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To be honest: not really at first. It was also unclear from the start whether the Greens should aspire to the Ministry of Health. I was with my predecessor (Brigitte Zarfl, note) At that time I had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant near the Ministry and tried to familiarize myself with the house. Zarfl highly praised the ministry. He was right – the ministry and highly engaged employees have never disappointed me.
How long do you think that was?
It seems that December 2019 was many, many years ago. 2020 was an extremely demanding year full of concerns for everyone. It is about safety, health, the work of many people. For me it was the biggest challenge of my life so far.
How many times have you cursed yourself for taking the job?
That sounds pathetic, but: I’ve never regretted it. It was even a gift that I was able to bring the experience I was able to gain in 17 years in a state government to such a crisis. It feels good when you can make a contribution.
What did you learn politically?
I had to learn to be even faster. We had to make big decisions out of nowhere from the first lockout. Without comparison or experience. That was not without risks, but today we know that if we had only allowed ourselves one more week for the lockdown in March, for example, the number of infections would have quadrupled. And this extreme pace has spread across the board. Just a number: in normal times, the Ministry of Health makes six to seven prescriptions a year. Corona has forced us to do 141 so far, and averages two days for each. These are incredible challenges.
… in what has sometimes been failed. Keyword: easter decree …
Therefore, we are doubly grateful that the most renowned lawyers in the country have supported us in our work for a long time. Voluntarily and without asking for a penny.
So far the technical-legal. What did you learn humanly?
What I have never encountered in this way is cohesion in our green parliamentary group. That may sound bogus, but it created deep friendships. And that is quite rare in politics.
Where does the green letter appear when addressing the epidemic?
In all measures we had to weigh fundamental rights and health protection as never before. If you are not very stable in terms of democratic politics and you don’t keep questioning whether the measures still fit into the basic order, it can quickly become dangerous. There were two options in blocking: either you followed it, regardless of the losses. Or you try to reach a basic consensus with all the actors, from the parliament to the governors. That is much more complex. But we did it that way. This is green politics.
They describe spring. Today there is no consensus in society as a whole.
I am very sorry that the party uproar is back on the agenda. In times of extreme crisis, the focus should be on joint crisis management. But of course this is complicated in part by the high speed required by the pandemic.
Does rapid regulation change have to be like this?
I’m afraid there is no alternative. The second wave was so full of force that there is no week that can be compared with the previous one. We are now trying to plan for the medium term with our plan presented on Friday. But we will only see if the virus allows it.
This coalition came together with the stipulation that one does not have to agree on everything. When you think of conflict issues like the refugee issue: Aren’t the Greens far from your ideals?
We fight for our values every day. But we do not try to put the conflicts that exist in the window every day. Crisis management is now the order of the day, the country must overcome the crisis with a firm hand.
