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AThe federal and state governments were proud of such unity. When they presented Corona’s new restrictions on Wednesday, the prime minister and the chancellor were able to agree on strict measures themselves: restaurants closed, leisure facilities closed, contact restrictions. In the weeks before, mutual agreements had often failed.
But just two days after the meeting, the common line seems to be unraveling, at least in individual details. This can be seen in the resolutions of the federal states, which are now gradually implementing the accords on Wednesday. While some later require even stricter restrictions, others loosen the rules a bit.
Berlin Culture Senator Klaus Lederer (left) explained: “There are points where I have considerable difficulties with the Prime Minister’s decision and I do not consider that the rigor is correct.” They should still be allowed to train in fixed groups of up to ten people and outdoors. Group sports are prohibited for everyone else.
You can only train with a maximum of one other person, and only remotely. As planned, theaters, operas, concert halls and museums will be closed. However, the outdoor facilities of the zoo and animal park remain open. Culture Senator Lederer called on the districts to also leave the playgrounds open.
North Rhine-Westphalia with a special holiday route
However, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania Prime Minister Manuela Schwesig (SPD) called on Thursday for more travel restrictions within Germany. “I am deeply convinced that it is better to have rules for high incidence areas,” Schwesig said in her government statement. Family visits should also be included. These are areas with more than 100 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in seven days.
The resolution of the Prime Minister and the Chancellor only asks citizens to “generally refrain from unnecessary private trips and also from family visits.” As of November 2, overnight stays in hotels and hostels in Germany will only be offered for “necessary and expressly non-tourist purposes”.
For this reason, vacationers from many German tourist regions have to leave on Monday. This was announced, for example, by the Schleswig-Holstein state government on Friday. However, for tourists on the North Sea and Halligen islands, a deadline of November 5 applies. The state government gave the reasons for the ferry traffic and automobile trains.
North Rhine-Westphalia, on the other hand, takes a separate route when it comes to vacations. Tourists who checked into a hotel or guesthouse before Friday can continue their vacation there for the scheduled time. A spokesman for the Health Ministry told the German Press Agency (dpa) on Friday. Those who arrived on Friday or later, however, have to leave on Monday at the latest. In Brandenburg, guests must leave the hotels no later than Wednesday.
The German economy has just recovered
Bavaria, on the other hand, exceeds the agreed base. While according to the joint decision of the federal and state governments, for example, only entertainment events will be canceled, the Free State goes one step further and prohibits all kinds of events, even declaring on Friday that it wanted to declare a disaster. “Keeping schools and nurseries open is a priority for us,” Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) said in his government statement on Friday.
He stressed that there were fewer stops than in many other European countries. Therefore, one must consider where contacts could be restricted elsewhere. This is particularly possible in the leisure sector. Lower Saxony Prime Minister Stephan Weil (SPD) also expressly warned once again on Friday: “If we fail to control infections, much tougher measures are threatened.”
The new crown restrictions come at a time when the German economy has just recovered. Gross domestic product (GDP) increased in the third quarter compared to the previous quarter by 8.2 percent, as the Federal Statistical Office said on Friday. This means that the German economy grew faster than ever in the summer. However, the effects of the corona pandemic can still be felt. Compared to the same quarter of the previous year, GDP between July and September was still 4.2 percent lower.
Significantly stronger cuts in the current year
Overall, the federal government expects GDP to decline 5.5 percent this year due to the historic drop in the first half of the year. This was announced by the Federal Minister of Economy, Peter Altmaier (CDU), in the autumn projection of the federal government on Friday. “So far, Germany has weathered the crisis better than many other countries because we acted decisively together during the first wave of the pandemic,” Altmaier said. Therefore, this year’s recession will be less drastic than initially feared.
However, economists are taking significantly tougher cuts for the current year. The German Economic Institute (IW), which is close to the employer, expects GDP to decline by 7.25 percent. One percentage point is at the expense of the current lock. The new restrictions are unlikely to have any effect on the labor market at first, IW’s labor market expert Holger Schäfer told WELT. There the effects would not be seen for a few months.
“The economic recovery continues and falls with the increased development of the infection rate,” said Federal Minister of Economy Altmaier. For next year, the federal government is assuming an increase in gross domestic product of 4.4 percent and for 2022 by 2.5 percent. Therefore, the pre-crisis level would be reached again in early 2021/2022 at the earliest.
