Jaume Collboni and 16 other city leaders urge EU to unleash billions in funding as it prepares to tackle crisis

• The Guardian view on Europe’s housing crisis: time for the EU to get radical

The soaring cost of housing is akin to a “new pandemic” sweeping across Europe, the mayor of Barcelona has said, as he and 16 other city leaders urged the EU to respond to the crisis by unleashing billions in funding for the hardest-hit areas.

The EU is expected to present its first-ever housing plan on Tuesday, after consultations with experts, stakeholders and the public. For months, those on the frontlines of the crisis have warned the problem is too big to ignore.

Teenager who first scrawled messages on pavement in protest at rightwing government did not expect so many others to follow suit

Scrawled in chalk on the pavement near a secondary school in eastern Slovakia, the messages were short and to the point: “Enough Fico,” read one, echoing a popular anti-government slogan, while the other joked about the Slovakian prime minister providing sexual favours to Vladimir Putin.

Appearing hours before the prime minister, Robert Fico, was due to speak at the school, the messages struck a nerve. Similar comments swiftly began sprouting up across Slovakian pavements in what was labelled the “Chalk Revolution” by some and “November Chalk Wave” by others.

As 27 European countries urge changes to laws forged after second world war, human rights chief says politicians are playing into hands of populists

The battle had been brewing for months. But this week it came to a head in a flurry of meetings, calls and one heady statement. Twenty-seven European countries urged a rethink of the human rights laws forged after the second world war, describing them as an impediment when it came to addressing migration.

Amnesty International has called it “a moral retreat”. Europe’s most senior human rights official said the approach risked creating a “hierarchy of people” where some are seen as more deserving of protection than others.