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Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Kretschmann defended the new crown measures in a special session of the state parliament. Above all, the opposition parties criticized the fact that the parliament had been ignored in the decisions.
After decisions on drastic new crown requirements, Baden-Württemberg’s prime minister stood before the state parliament on Friday. Following his statement, there was an open discussion in the special session, which lasted several hours.
First, a special session of the Presidium of the State Parliament was planned to discuss the restrictions that would apply from Monday. However, the SPD had convened a special session of the entire parliament. In addition to the FDP, the government factions of the Greens and the CDU also joined.
Kretschmann defends measures
“Only if the parliament is informed promptly can it carry out its task, in this case the control of the government, effectively,” warned the speaker of the state parliament Muhterem Aras (Greens) before the debate. Even his opening speech was interrupted by some interjections from individual parliamentarians.
At the beginning of his statement, Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) again showed a map with the seven-day incidents in Baden-Württemberg. “Now it’s about speed, determination and consistency,” he said. Once again he emphasized the time limitation of the most recently decided measures.
“The virus spreads so widely that, according to the Robert Koch Institute, we can no longer track exactly where the four infections originated,” Kretschmann justified the new measures and closures. It is no longer possible to say exactly what the main drivers of infection are. In his government information, Kretschmann also asked the population to reduce their contacts by 75 percent with immediate effect. “The virus lives on contacts,” he said.
Parliament omitted? Kretschmann reacts to criticism
Regarding criticism that the parliament was left out of the resolutions, Kretschmann said: “I am glad that we are already further ahead in the fight against pandemics in Baden-Württemberg than in other countries by involving the state parliament.” For him, it is important that the executive retain the ability to act quickly and quickly. “We cannot afford any delays in fighting the pandemic,” Kretschmann said.
Gögel criticizes “governing by regulation”
“We have to discuss the regulations here in Parliament and we have to be able to introduce amendments to the regulations and we have to be able to vote on them,” demanded the president of the AfD, Bernd Gögel. “What we are doing today is a pure spectacle for the media in the country,” Gögel continued. The parliamentary debate offered “an image of false democracy.” “There is no legal basis for governing through regulation,” he said. His parliamentary group showed the state government its rejection of the measures by several parliamentarians with red cards at the end of the speech.
The president of the AfD parliamentary group criticized the “scare tactics” of state policy and the “disproportionate resolutions”. Politicians must trust citizens to take more responsibility for themselves.
The parliamentary group AfD showed the state government that it rejects the measures. “We have to weigh whether the drug is more harmful than the virus,” warned parliamentary group leader Bernd Gögel.
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Stoch demands: debate before decisions
The leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Andreas Stoch, also commented on the discussion about the participation of parliaments. He is pleased that a regulation has been found in the state parliament on how parliaments can participate. “But it also needs to be said very clearly: it was the opposition factions that gave impetus to this participation in parliament,” Stoch said.
“I think an essential part of social acceptance has to do with the fact that we lead this discourse in society and especially in this Parliament, before decisions are made, before regulations are passed,” Stoch stressed. Democracy cannot be replaced by a pandemic.
Additionally, Stoch called for a strategy rather than quick fixes and a differentiated vision. In gastronomy, for example, different rules must be applied to a club than to an inn, and in the cultural sector different rules apply to an opera than to a party over 30 years old.
The leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Andreas Stoch, emphasized the role of the opposition: “Democracy cannot be replaced by a pandemic.”
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Rülke: Decisions are not made only in the executive sphere
The chairman of the FDP parliamentary group, Hans-Ulrich Rülke, accused the decision makers of the new Corona rules of being active. “What is not needed in such a situation is token politics,” Rülke said. With such drastic measures in such a dramatic situation for the country, political decisions could not be transferred to the executive area and left to a body that was not provided for in the constitution: the conference of prime ministers. “Parliament must also have the opportunity to vote on these decisions and, if necessary, reject them,” Rülke said.
In his speech, the leader of the FDP parliamentary group addressed Prime Minister Kretschmann directly and said: “So I wish he hadn’t let Mr Ramelow make a formal statement at this Prime Minister’s conference.” He only sees the left-wing prime minister of Thuringia, who has announced a parliamentary reservation. “I consider it an accusation that you have not accepted it,” Rülke continued. He also warned against having the police or law enforcement officers search the private room.
The leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Hans-Ulrich Rülke, was particularly upset with Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens).
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Reinhart: “We are pioneers in democratic politics”
Prime ministers are also democratically legitimated, responded the leader of the CDU parliamentary group, Wolfgang Reinhart, in his speech, thus responding to criticism from Bernd Gögel. “The longer the pandemic lasts, the more we will have to pay attention to the balance between government action and parliamentary involvement.” This will bring the pandemic law to life. “It shows that with this law we are the political-democratic pioneers in Baden-Württemberg,” Reinhart continued.
“There is one thing that we must not lose, the trust and acceptance of the people. We have to maintain that, it is very important. And that is an important benchmark,” Reinhart said in his speech.
The leader of the CDU parliamentary group spoke of an oppressive situation, even of seeing again the struggle of many businessmen against the abyss. Certain industries, such as gastronomy, sacrifice themselves in an “unprecedented act of solidarity.” Regarding the upcoming ordinances, he appealed for a “common fight for the correct measure, which no textbook has ever provided.” Some things are more differentiated this time than in the spring lock. For example, that “the doors of the church should not be closed again” and that risk groups “should be protected but not cordoned off.”
The balance of the measures is given, said the leader of the CDU parliamentary group, Wolfgang Reinhart.
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Home and clinic visits should remain possible
The green-black state government wants to continue to allow visits to nursing homes, hospitals and facilities for the disabled. Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann told a special session of the state parliament: “Therefore, we are introducing rapid tests there with high pressure so that relatives can continue to visit.” It’s about protecting residents and not isolating them. Because that would have just as serious effects on your health. However, individual clinics and nursing homes in Baden-Württemberg have already introduced visit restrictions or bans due to infection cases and increasing numbers.
Discussion, but no vote
The new restrictions should be widely discussed by the state parliament before they go into effect, CDU parliamentary group leader Wolfgang Reinhart said before the state parliament session. The parliamentary leader of the Greens, Andreas Schwarz, also considers the special session to be sensible, because the implementation of the measures in Baden-Württemberg could be discussed. A vote on the restrictions was not scheduled, as requested by the leader of the FDP parliamentary group, Rülke, as announced by the State Ministry. After a cabinet decision, the resolutions must be formulated into regulations and distributed by the ministries “before the weekend.”
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Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the prime ministers of the federal states decided on Wednesday on new restrictions on public life in order to control the sharp increase in the numbers of corona infections. The Baden-Württemberg economy in particular had criticized this.
