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Corona: Ski Zoff escalates! Austria fires against Germany and Söder - "Demonization of winter tourism"

2020-12-01T20:20:27.689Z


The debate about a Europe-wide closure of the ski resorts is gaining momentum. The Italian Foreign Minister describes the discussion as "surreal".


The debate about a Europe-wide closure of the ski resorts is gaining momentum.

The Italian Foreign Minister describes the discussion as "surreal".

  • The number of

    infections

    during the

    second wave * of

    the

    corona pandemic *

    remains high in Europe.

  • Some leading international politicians are therefore calling for

    the ski areas

    to be

    closed across Europe

    over Christmas.

  • Two neighboring German countries still want to make

    skiing holidays possible

    in the

    Corona winter

    .

Update November 30, 16:05:

The

Austrian Ski Federation (ÖSV)

has demanded in an open letter by the Federal Government of Austria, the

start of the season

for winter sports

hold

- against the will of Germany and other neighboring countries.

"With growing concern we are registering an international campaign against winter sports, which is being led by leading political decision-makers in our neighboring countries," said the letter from ÖSV President

Peter Schröcksnadel

on Monday.

The

“demonization” of winter tourism

is a helpless substitute and not evidence-based.

"In addition, it implicitly supplies the accusation that those countries that are considering opening their winter sports facilities would act irresponsibly," complained the association in the letter.

The

ÖSV

estimates that the

government of Austria

can withstand the pressure from Berlin, Munich, Rome and Paris.

"Winter sports cannot be equated with

party tourism

and unbridled

après-ski

." There are also strict

hygiene concepts

and

space restrictions

.

The President of the Austrian Ski School Association,

Richard Walter

, also signed the letter.

+

In an open letter, the President of the Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) asked the government to keep the season open for winter sports.

(Archive image)

© picture alliance / Expa / Johann Groder / APA / dpa

Ski vacation in the Corona winter: Austria wants to continue opening ski areas

Update from November 29th, 5:57 p.m.: Germany

, France and

Italy

have spoken out in favor of

temporarily suspending

ski tourism

this winter due to the ongoing

corona pandemic

.

Austria

has so far held out strongly against it.

The alpine country does not want to close its ski areas.

Therefore, an Italian expert is now calling for a

quarantine regulation

.

In the case of a company, it is sensible to "provide an isolation period for returnees

to protect the general public

," said Franco Locatelli, President of the Italian Health Council, the newspaper

La Stampa

.

Austria is part of the

EU

and therefore it is “surprising” that Vienna

does not accept

the proposal by the German

Chancellor Angela Merkel

and the Italian government to keep the plants closed to protect against infection.

In Italy, however, the

strict measures taken

in recent weeks are having an effect.

The R-value recently fell further from an average of

1.2 to around 1.1

.

On Sunday, the authorities reported around 20,600 new infections within one day, almost

7,700 fewer

than on the Sunday before.

Corona: Ski vacation in NRW?

Laschet has the areas closed

Update from November 29, 12.45 p.m.:

According to

Armin Laschet

(CDU),

a suspension of

ski tourism

is

currently being checked

for the

Sauerland

.

The North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister told

Deutschlandfunk

on Sunday.

The plan is to approach the operators in the

ski areas

and want to "act in an exemplary manner".

He

cited the

approach taken by

Italy

and

France

as a positive example.

Both countries had announced that they would

close

the

ski slopes

and the

ski lifts

.

With regard to

Austria

,

Laschet

said

: If Austria

refuses to

suspend

ski tourism

, no one can prevent it.

Corona: Ski Zoff escalates!

Austria fires against Germany and Söder - "He has to take note of that"

First report from November 28th, 2.30 p.m .:

Munich - “We will try to vote in Europe on whether we

could

close all ski areas,

” announced Chancellor

Angela Merkel

on Thursday in the Bundestag in Berlin.

Previously, Italy's Prime Minister

Giuseppe Conte

, Bavarian Prime Minister

Markus Söder

, and French President

Emmanuel Macron had campaigned

for the ski areas to be closed.

Austria

and

Switzerland

do not agree and want to open up to winter tourists.

Ski vacation in the Corona winter?

Italy's Foreign Minister describes the discussion as "surreal"

Not being allowed to ski is not a sacrifice

.

This discussion about winter holidays is surreal ”, said the Italian Foreign Minister

Luigi Di Maio

in an interview with the television station 

Rete 4

.

You have to make the last sacrifices

to defeat

the

corona pandemic *

.

"We are closing the ski facilities to avoid

crowds

," explained Di Maio.

Anyone who

goes on a

skiing holiday

in neighboring countries must then

go

into

quarantine

.

