Today we are once again dealing with the calls for a tough lockdown, with the breakthrough in the EU financial dispute and the federal budget that is up for vote in parliament.
The full hardness - but only later
The chorus of corona fighters is swelling louder and louder these days: There is no other way, we need a
hard lockdown
!
The appeals of the Chancellor and the Prime Minister cannot be emotional enough.
On Thursday,
Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller
tried
particularly blatant words:
»How many dead is a shopping experience worth to us? How many deaths do we want to accept for a nice visit to a restaurant, for a candlelight dinner? How many dead for a movie? I want to hear specifically from those who are constantly criticizing. "
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Festive lighting in Frankfurt am Main: Christmas in lockdown?
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa
The day before, it was
Angela Merkel
who spoke to the mulled wine drinkers on the street in the Bundestag because their pleasure was partly responsible for "that we have death toll of 590 a day".
Yes, the corona situation is threatening, without a doubt.
Yes, we cannot avoid turning public life down as far as possible in order to finally minimize the risk of infection.
To save lives.
But with all due respect: how politicians seem to shift responsibility for the dramatic worsening of the crisis on to the citizens alone is pretty cheap.
Of course, there are the deniers, the complainers, there are
the many unreasonable people
who unnecessarily exhaust the applicable rules, ignore them again and again and thus take their effect.
But the majority of people are sticking to what politics told them to do more than a month ago.
The majority of people now agree that the rules are not enough.
At the end of October, the Chancellor and the federal states
agreed
on a
lockdown light
.
Incidentally, this also means that the “nice restaurant visit” or the “cinema visit”, which SPD man Müller speaks of, are currently - rightly - not possible.
Even then, politics could have enacted a tougher breakwater.
It didn't, it kept schools, daycare centers, shopping centers and local public transport open.
It even stayed with it a week ago when the measures were extended to January 10th and exceptions for Christmas were decided.
You don't have to blame those who decided.
It was a well-intentioned attempt to achieve the goal with comparatively mild means.
But now the prime ministers should be honest and say:
We were wrong.
Instead, people argue very loudly about the irresponsibility and recklessness of the population in order to demand tougher measures.
Remarkably, the lockdown is not supposed to begin as soon as possible, but only after Christmas or just before it.
The suspicion is obvious that the lucrative pre-Christmas business should be taken away.
"That is the Ischgl method that turned the Austrian ski resort into a Corona Superspreader last winter," writes my colleague Sebastian Fischer.
"There is no such thing as a market-compliant fight against pandemics."
Until everything closes down at some point, people will storm the pedestrian zones to buy gifts for loved ones and, in the worst case, drive the infection rate up further.
And for that they will probably have to hear scolding from those who couldn't bring themselves to act immediately.
The federal and state governments still have the chance to show that they really mean business when they describe the seriousness of the situation in dramatic terms.
Saxony
, whose government has long underestimated the virus, has shown how public life will be shut down on Monday, with all the brutal side effects.
On Sunday, when the Chancellor and the country leaders connect again, they can follow suit.
New corona study: Children really are that contagious
The Chancellor breathes a sigh of relief
In the middle of the worsening corona drama, there is
a moment of happiness
for
Angela Merkel
.
It brought the
German EU Council Presidency
to a successful conclusion.
At the last summit of the year, which will end today in Brussels, the 27 European leaders paved the way for the next seven-year budget and the Corona aid package.
The billions can flow.
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Chancellor Angela Merkel
Photo: Olivier Matthys / AP
This became possible because Germany
negotiated
a last-minute
compromise
with
Hungary and Poland
on the so-called rule of law
mechanism.
It is supposed to urge right-wing conservative states like Hungary and Poland to uphold the basic EU values - otherwise the money tap will be turned off.
So everything is fine?
If everyone feels like a winner, "skepticism is appropriate," comments our Brussels correspondent Markus Becker.
In fact, the sword will remain rather blunt at first; in the short term, Hungary, Poland or other law-makers will not face any sanctions, as the European Court of Justice will first examine the legality of the mechanism.
That could take more than a year, and
Viktor Orbán will
continue to create facts
during this time
.
The Chancellor knows this, but can point out that it has been possible to implement such a rule of law mechanism for the first time.
She is also concerned, especially now in the corona crisis, with the big picture, with the
Union's ability to act
.
Without an agreement, the EU would have threatened an emergency budget and the urgently needed aid from the reconstruction package would have been blocked.
Last but not least, the compromise also makes it easier for the member states to agree to the more stringent climate target for 2030.
Comment on the EU budget agreement: And the loser is ... the rule of law
179,800,000,000 euros
Debt brake?
Black zero?
That was once.
When the
Bundestag
approves the
budget
for the coming year
on Friday
, the way will be clear for
record new borrowing
: 179.8 billion euros.
The corona crisis is creating gaping gaps in the state coffers because tax revenues collapse and expensive rescue packages have to be paid for.
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Finance Minister Olaf Scholz
Photo: HANNIBAL HANSCHKE / REUTERS
Finance Minister Olaf Scholz
, spoiled for years by lavish surpluses, has quickly mutated into the debt king.
Even if he can't help it.
For the 2022 budget, the Social Democrat has already promised
to comply with
the
debt brake
rules
again.
No wonder, the budget is drawn up shortly before the general election, and the title of debt king is not so good for a candidate for chancellor.
Until then, Germany only has to get the pandemic under control.
Financial policy in the corona crisis: The biggest mistake the coalition can make now
Loser of the day ...
... are fans of the Ikea catalog.
The Swedish furniture store announced this week that it will appear for the last time in 2021 after 70 years - at least in a printed version.
Who hasn't leafed through this classic of consumer culture, this "furnished novel" (Hellmuth Karasek) and rummaged between Jokkmokk, Syltkaka and Klippan for the new bedroom chest of drawers?
Icon: enlarge
Ikea catalog
Photo: JONATHAN NACKSTRAND / AFP
Ikea once boasted that the annual catalog was the most widely read publication after the Bible; at its peak in 2016, around 200 million copies were distributed worldwide in 32 languages and 50 countries.
Over and over.
If you want to indulge in memories - here, in the Ikea Museum, all catalogs since 1950 are available for digital browsing.
The latest news from the night
US government executes prisoner - despite prominent protests:
Kim Kardashian West had campaigned for the prisoner - but without success: a death sentence has been carried out in Indiana.
More are to follow in Trump's remaining term of office
Corona brings a record decrease in CO2 emissions:
Air traffic ceased, industries at a standstill: the effects of the corona crisis are enormous.
And here, for once, positive: Much less carbon dioxide was emitted worldwide in 2020
EU imposes new sanctions on Turkey:
The dispute between the Turks and Greeks over the gas reserves in the Mediterranean continues to smolder.
Now the EU is following up with sanctions against Ankara
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I wish you a good start to the day.
Your Philipp Wittrock
