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Time and again, the federal and state governments have argued over a joint Corona course. At the end of the year, the whole world is turning on the Chancellor’s course. Does that bring the expected release?
Public triumphs are not Angela Merkel’s business, especially in the Corona crisis. When the chancellor stood in front of the cameras on Sunday afternoon after the hour-long crisis phone call with the heads of country, she analyzed the situation with her own objectivity: “Today is not really the day to look back or to ask somehow what would have happened if. It is the day to do what is necessary. ” Without reproaches, without followers. The Chancellor and Prime Minister have not always been of one heart and one soul in recent months.
“The state can act”
Do whatever it takes, that sounds a bit like a bastard that you’re not used to at all from Merkel. The chancellor said she “very much agreed” with the measures taken, which had been prepared with great seriousness during the last three days. “This shows that our state, made up of the federal and state governments, is capable of acting.”
Despite Merkel’s reluctance, the drastic decisions on the national shutdown speak plain language: After weeks and months of solitary confinement, hesitation and hesitation, countries are now pressing the emergency brake, rarely according to Merkel. The minister-presidents now act at the national level, as the CDU politician has previously requested in vain.
Müller has to defend the heads of country
Has the chancellor been correct with her warnings? Berlin Mayor Michael Müller (SPD) and Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) prefer not to comment on this issue when speaking with the Chancellor. Although Merkel does not express a single syllable of criticism, Müller, currently president of the Prime Minister’s Conference, feels compelled to defend the federal tug of war immediately after the Chancellor’s statement.
“Nobody knew how he would have solved all the problems,” says Müller. All prime ministers have always been aware of the seriousness of the situation. In all decisions that have been “honed over and over again”, however, it should be noted that individuals and all concerned businesses, schools, and retailers need time to adjust to them.
Few deviations from the national line
The truth is that the number of infections in practically all of Germany is spiraling out of control: For days, the Robert Koch Institute has been reporting new highs almost every day. The death toll is also skyrocketing, after 598 on Friday, the number is still 321 this Sunday.
And so, just before Christmas, there is precisely that imposition that many prime ministers have shunned from for so long. Public life throughout Germany will be frustrated not only from Christmas time, but from next Wednesday, December 16. Like the first Corona wave in spring, retailers and service providers have to shut down, except for everyday things. Schools and kindergartens go into emergency operation almost everywhere, holidays are being extended. Only during the three days of Christmas will the harsh measures be relaxed in most federal states, at least for family celebrations.
Help for the economy
Billions in government aid should facilitate the lockdown of the economy, as Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) explains: Additional aid worth eleven billion euros a month is available. The measures are tough, but also necessary: ”The virus is not going on vacation,” he says dryly. The measures are initially limited to January 10, five days before Merkel and the country’s leaders want to discuss how to proceed.
Unlike in previous meetings, the participants in the conference call this time, according to the consensus, were not very controversial. There were hardly any requests to speak. This is probably due not only to the difficult situation, but also to preparation, and a very clear announcement from the Foreign Ministry.
Chancellery pressure
Merkel made clear in a remarkably emotional appearance in the Bundestag on Wednesday how dire the situation appears to her. “If we have too many contacts now before Christmas and then it was the last Christmas with the grandparents, then we will have missed something. We should not do that,” he had called in parliament.
During direct negotiations between the federal government and the states, a clear text is said to have been uttered again. The Chancellery is said to have made it clear: as long as there is not enough preparation for what is necessary, Merkel will not accept a new round with the Prime Minister. Too often, the Chancellor has had to experience that her demands have been reduced because there was great pressure to reach an agreement and neither side wanted to break the negotiations. That shouldn’t happen again.
Is the blockade sufficient?
Merkel is said to have spoken with Söder, Müller and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) on Saturday. There was a real preparatory marathon between Chancellor Helge Braun (CDU) and the heads of state chancery.
Unlike in the past, the number of supporters of a hard course grew steadily even before the conference: Armin Laschet (CDU) from North Rhine-Westphalia, Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) from Baden-Württemberg, Michael Kretschmer (CDU) from Saxony, Markus Söder (CSU)) from Bavaria – all went verbally and in part with their own state decisions in advance for the national shutdown.
The question now remains whether the lockdown is sufficient. It is true that the numbers would continue to rise for “around ten days” because the infections that would later be detected have already occurred, says Merkel. However, based on the experiences with the spring lockdown and the findings in other countries, it can be expected that the measures that have been decided now will reduce contacts and thus also infections.
Söder, who spoke almost twice as much as the chancellor at that day’s press conference and was very supportive of the state, cautions against being overly optimistic. The closing is scheduled for January 10. But he also explicitly said: “While it lasts. Corona does not adhere to Prime Minister’s Conference dates, Corona does not adhere to holidays.”
