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The prime minister and the chancellor agree to an extensive blockade to combat the spread of the corona virus. Because, according to Chancellor Merkel: The measures taken so far have not been enough.
This time everything went fast: the Prime Minister’s Conference started at 10 a.m. on Sunday, and Chancellor Angela Merkel, Berlin Mayor Michael Müller, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder and Finance Minister Olaf Scholz met for a joint press conference at the Chancellery at ten past eleven.
The measures, which were extended just eleven days ago, on December 2, would not have been enough, says Merkel. Söder even says that Corona was “out of control”. The closing light that was decided at the end of October was not enough.
“Our goal has always been to avoid overloading the healthcare system.” So there is an “urgent need for action,” Merkel added. The goal remains “to make contact tracing possible again, that is, we need incidents of 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days and less.”
Merkel had already set this target at the end of October when the “closing light” for November was decided. Like then the Chancellor, Söder speaks today of a “national effort”. Unlike October 28, today no one says that this will be limited in time. Because that’s what Merkel had promised at the time: The goal was to be able to “better shape public life again in December, roughly as we know it today.”
Seehofer failed to pass
Merkel and the prime ministers could not fulfill this promise, the infection and death rates are too high. The hard blockade, which many federal states wanted to avoid for a long time, is now yet to come. Retail stores and schools will be closed on December 16, and hair salons and other service providers will also have to close. The fireworks ban continues to apply only to individual locations, not everywhere; this would not be controllable either. But the sale of firecrackers and rockets is generally prohibited. Söder justifies this mainly by the fact that hospitals should not carry an additional burden. Without exception, the public consumption of alcoholic beverages will be prohibited from December 16 to January 10.
Overall, the outcome of this Prime Minister’s Conference, or MPK for short, is not only stricter, but also clearer than usual in recent months. The amount of information entered in advance was also limited. That was equally welcome: the preliminary rounds between the federal states, the Chancellery, and the ministries were significantly smaller this time. In addition, the conference was not developed through video as usual, but as a telephone switch. This allowed some prime ministers to spend at least the first part of Sunday at home. Also with a view to possible leaks, a conference call was expected to create a more private atmosphere. According to the participants, this appears to have been successful: when there were technical problems connecting the federal interior minister, Horst Seehofer, with the group, Söder commented to general amusement that the line was actually safe against eavesdropping.
Implementation rests with the federal states
Although this MPK was faster, clearer and more discreet than before, not all questions have been clarified. That is not possible otherwise, because the federal states are responsible for implementing the resolutions. It should clarify if and when there are exit restrictions: the MPK decision states that local measures “should” be “considered” in the regions at the latest “, including extensive exit restrictions if the incidence of more than 200 new infections for each 100,000 inhabitants per week is exceeded. ” There is no obligation to do so. Bavaria, for example, has issued exit restrictions across the state. North Rhine-Westphalia Prime Minister Armin Laschet, on the other hand, said at a press conference after the MPK that his state would not do that. In NRW the incidence of 7 days is 162, in Bavaria it has just exceeded 200.
The implementation of school closings is also the responsibility of the federal states. The joint resolution only stipulates that from December 16 to January 10, schoolchildren must “be cared for at home whenever possible.” Schools and day care centers will be closed during this period, “or compulsory attendance will be suspended.”
When Söder said there were only three days left outside of the regular Christmas holidays (i.e. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday next week), Merkel pointed out that there were more in other countries: in Bavaria and a few others In the federal states, the Holidays run until January 9, but in most federal states they end earlier. In any case, emergency care must be guaranteed. In order for school children to stay at home, “additional opportunities” must be created for parents to take paid leave to care for their children until January 10.
Merkel does not give a forecast beyond January 10
Unlike the end of October, this time Merkel has not decided when the measures will end. The federal state regulations would apply “first” until January 10. How things will continue in early January “we can’t say yet,” the foreign minister said. Laschet also said later in Düsseldorf that it was not yet possible to venture any forecast beyond January 10. If necessary, there will be additional measures.
The ruling mayor of Berlin, Müller, who is president of the conference of prime ministers, does not want to accept criticism of the state’s actions so far. They acted “very quickly and decisively, all the prime ministers,” he says. Individual measures can always be discussed, but “in the big picture” it is important that the measures are carried out together, “and now we are successful again.” Müller emphasizes that “it is not necessary to do everything possible”.
Finance Minister Scholz notes that members of the federal government have vowed to “avoid harm to the German people, and that is exactly what it is all about now.” He sees the decision as proof that federalism works. “The fact that we act together is also a sign that we have made correct and well thought out decisions.”
When asked if such a decision should not have come sooner, Merkel says: “Today is not really the day to look back or to ask what would have happened if, rather, it is the day to do the right thing.” Söder notes that his position on this issue “has been known for months.” This is not because he knew better, but because “it affected us more from the beginning.”
