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rehe partial closure of next week in Germany faces misunderstanding in the hotel and catering industry. “Many entrepreneurs in the hospitality and catering sector fluctuate between anger and despair,” said the general director of the association “Family entrepreneurs”, Albrecht von der Hagen.
The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga) warned that tens of thousands of businesses threatened to go bankrupt without extensive financial support. Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) urged the affected companies to take legal action. Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to explain the federal government’s crown policy in a government statement on Thursday.
Following the approximately 20-minute speech, an hour and a half debate is scheduled in the Bundestag. At night, Merkel and her colleagues from the EU connect by video. In view of the strength of the second corona wave in Europe, the EU heads of state and government want to seek a common line in testing and vaccination strategies.
The federal and state governments decided on Wednesday the most drastic measures since the great spring shutdown. As of Monday, hotels, restaurants, cinemas and theaters, among others, will close for the entire month of November. Only a few people can meet privately during this time. Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a “national effort” and emphasized: “We have to act, and now. We have to act to avoid an acute national health emergency ”. Unlike the spring, schools, nurseries, and stores must remain open.
Businesses that are particularly affected by the new rules will receive a large portion of their lost sales from the federal government. For this, an emergency aid of up to ten billion euros is planned. “This is great support, so we hope that all companies can have a good time this month,” Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Wednesday night in a “special” from ZDF.
However, Dehoga CEO Ingrid Hartges warned of the end of numerous companies. “With the second closure, a third of the 245,000 farms will not survive the winter. Without comprehensive compensation assistance, they are threatened with bankruptcy, ”he told the Funke media group newspapers (Thursday). Many companies are already considering filing a lawsuit. Support for this came from the Vice President of the Bundestag, Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP). He told the “Rheinische Post” (Thursday): “I call on all those affected to take legal action against these measures.”
The executive director of the association “Family entrepreneurs”, Albrecht von der Hagen, said that the closure should not turn into a landslide. If the state decides that the businesses will be closed, it must also take responsibility for the financial consequences and pay compensation. “Otherwise entire industries will start to clear.”
The credit bureau Crif Bürgel also warned of a wave of bankruptcies. At the end of October, more than 8,300 restaurants, pubs, cafes and coffee houses in Germany are at risk of bankruptcy, according to an analysis by the German press agency. That’s 14.5 percent of the companies surveyed.
The Restaurants to Enjoy and Eat union called for increased financial support for employees who now have a part-time job. “The announced financial aid of ten billion euros for November should also be used to compensate for the salary losses of employees who are sent to work on reduced time,” NGG president Guido Zeitler told the media group’s newspapers. Funke. He told the “Rheinische Post”: “For many companies in the hotel industry, the new massive and rapid unaided lockdown amounts to a fatal blow.”
The director of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, Andreas Gassen, criticized in an “Extra” ARD on Wednesday night that the pandemic could not be managed sustainably with a lockdown. “Then we will have to develop a new strategy, we cannot enter a blockade every two months.” You want to protect risk groups more strongly, for example.
Stiftung Patientenschutz welcomes the strictest restrictions
The German Foundation for Patient Protection, however, welcomed the stricter restrictions. “The federal and state governments had to act consistently,” said Eugen Brysch, a member of the board. “The greatest danger comes from private contacts, parties and meetings.”
Berlin Prime Minister Michael Müller (SPD) spoke on Wednesday of a “harsh and bitter day”. But it is simply about saving human lives. “If we look now, we won’t be able to help many people.”
SPD health politician Karl Lauterbach said Wednesday night on the ZDF talk show “Markus Lanz”: “I think this is a great success, you really have to say it. Germany came out of the first wave better than many other European countries. And the question now is: can we repeat that. “
The Greens were divided. Parliamentary group leader Katrin Göring-Eckardt explained: “We are forced to support drastic cuts to the core to curb rising infections, protect people and prevent the healthcare system from being overwhelmed. Now it is showing how fatal it was that the summer months were not used to prepare for this phase of the pandemic. “
Karliczek puts the requirements of masks into play in schools
Meanwhile, Federal Minister of Education Anja Karliczek welcomed the decision of the federal and state governments to keep schools and kindergartens open. “Corona’s time must not become lost time for students,” said the CDU politician. The burden on families is unlikely to increase.
“Schools must not continue to become hot spots for the crown,” emphasized the minister. She suggested an expansion of the mask requirement in German schools. “We have to try everything to keep the schools open in the coming weeks.”
The president of the Association of German Teachers, Heinz-Peter Meidinger, criticized the decision to keep the schools fully open. “I would like to doubt whether a shutdown light can work if schools are largely excluded,” said Meidinger of the “Passauer Neue Presse.”
“Horrified by ignorance and contempt for sports and clubs”
Representatives of popular and amateur sports in Germany reacted to the impending crown restrictions with sometimes harsh criticism. “I am appalled by the ignorance and contempt for sport and clubs,” said the president of the Saxon Football Federation (SFV), Hermann Winkler. “Wherever, especially on a voluntary basis, hygiene concepts have been developed with great effort that are effective, and where there is hardly any infection, they are closed,” he complains.
In Baden-Württemberg, the head of the State Sports Association (LSV), Elvira Menzer-Haasis, said: “I am disappointed that the great efforts and good examples in our state could not prevent such a serious decision.”
The president of the Hamburg Football Association criticized that “it was difficult to convey that children and young people can sit together in school and then not play sports together outdoors.” Even amateur sports will have to make their contribution to contain the pandemic. However, sport on the court “is not the cause of infections,” said Dirk Fischer.
“We respect the measures now decided by the federal and state governments, which have far-reaching consequences. If amateur football can do its part to achieve the common goal of winning the fight against the virus, then there is no doubt that it will, no buts or yes! This is something natural in this extremely difficult and unprecedented situation for our entire society, ”said Rainer Koch, president of the Bavarian Football Association.
“It was important and correct that the policy now also established clear and binding regulations for everyone,” Koch said. But it is “especially important that this does not become permanent, especially since we now know that the risk of infection in sport is extremely low.” The fact that clubs and associations are now repeatedly faced with extreme challenges is obvious when we think about the fact that members have to stay away, they can walk away completely or that children can no longer have access to football at the club. ” said the 61-year-old technician.
For the head of DLV, Jürgen Kessing, the renewed closure of the sports facilities, especially for the amateur sector, is “a difficult decision”. It was to be expected that athletics, as part of its overall social responsibility, would be affected by measures against the crown’s global pandemic, said the president of the German Athletics Association.
Sport in Germany, in particular, has shown that good hygiene concepts in popular and top-level sports make it possible to play sports and contribute to social cohesion even in crown times. “That is why we must continue to convince with a good implementation and hygiene concepts in the future so that the federal government’s decision can be reversed as of December,” said Kessing.
Interim partnership: cultural deforestation threatens
The Federal Drama Association (BFFS) criticized the planned closure of theaters as pointless. The federal and state governments agreed to slash public life in November. In addition to gastronomy, leisure facilities such as cinemas and theaters are about to close.
“Especially the smaller, non-publicly funded houses will not survive this new and completely unnecessary blow to the bow,” says an open letter posted online by the theater association.
They would have supported all previous protection measures. “They were painful and plunged many of us into existential crises,” the association writes. But they would have recognized it as necessary to stop the exponential spread of the virus.
Today, there are far fewer seats taken in theaters than in the past. There are only a few public places that are this safe, the association wrote. Closing theaters now, although “they don’t pose a risk,” is not sensible or reasonable. “The result will be unprecedented cultural deforestation.”
