
In the intervening 68 years, that right has only become even more ingrained, with the Schengen Agreement allowing the citizens of 25 EU member states to not just live and work in other countries but to come and go without any border checks.
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The Guardian
19 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Thousands of hotels in Europe to sue Booking.com over ‘abusive' practices
is facing a class-action lawsuit from more than 10,000 European hotels arguing that the accommodation mega-site used its muscle to distort the market to their detriment over a 20-year period. The Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Cafes in Europe (Hotrec), which represents the industry within the EU and is bringing the legal action, recently extended to 29 August a deadline for hotel owners to join the suit because of high demand. The lawsuit, expected to be one of the largest ever filed in the European hospitality sector, is also backed by 30 national hotel associations, including Britain's. 'Over 10,000 hotels have already joined the pan-European initiative to claim compensation for financial losses caused by use of illegal 'best price' (parity) clauses,' Hotrec said in a statement. It alleges that the 'best price' pledge on was extracted from hotels under huge pressure not to offer rooms at lower prices on other platforms, including their own websites. The hotel industry says that the Netherlands-based platform also used the clauses to prevent customers making what it called 'free-rider' bookings, which it defined as using its services to find a hotel but then booking directly with the management, cutting out 'Registration [to the legal action] continues to grow steadily, and the response so far demonstrates the hospitality industry's strong desire to stand up against unfair practices in the digital marketplace,' Hotrec said. The litigation, which experts say will be an uphill battle, seeks damages for the period from 2004 to 2024, when did away with the best price clause to comply with the EU Digital Markets Act. Hotrec said the class action, to be heard in Amsterdam, follows a European court of justice (ECJ) ruling from 2024, 'which found that parity clauses violated EU competition law'. 'European hoteliers have long suffered from unfair conditions and excessive costs. Now is the time to stand together and demand redress,' said Hotrec's president, Alexandros Vassilikos, calling out 'abusive practices in the digital market' in Europe. called Hotrec and other hotel associations' statements 'incorrect and misleading' in an emailed statement, adding that it had not received 'formal notification of a class action'. It said that the ECJ ruling did not find that 'best price' clauses were anti-competitive but 'simply stated that such clauses fall within the scope of EU competition law and that their effects must be assessed on a case-by-case basis'. The company referred to a statement about its 'commitment to fair competition', in which it argued that 'past parity clauses served to foster competitive pricing rather than restrict it'. It cited a poll in which 74% of hoteliers said made their business more profitable, with many reporting higher occupancy rates and lower customer acquisition costs. However, other industry representatives criticised the company's practices as extractive. 'As they gained control of the market, Booking was able to increase its commission rates and exert much greater pressure on hoteliers' margins,' Véronique Siegel, president of the hotels division of French hospitality sector association Umih, told public broadcaster France Inter. 'For a room that the customer pays €100 (£87) for, if you take away Booking's commission, the hotelier receives €75 at best, with which they have to pay their employees and invest.' Despite the friction, appears unavoidable for many hotels, offering an online reach and visibility hard to achieve for smaller, independent establishments. A study by Hotrec and the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland found that Booking Holding, the website's parent company, controlled 71% of the European market in 2024, compared with 68.4% in 2019. The corporation is valued at $170bn (£127bn), three times that of Volkswagen. Rupprecht Podszun, director of the institute for competition law at Düsseldorf's Heinrich Heine University, said was a classic example of how a digital platform can conquer an entire sector, creating a 'winner takes all' dynamic. He said the legal action would probably be protracted and turn on the thorny question of how damages could be measured. 'Judges will have to form an opinion and then it will go through all the appeals – everything at great expense and with all the tricks available under the law,' he told Germany's daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. 'The case is a revolt of the hotels, saying: 'You can't just do what you want with us.''
