COVID: Man wins case against state over holiday home ban

A man has won a court case against the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania after his family was ordered to leave their holiday home when COVID curbs were tightened last month.

The German newspaper Bild reported how Stephan Goericke from Potsdam in the eastern state of Brandenburg argued that the measure, meant to help reduce the third wave of coronavirus infections, was discriminatory.

Goericke's family has had a second home at Putbus on the Baltic Sea island of Rügen for several years.

Family pushed out

They had been staying at the property since March 29 when Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania ordered holidaymakers to leave.

DW reported how police were even deployed to local highways to turn back cars from other states arriving for spring vacations and day trips.

Goericke's lawyer argued that the order arbitrarily treats fully vaccinated people in the same way as non-vaccinated people and the Higher Administrative Court in the city of Greifswald ruled in his favor.

Basic Law violated

The judges said that the state's order was a violation of Germany's Basic Law and was neither necessary nor proportionate.

The court, in fact, said the ban disproportionately interferes with residents' fundamental rights.

Judges ordered the state government to revise its rules but refused to immediately overturn the ban.

As well as ordering holidaymakers to leave and putting hotels off-limits for tourism purposes, German politicians have faced criticism from the tourism sector for talking down the prospect of foreign vacations this summer.  Tourism chiefs said their negative comments led to a 76% drop in bookings.

mm/rc (AFP, dpa)