“This is how we protect those who stayed home,” he said.

According to Italy's Minister of Transport and Infrastructure,

Paola Di Micheli

, the conditions for a

winter holiday

over the Christmas holidays are

not met

.

"It is clear to me that the operators of the ski facilities strictly

adhere

to the

Corona measures

, but during the holiday season there is more social contact, which can lead to an increase in infections, like the high number of infections during the summer has proven, ”she explained.

Ski vacation in the Corona winter?

Majority of Germans for Europe-wide closure of ski areas

A large

majority of the German population

would currently support a

Europe-wide closure of the ski areas

.

This was the result of a representative

survey conducted by

the opinion research institute Civey on behalf of the

Augsburger Allgemeine

.

73.8 percent

of those surveyed stated that it was "clear" or "rather right"

to close all European ski areas for the time being in order

to contain the

corona pandemic *

.

In

Bavaria

, where the ski areas are not allowed to open until December 20, according to the survey,

around two thirds of those surveyed (

68.6 percent)

said they were

“clearly” or “more likely” in favor of

Europe-wide closure

.

At 25.4 percent, around a quarter of those surveyed thought this was “somewhat” or “clearly wrong”.

+

The debate about a Europe-wide closure of the ski resorts due to the high number of corona infections continues to gain momentum.

© picture alliance / Leandre Duggan / KEYSTONE / dpa

Ski vacation in the Corona winter?

Austria absolutely wants to make winter holidays possible

Anyone

in

Austria

is not in

agreement with the proposal

to close

the

ski areas

across Europe

.

The Minister of Tourism

Elisabeth Köstinger

made

it clear

on Thursday in the program

ZiB2

: "The virus does not spread on the ski slopes, but above all in closed indoor areas." Therefore there will be

no après-ski

this year

.

The

minister said in an interview with

Der Spiegel

that she can

not gain anything from

the

advances made

by other countries

.

Nor do

we give

France

any advice on when it can reopen the Louvre.

Nor do we stipulate in

Italy

or

Germany

when cafes, restaurants or schools can reopen.

Each country

should make

its own decision

based on its infection rate

, ”said Köstinger.

The

EU Commission

has now made it clear that it does not intend to regulate this across Europe. 

Austria and Germany in the ski Zoff: Tyrolean is Bavaria's Söder

"We will do everything to ensure that the number of infections drops and that a

winter holiday in Austria is

 possible," assured

Köstinger

.

Tourism is

indispensable

, especially for rural regions.

The

minister also announced the use of the

police

to

enforce and control the

corona rules

.

"Every cable car company has its Corona officer.

There will be security services at critical points, and the police or cable car employees will also take over the supervision. ”

Köstinger

explained that

she herself will“ certainly ”

go

skiing

in the coming winter

.

After

Köstinger

, the Tyrolean governor also resisted the German demand.

"If the number of infections allows, we will not let Bavaria take our skiing away," said 

Günther Platter (ÖVP)

in a broadcast

 according to 

krone.at 

.

Söder must also take note of this, said Platter, and advised against doing “politics at the expense of other regions”.

Everyone would lose at the end of the day.

Ski vacation in the Corona winter?

Closing the ski areas is not an issue for Switzerland

Resistance to a

Europe-wide closure of ski areas

is also coming from

Switzerland

.

"In Switzerland, the Federal Council, the authorities and the tourism industry are convinced that the Swiss path - for the moment - is the right one and that the winter season can take place safely," said

Markus Berger

, spokesman for

Switzerland Tourism

, on Thursday.

The Swiss ski region

Engadin

in the canton of Graubünden, where Chancellor

Merkel

has been on winter vacation for many years, also expressed its incomprehension about the advances made by other countries.

The hotelier

Thomas Walther

from

Pontresina

told the newspaper

Blick

: "Our hygiene concepts have proven their worth since the summer." Merkel needn't be afraid.

The tabloid headlined on Saturday: “

Ms. Merkel, you are safe with us!

"

Ski vacation in the Corona winter?

France opens ski areas - but ski lifts remain closed

In

France

one has now tried

to find

a

middle ground

.

The

winter sports resorts

are allowed to

open

, but the

ski lifts

remain

closed

.

Prime Minister

Jean Castex

said this 

 in a press conference on Thursday.

The president of the French ski lift association,

Alexandre Maulin

, said he was "devastated".

The start of the season is now flat for skiers.

The French

President Macron

had previously emphasized that opening the 

ski areas

 on the Christmas holidays seemed

"impossible" to

him because of the continued high number of

corona infections *

.

(ph) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital editorial network

List of rubric lists: © Sven Hoppe / dpa

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2020-12-01

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