today we are dealing with the chancellor ambitions of the SPD candidates, the trip to Germany by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the mobile phone as a health consultant.
What does the Supreme Social Democrat want to achieve?
Christof STACHE / AFP
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Issue 45/2019
freedom of speech
About real and perceived boundaries of the wordDigital Edition | Printed Edition | Apps | SUBSCRIPTION
Must a People's Party have the ambition to set up a chancellor candidate in federal elections? No, said Norbert Walter-Borjans , candidate for the SPD party leadership yesterday in the SPIEGEL debate. He does not believe "that at this moment we would be here to set up a Chancellor candidate".
The statement was a bang in the until recently rather tired SPD election campaign, and it was a provocation. So far, many in the Berlin government district had wagered on "NoWaBo" and his partner Saskia Esken as the winner. Did this announcement destroy your chances? What is worthy of a party leader who does not even want to try to gain government power for his party by democratic means? Contending candidate Olaf Scholz (in a team with Klara Geywitz ) has confirmed the opposite: he dares himself the candidacy.
Do not tell anyone the teams are completely interchangeable. Now you, dear readers, can vote on spiegel.de which SPD tandem you prefer. It will be a mood test before the ballot. For undecided SPD members, the result may be a decision-making tool. And the chancellor candidate question would have done depending on the same with.
- Possible party leader: Walter Borjans advises to renounce SPD candidate for chancellor
An American in Mödlareuth
Mary Altaffer / DPA
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spends two days in Germany. The former CIA chief, who was stationed as a soldier in Germany in the Cold War, came on the occasion of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and travels across Germany: in Grafenwoehr and Vilseck he visits sites of the US Army, in Halle the synagogue, on the Recently, an anti-Semitic attack was committed in Mödlareuth the once divided border village and in Leipzig, he met civil rights activists in the Nikolai Church.
It could be a harmonious, nostalgic trip, but beware: there would also be Foreign Minister Heiko Maas , who will often accompany Pompeo. Maas recently showed that he is only on paper chief diplomat of the Federal Republic . First he did not miss a chance for a return coach against Secretary of Defense Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, whose irresponsible Syria attack had angered him. And just in time for Pompeo's arrival yesterday, Maas published a guest contribution to the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in European newspapers, in which he thanked many international allies of that time - but not the US. Bad timing, bad style .
There are enough acute issues that can be argued by the Maas and Pompeo as well: The question of the participation of the Chinese tech giant Huawei in the expansion of the German 5G network, for example. Or the gas pipeline Nordstream 2. Or from the US point of view too puny German defense spending, or, or ...
After all, Pompeo's journey is already more successful than his inaugural visit in May. The US Secretary of State said so few hours in advance, because President Trump needed him elsewhere. This time he has arrived in Germany.
- Foreign Minister Maas: man without passions
Apps on prescription
Michele Tantussi / Getty Images
For a long time now Germans have been consulting not only the doctor but also the internet. If it goes by the will of GroKo, there will even be health apps on prescription in the future. The corresponding law will be passed today in the Bundestag. Apps that remind patients of their pills, for example, would be cash benefits if a doctor has prescribed them. "With the law, Health Minister Jens Spahn wants to profile as the highest digitization expert of the Federal Government," says Cornelia Schmergal, our expert for health issues. "The start-ups will love him for it - the health insurance companies who have to pay less."
By the way, Spahn has defused another, less popular passage of his legal package: the passing on of personal data of more than 70 million patients insured by the law into a mega data pool - it concerns age, sex, place of residence and above all their previous treatments - became last Minute restricted. Thus, the data of patients should no longer be transmitted as originally planned under the insurer number.
- SPIEGEL Government Monitor: Spahn and Giffey are the most popular ministers
Winner or loser ...
Britta Pedersen / DPA
... is the FDP. Whether the Liberals end this day as a winner or loser, is actually still open: Today, it decides definitively whether the FDP in Thuringia will be represented in the state parliament. The State Election Committee will meet and announce the final outcome of the recent election. We remember: Exactly five votes were the FDP "over thirsty", which means an election result of 5,0005 percent. But as we once said in law school: four wins, one passed is passed. If necessary, the FDP could even be called: A vote over it wins.
The compact news overview in the morning: current and opinionated. Every morning (weekdays) at 6 o'clock. Order directly here:
The latest news from the night
- Federal Minister of Economics Altmaier calls for fundamental reform of the political system. The choice of Thuringia was a turning point, he says - and makes concrete suggestions as to what needs to change: including a smaller Bundestag and fewer ministers
- At Lufthansa, the flight attendant's strike has begun : At midnight, the 48-hour campaign started - around 180,000 passengers are affected
- Former Twitter employees are said to have spied on Saudi Arabia , according to US Department of Justice records - the aim was to get private information from critics of the Riyadh government
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
- Hitler's man for the incitement: The rise of Joseph Goebbels
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- "Cannonball" record holder is now developing for VW: The car is allowed to drive itself - the way I want it
- Beautiful writing - the German column: When a dying person writes about life
Have a nice day.
Your Melanie Amann
