Full clinics, gloomy scenarios and a clear saying from Karlsruhe – that was the starting point for a new corona crisis summit. Anyone who expected a quick tightening will likely be disappointed.
Berlin – The day begins with a clear fundamental decision. Exit and contact restrictions and school closings from the federal emergency brake in the spring were compatible with the Basic Law, says the Federal Constitutional Court.
The planned traffic light coalition has been waiting for these Karlsruhe resolutions in order to perhaps sharpen its corona course. At lunchtime, the prospective Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), current Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Minister get together. Three and a half hours later it is clear: Politicians will not come up with a message that is as clear as that of the chief judges that day. With the future traffic light coalition, things are obviously not going much smoother than with the federal-state switching of the grand coalition before.
However, a general compulsory vaccination is now approaching. Appropriate motions for a vote in the Bundestag should be introduced in the old year, says Scholz on the television broadcaster Bild. Everyone should be vaccinated by early February or early March. Voting will take place according to his conception without group pressure, as is usual with ethically difficult questions.
For Scholz, vaccination is a priority, even before stricter measures that may work more quickly. He’s not the only traffic light politician who pushes the tube. Green leader Robert Habeck also calls for preparations for a general vaccination requirement to begin immediately. It would be a far-reaching encroachment on the freedom of the individual, but it protects life and ultimately also the freedom of society.
How the freedom-loving possible coalition partner FDP stands on this remains open for the time being – it does not commit to new measures either. Already in the morning the liberals struck a different tone than the rest of the traffic lights: The court decision on the emergency brake was not wanted – but it shows the scope of politics.
Virologists had recently warned again and again that without a significantly higher level of vaccination among the population, the fifth corona wave could be threatened after the fourth. More and more politicians have recently realized that the freedom not to be vaccinated should no longer be at the expense of the freedom of those who have been vaccinated.
The crisis team under Major General Carsten Breuer, which is being set up in the Chancellery, is also aiming for more vaccinations. “Up to 30 million first, second and booster vaccinations are to be made possible by Christmas,” the federal and state governments promise after their meeting. With weeks of waiting for a vaccination appointment and long queues in front of vaccination sites should be an end if possible.
But many at the traffic light partners have little illusions: vaccination alone cannot take the force of the fourth wave in the short term and cannot relieve the hospitals in the short term. More and more urgently, science and doctors are calling for more radical measures – the new Corona variant Omikron is causing nervousness to grow. The Union is pushing for tough measures: At the beginning of the Bund-Länder round, it also put forward proposals that were supposed to put the SPD side under pressure – ironically, together with Baden-Württemberg’s Green Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann.
So is the traffic light rowing back and touching the Infection Protection Act that you have just passed again? After almost three and a half hours of crisis discussion by video, it became clear that this would be done, but not immediately. The federal government should examine the extent to which the law needs to be supplemented, according to the paper with which the SPD side entered the crisis talks. The toolbox could then also include “temporary closings of restaurants”. There will probably not be a reinstatement of the status of the epidemic emergency – nationwide lockdown was yesterday.
Instead, the countries should implement what they are already allowed to do – but not do it across the board despite the dramatic situation. Clubs and discos should be closed – the SPD wants that in areas with high incidences, countries with Green or Union leadership in general. Large events are to be restricted. For the time being, there will no longer be full football stadiums like at the weekend.
And the pressure on the unvaccinated is increasing: Restrictions are likely to come back for their private get-togethers. An expansion of the 2G rule – access only for vaccinated and convalescent people – to the retail trade is also in the pipeline. It is also under discussion that people who have been vaccinated will lose their vaccination status after six months if they are not refreshed.
On Saturday, the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina called for immediate comprehensive contact restrictions from the beginning of this week. It won’t be that fast. The federal and state governments are convinced of the need for additional measures. But they give themselves more time. Details should be worked out by Thursday, “in order to then come to joint decisions,” as it says in a message. dpa
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