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With strong cuts, the federal government wants to control the numbers of corona infection starting next Monday. Chancellor Merkel is discussing details with state prime ministers.
The federal and state governments want to control the number of dramatically increasing corona infections with massive contact restrictions during November. As the ARD capital study and the dpa news agency learned from the video consultations between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the state prime ministers, citizens are expected to face massive restrictions in daily life starting next Monday 2 November, not as originally. provided for in the proposed federal resolution – will enter into force on November 4.
After two weeks, around November 11, the Chancellor and the heads of government want to discuss again, evaluate the objectives achieved through the measures and make the necessary adjustments.
At Merkel’s and the Prime Minister’s switchboard, specific contact restrictions are currently being discussed and decided upon. The goal is to curb the growing number of infections by Christmas.
Drastic contact restrictions are provided
The Foreign Ministry’s proposals that the ARD capital study are available, they foresee drastic contact restrictions. You should only be allowed to be in public with members of your own household and those of another household. Groups of people celebrating, whether outside or within their own four walls, are not acceptable in view of the dire situation. Germans should also refrain from private travel. Theaters, opera and concert halls, cinemas, restaurants and bars, as well as amusement parks and facilities for leisure and amateur sports, will be closed again.
Labor Minister Hubertus Heil announced that the Federal Cabinet supported the proposals “unanimously and unanimously.” “The number of infections is increasing dramatically. Protecting health has the highest priority,” Heil said. In view of the increasing number of infections, politics and society should regain control of the epidemic. “I’m counting on us to come up with regulations at the national level.”
Schwesig promotes tough measures
According to dpa, there was already a broad will in advance to make the necessary decisions. Some, like the mayor of Berlin, Michael Müller (SPD), who currently chairs the Prime Minister’s Conference, emphasized that he and his colleagues would like the German government to support a decision. In country circles it was said that consensus had already been reached on many points of the internal preliminary debate. At first it was not clear what points were involved.
Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig campaigned in the Schwerin state parliament to understand the adoption of stricter measures to contain the corona virus. Without further precautions, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania would reach the critical mark of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days to no later than two weeks, the SPD politician said.
Weil wants to learn from the mistakes of the last decisions
Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil advocated disciplined negotiations before deliberations. Your country has a “keen interest” in national regulations and will most likely implement whatever is decided during the talks. “Surely they will not be easy talks,” said the SPD politician at the ARD morning magazine. Those involved agreed to “leave the education system and the economy alone as much as possible.”
Weil expressed concern about the rapidly increasing number of cases. “It goes too fast, too high. And we have to say that with the measures we have taken so far, we have not managed to break this dynamic. And that must happen now.” He asked to learn from “what we did not do well two weeks ago.” The big goal is “that we all have a reasonably peaceful Christmas together.”
“The point now is that we save Christmas”
That is what the leader of the Union parliamentary group, Ralph Brinkhaus, would like. He expected Merkel “to get away with the resolution,” he said on RTL. “The point now is that we save Christmas. That we can celebrate Christmas relatively normally, and we have to fight for that.” This now requires “very strict restrictions”.
Brinkhaus called for uniform crown rules at the national level. “I rightly hope, I hope the understanding of the Prime Minister,” said the CDU politician. “Now is not the time for a patchwork quilt in Germany.” A clear signal must be sent to the people in Germany. This is particularly important for acceptance in the population. The “small states” had been a mistake in the fight against the crown in the past.
Fear of financial consequences
Lower Saxony’s Economy Minister Bernd Althusmann advised against overly severe restrictions. The CDU politician told the “Handelsblatt” that it was not necessary, for example, to close the catering business or close production at Volkswagen. “We don’t need to repeat the hard blocking like we did in the spring.” There are good hygiene concepts.
Saxony Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer called for support for the economy in the event of a shutdown. “The key is: the loss of sales after a four-week shutdown must be compensated by the businessmen,” the CDU politician tweeted.
Thuringian Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow demanded new financial, bridging and emergency aid for a renewed temporary closure of many public areas. Cohesion and solidarity on the one hand, but also a sense of proportion, transparency and parliamentary legitimacy on the part of the Bundestag and the Bundesrat on the other are indispensable, the Left Party politician wrote on Twitter. “The states and the federal government, as well as the state government, the state parliament, the municipalities and all social forces must work together.”
Help for the cultural sector and small businesses
The atmosphere is particularly tense in the cultural sector. The managing director of the German Cultural Council, Olaf Zimmermann, called for more help for the industry. “The corona pandemic threatens us all, and of course the cultural sector is also willing to accept restrictions if they are necessary and proportionate,” Zimmermann said. Without more financial support, this cannot be achieved.
The Federal Minister of Economy, Peter Altmaier, has already promised more financial aid for the self-employed. A wave of bankruptcies or a change in the cultural landscape must be avoided. “That is why we are talking about reasonable alternatives. Today we will make decisions so that infections decrease. But we will speak very intensely about this issue in the coming weeks,” he said in the ARD morning magazine.
Altmaier and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD) also want to reimburse companies that are particularly affected by the Corona crisis, 75 percent of November 2019 sales as current cost subsidies. The newspaper “Bild” had previously reported that up to 75 percent of the gap could be filled in small companies and up to 70 percent in larger companies.
States want to involve the Bundestag
Apparently, the Bundestag should also be more involved in the resolutions. After representatives of parliamentary groups in the Bundestag called for the parliament to be included in the upcoming new restrictions, the demand for a Bundestag resolution for a possible new lockdown is also increasing among the ranks of state leaders. The AFP news agency learned from preliminary deliberations by non-Merkel heads of government that parliamentary support could take the form of a cross-party resolution.
With information from Angela Tesch, ARD capital studio