BBC News
19 minutes ago
- BBC News
Birmingham Airport delays continue after emergency landing closure
Passengers continue to face hours of delays following the closure of Birmingham Airport's runway, after a plane was forced to make an emergency runway was shut on Wednesday afternoon when the small aircraft returned to the airport after it's landing gear failed on a flight to remained closed for more than six hours while staff worked to remove the plane, with thousands of airline passengers stranded or runway reopened after 19:30 BST, when the plane was moved. The first flight departed shortly after, having originally been scheduled to leave at 14:10. Is Birmingham Airport open and are there delays? In a notice on its website, Birmingham Airport said it was now "operating to its normal schedule" but warned that passengers might face some residual online departures list on Thursday morning showed several flights leaving later than 05:55 BST Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, for example, departed at 09:57, while the 06:30 TUI service to Kefalonia was estimated to take off at about 12: flights have experienced shorter delays, ranging from about 35 minutes to a couple of hours. What happened and was anyone injured? According to aircraft charter and management company, Woodgate Aviation, one of its Beechcraft fixed-wing planes developed landing gear problems on its journey to Belfast after taking off from Birmingham at 13: aircraft returned to Birmingham, landing at 13:58."The aircraft returned to Birmingham and made an emergency landing and the main undercarriage collapsed on touch down," the company confirmed two crew members and one passenger were on board but were not Midlands Police, West Midlands Fire Service and Birmingham Airport Police were among the agencies at the scene. Birmingham Airport said its teams worked as quickly as possible to move the aircraft in line with "strict protocols".A spokesperson said the protocols had to be followed to "ensure a safe reopening of the runway following a prolonged closure".Woodgate said it would co-operate fully with the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB), which confirmed it was looking into the AAIB statement said a multi-disciplinary team of inspectors was deployed to the site. How did the incident affect passengers? With the closure lasting for more than six hours, many passengers suffered significant delays or saw their flights diverted to other least 10 flights due to depart from the airport were cancelled, while others were delayed by more than five which were due to land at Birmingham were diverted to other passengers told the BBC that their flights were cancelled "moments before boarding" on Wednesday Airport said it understood the frustration and apologised for the disruption. Faye, who was travelling with her partner and four children, said they found out about the incident on had been due to fly to Antalya in Turkey with Jet2 at 14:55. While waiting at the airport, the family was given £10 per person by the airline for food and subsequently received a text message saying the holiday had been cancelled and there would be a full refund in four to five and her family were waiting to collect their baggage, along with about 400 other people, her children "sobbing and crying"."We are stuck here waiting for our baggage and it's boiling hot... and now our kids aren't going to have a holiday," she said at the time. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
The new £35million UK attraction to be ‘Europe-first' with sky swings, luge tracks and ziplines
The attraction hopes to bring in huge numbers of tourists each year SKY HIGH The new £35million UK attraction to be 'Europe-first' with sky swings, luge tracks and ziplines Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) WORK is already underway on a new £35million UK attraction which will be complete with a gondola, zipline, luge tracks and even sky swings. Planning permission has been secured for the ambitious new project which is set to be a "Europe-first". Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Work has begun on a new £35million UK attraction Credit: skylineswansea 7 The development will include a gondola, zipline, mountain biking trails and lots more Credit: skylineswansea 7 The project is being lead by Skyline Enterprises Credit: skylineswansea 7 The gondola will take visitors to Kilvey hill New £35million attraction to come to UK Swansea Council has recently aided the development of a major new leisure attraction by selling off land, as the initial groundwork is already underway, reports North Wales Live. With the hopes of attracting an estimated 450,000-plus visitors per year, the new project includes a gondola lift spanning the River Tawe to Kilvey Hill. As well as this, upon arrival at Kilvey Hill, thrill-seekers can enjoy a sky swing, zipline and luge tracks. Visitors can also expect a hilltop restaurant, mountain biking trails, picnic spots, walking paths, a children's play area, and an array of new green spaces. The new venture also has the financial backing of the Welsh Government and Swansea Council, who will contribute an approximate total of £12million. Headed by Skyline Enterprises, the tourism company previously revealed that its board had approved a budget of £35million for the project. This will mark the company's first European development. Council approves land sale and pledges support Swansea Council's cabinet approved the land sale and pledged its financial support in a private meeting last month. A council spokesperson confirmed: "Everything that's needed for the scheme is now in place, apart from one area of land that we're in continuing negotiations with Natural Resources Wales about. "The council's financial commitment to support the scheme remains unchanged, subject to the conclusion of financial negotiations. Our investment is expected to be repaid in full as part of an agreement with Skyline." Inside multi-million pound upgrade for popular Scots tourist attraction New Zealand-based Skyline Enterprises has revealed that work is already underway as it plans to start relocating reptiles. This relocation work was approved as part of the planning application. A Skyline Enterprises spokesperson said: "The reptile relocation work is being managed by a team of qualified ecologists who review areas of work before any activity starts each day, ensuring work follows all regulations. "A strict protocol is to be followed if an issue is found to ensure the best possible outcome. "This work has been approved as part of the planning conditions, and no licence is required." Not everyone is in favour of the project Plans for this new project were first revealed in 2017, with public consultation events taking place in 2023. The application was approved in March this year by the council's planning committee, however, so far, has been met with around 560 letters of objection. Objectors have raised concerns over increased traffic, the visual impact of the project, a potential impact on private water supplies, and fears over what would happen if the scheme didn't deliver on its expectations. However, the committee report said the cumulative benefits of the proposal would outweigh "significant harm" arising from landscape and visual impacts. Planning agent John Hurley explained that beyond the development attracting a substantial number of visitors, it will also create jobs, and improve access to the hill. He also added that the development will result in a net biodiversity gain due to replacement tree planting and woodland management. Speaking in 2023, Wales' deputy minister for arts and sports, Dawn Bowden, said the proposed attraction was a "unique inward investment opportunity" for the Welsh Government and "significant in the further development of Swansea as a vibrant city destination." 7 The site is at Kilvey Hill, Swansea Credit: skylineswansea 7 Initial plans were announced in 2017 Credit: skylineswansea
