»Anne Will« with talk about Corona and the Union's candidate for chancellor: Speeches in the fog

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A moment of pleasant nostalgia: German politicians in Anne Will's studio

Photo: NDR / Wolfgang Borrs

This program actually consisted of two: First, the discussion at Anne Will was devoted to the question of who the Union will nominate as candidate for chancellor, then it was about Corona.

Both are related, but in reverse order: The quality of the political pandemic fight will have a major impact on who wins the federal election.

Apart from that, it was good to be able to take a break from Trump, even from virologists, and to experience a round almost like before, when the future of the CDU was the most important conceivable question - a moment of comforting nostalgia.

The appearance was already pleasing: No masks, only one of the guests, namely Markus Söder, was switched on, but everyone else was sitting together in the studio.

Everything was as it has been for so long, but oh, it was just an optical illusion.

It was already late when the Green Robert Habeck summed up the show, the situation and the state of the time in a beautiful sentence: "We're talking in a fog!" He specifically meant that due to the low sequencing of the coronaviruses in Germany, no reliable ones Data is available on how much the mutated variants of the virus have already spread here.

But his exclamation was also useful as a qualification for the broadcast and as a general time diagnosis.

The future is in your own disinfected hands

For the first time in living memory, there is a federal election in which not one incumbent is running for re-election.

It was already perceived as a kind of political law: election campaigns are simulated and in the end Angela Merkel wins.

And anyone who was convinced of their opponent in the legendary »television duels« and voted for the SPD helped her to victory.

This year, however, a new chapter in West German history will be opened, although it cannot be read exactly yet, one can only guess.

That was then eagerly pursued in the first part of the program: Who might be the Union's candidate for chancellor?

Nobody knows, but some would like to know, especially Armin Laschet or Markus Söder, but they, like us, are: in the fog.

The development of the pandemic is also an issue for prophets.

It can hardly be assumed that this experience will have no political consequences.

Anyone who, as a citizen, learns how badly prepared the state is for the epidemic and that the future lies in their own disinfected hands, will probably not want to return to normal political operations in the old Federal Republic.

But this development is still nothing more than a silhouette in the fog.

Volker Bouffier, the Hessian Prime Minister, took on the role of the wise interpreter of the world and underlined the group with sonorous monologues that were intended to calm and evoke.

His statements were like eternal truths: Nothing new under the sun, all human effort is chasing the wind and who knows what will be in autumn.

He could have played the show alone without any problems, the blood pressure of the viewers would have dropped noticeably, it was not very informative, but also not unpleasant.

So much for this voice from the CDU on the future of the Union, but Markus Söder also remembered himself again.

He looked very pale.

As Bouffier correctly recalled: "We do 15 hours a day!" You always ask a lot from politicians and in times of Corona even more.

And then they should not only control the situation, but also interpret it.

You are overwhelmed and you realize: You are talking in the fog.

Fight?

Maybe next Sunday

Christian Lindner, Robert Habeck and Saskia Esken also spoke from there.

All three represent parties that could be considered as coalition partners of the Union - a consequence of Angela Merkel's well-known political versatility and the global shift to the right of the political scene: the differences between the Union, Liberals, Social Democrats and Greens are minimal when compared with the Relates the positions of the US Republicans.

This is gratifying for Germans and Europeans, but frustrating for the audience of such a program, because the group remains very quiet.

One is almost happy about the goosebumps-causing warning "Sharks: ice cold!" - but it was part of the announcement of an animal show the following day.

It is regrettable that Foreign Minister Heiko Maas' position was not put up for discussion.

He proposed restituting the basic rights of vaccinated people more quickly.

Those who do not fall ill and, if the tests confirm this, cannot infect anyone, can feel and move freely again - this is a suggestion that such a group could argue about.

Maybe next Sunday.

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