Corona summit: majority of Germans endorse upper limit for private parties

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Family celebration outdoors

The number of infections in Germany is increasing, and the situation could worsen again in autumn. Chancellor Angela Merkel and the prime ministers of the federal states are therefore discussing further measures in the fight against the coronavirus this Thursday (read the details here).

The group also has private celebrations in mind. "Unfortunately, the last few weeks have shown that celebrations in family or friends can spread infections," says the resolution proposal for the switching conference. It is therefore considered to limit the scope of such celebrations in the future with a "framework": According to this, a maximum of 25 people should be able to participate in celebrations in one's own apartment or on one's own property, and 50 people in rented rooms.

Most Germans seem to understand such restrictions. The question "Should nationwide uniform personal upper limits be introduced to combat the coronavirus?" More than two thirds answered a survey by the opinion research institute Civey for SPIEGEL with "yes, definitely" or with "rather yes". Only a little over 25 percent answered this question with "probably no" or with "no, definitely not".

There is a lot of support for the plans, especially among the supporters of the CDU / CSU, SPD, Greens and the Left. On the other hand, the sympathizers of the FDP are more critical. Of AfD supporters, not even 33 percent advocate uniform participation restrictions for private celebrations.

Merkel and the Prime Ministers are discussing the strategy to combat the corona pandemic for the first time since June. Basically, it is a question of whether it is possible to achieve more uniform rules again after the countries had always taken their own measures in the past few weeks.

Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) had reiterated his call for nationwide uniform corona rules even before Merkel's meeting with the state leaders. "It would be good if we have a mechanism that applies to everyone," said Söder on Thursday in the ZDF "Morgenmagazin". There are increasing numbers of infections, for example from returning travelers and an "abundance of cities where we have real problems". "We mustn't ignore that," said Söder.

He admitted regional differences between Bavaria and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, for example, but a uniform mechanism would make sense. "The control mechanism has to be: Where the numbers increase, the measures have to be more effective," said Söder.