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According to a government spokesperson, the federal government is considering measures at the national level if states do not resolutely fight the corona pandemic. “Countries have all the tools at their disposal,” a spokesman said when asked on Saturday. “At the same time, it is considering whether and how the federal government should establish uniform guidelines if the actions of the federal states are not enough to stop the third wave.”
In other words: the Federal Government keeps open the possibility of stronger intervention in Crown policy.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) had already said last Sunday in the ARD program »Anne Will« that the federal states had to »take a step forward” in the fight against the pandemic. She criticized the flexibility of the steps and, at the same time At the time, he made it clear that the federal government, for example, by changing the Infection Protection Act, could take the initiative itself.
Many countries have hardened their course after all
The background to the warning is the rising crown numbers reported by the Robert Koch Institute. The RKI recorded 18,129 new infections on Saturday and therefore fewer than last Saturday (20,472). The seven-day incidence fell to 131.4 from 134 the day before. However, RKI itself points out that the reported figures are incomplete due to Good Friday and cannot be compared with the Saturday of the previous week. According to the RKI, another 120 people have died in connection with the virus.
Chancellor Angela Merkel asked the federal states last Sunday to strictly apply the agreed “emergency brake” in the event of a seven-day increase in incidence of more than 100. However, several federal states want to maintain certain opportunities in the retail trade and prefer to combine them with mandatory testing. Little by little, many countries had hardened their course this week in the face of rising numbers.
Under the Infection Protection Act, federal states are responsible for imposing crown measures. Merkel had indicated in “Anne Will”, however, that the federal government could change the Infection Protection Act and prescribe certain measures for the states. However, this approach is also controversial in government factions.
Criticism of the SPD
Meanwhile, the leader of the SPD parliamentary group, Rolf Mützenich, wanted concrete proposals from the chancellor. If Merkel wanted to act, “I would like her not only to appear in” Anne Will “, but also to present concrete and feasible proposals,” she told the “Passauer Neue Presse”.
Thuringian Interior Minister Georg Maier (SPD) suggested replacing the current Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK) Corona crisis management with a permanent crisis team with representatives from the federal and state levels. The “disastrous” MPK of a week and a half ago caused a great loss of confidence among the population, he wrote in a guest article for “Business Insider” magazine.
Therefore, urgent ways need to be found to relieve the group of operational work in crisis, Maier said. He argued that the MPK should be “provided with a permanent staff structure”, which should be made up of both the federal government and federal states with experienced crisis managers.
“It is completely incomprehensible that the government has not done anything so far”
The president of the left, Janine Wissler, stated that the federal government was “openly accepting that even more people will become ill and die from the crown.” The time to appeal to the federal states has expired.
Specifically, Wissler required that the home office be mandatory and daily tests mandatory for all employees who cannot work at home. “It is completely incomprehensible that the federal government has done nothing to close this weak point in the fight against the pandemic.”
Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier expressed his understanding for the dissatisfaction of many citizens with the unclear crown policy of the federal and state governments. “Just as the pandemic demands a lot from you, it can also demand a lot from politics,” he said according to the handwritten speech in a television address that will air Saturday night. “Your expectations of those in power are clear: gather together!”