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Wednesday December 09, 2020
To update
Merkel for a tough blockade
“The number of contacts is too high”
To cope with the consequences of the corona pandemic, the debt brake will be lifted a second time. Chancellor Merkel defended this with the current exceptional situation. He also advocates tougher measures. The harsh criticism of Corona’s policy comes from the AfD.
In the so-called general debate in the Bundestag, Chancellor Angela Merkel called for a tough shutdown after Christmas. “The number of cases is at an alarming level,” said the CDU politician, referring to the increasing number of intensive care patients and the increasing number of deaths. “The number of contacts is too high. The reduction of contacts is not enough,” Merkel said. “We have to do something, and the federal and state governments together.”
The Chancellor appealed to take seriously the proposals made by the Leopoldina Academy of Sciences on Tuesday. She believes that it is right to close stores after Christmas until at least January 10 and also minimize teaching in schools, Merkel said. “We have to do everything we can to make sure we don’t grow back exponentially.”
The Chancellor also emphasized the importance of individual behavior. “The most important key to successfully combat the virus in our country is the responsible behavior of each individual and the willingness to participate.” She is convinced that the vast majority of the population is willing to continue, for which she is sincerely grateful. “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,” Merkel said.
Merkel explained that the state can act differently in a free democracy than in countries “that look more like a dictatorship.” There is a ray of hope that the first vaccinations can begin early in the new year. In the first trimester, however, it is unlikely that so many vaccinations will be possible that a significant change in the population will be observed.
180 billion of new debt
Merkel also defended the planned new debt of 180,000 million euros. “We are living in a pandemic and therefore in an exceptional situation,” said the CDU politician. “We have to do something to make sure we do something special in this particular situation. That is what this budget expresses.”
Germany is a democratic and economically strong country with social cohesion and a strong civil society, the Chancellor said. “This strength, that is what guides us in this budget, we want to maintain it even in this exceptional situation,” Merkel said. The decision to assume a debt of this magnitude is “anything but easy.” It means a burden on future households and restrictions on future spending and future generations.
AfD criticizes the blockade
At the beginning of the debate, the AfD had harshly criticized the federal government’s crown policy. Opposition leader Alice Weidel spoke of a “catastrophic result for this Corona year.” Merkel’s cabinet policy of blocking was a lie, said the leader of the AfD parliamentary group. “Even after nine months, you are still poking through the fog and holding on to the inappropriate ‘lockdown’ mallet method, which causes more collateral damage than fighting coronavirus.”
Weidel spoke of a “haphazard and grotesque handling” of the pandemic. “They lock up citizens and destroy entire industries,” he told Merkel. Under the “mallet method”, a block is imposed, causing more harm than good. Weidel spoke of the “bag of tricks of the authoritarian government.”
“After 15 years of Merkel, Germany is a country that does not want to protect its borders against illegal immigration, but is imposing curfews on its citizens and sending hordes of police to monitor the use of masks on trains.” He accused the Chancellor of having lost the sense of the needs of the citizens. Merkel was “the best chancellor the Greens and leftists have ever had,” she said, accompanied by numerous outraged boos from members of other parliamentary groups.
Weidel was the first speaker in the so-called general debate, which deals with the budget of the Chancellery. Chancellor Merkel then went to the lectern, but did not respond to Weidel’s accusations. The debate is scheduled for three and a half hours.
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz defended the entire budget on Tuesday. Its draft budget foresees expenses totaling 498.6 billion euros. Due to the high costs of dealing with the corona pandemic, the debt brake anchored in the Basic Law will be lifted a second time. The final vote is scheduled for Friday.
