Angela Merkel's Corona appearance in the Bundestag: someone explains it to the government

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Group leader Brinkhaus, Chancellor Merkel (in June 2019)

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Kay Nietfeld / DPA

First of all, Basta-style defense is the order of the day: "All countries that got through the pandemic better than we did, first had a radical lockdown and first clubbed the numbers down, beat them down." So it was right, now continue to aim for lower corona incidences, as agreed by the federal and state governments the day before.

And further, with a view to last summer: "We come from incidences below ten, below five, and we have to go there again to get the openings."

These are ambitious numbers, the goals from the no-covid strategy for which the Chancellor probably has sympathy.

Of course, the stresses are very severe, especially for schoolchildren and families, "of course it's an imposition - but it is also an imposition that over 60,000 people have died in this country."

Germany in the corona trap

It is the best appearance this Thursday morning in the Bundestag when Angela Merkel gives her government statement on the latest shutdown extension.

Because here not only defends government policy, but also offers perspectives beyond the necessary shutdown.

Because the corona trap that Germany is now sitting in is not solely due to a natural disaster, i.e. a virus.

A large part of the current problems are man-made, or rather: policy-made.

• First and foremost there is the massive delay in the vaccination campaign due to a failed purchasing policy;

• then the inconsistent implementation of the shutdown in some areas, such as home office or quarantine surveillance after entry;

• Germans can still travel all over the world;

• The Corona-Warn-App fulfills its protective function primarily against user data;

• there are no approved rapid tests for everyone;

• There are hardly any ventilation solutions for daycare centers and schools that go beyond the concept of opening windows;

• many health departments are still improvising and dabbling to themselves.

Back to the Bundestag, where perspectives were suddenly offered: "There are a lot of things that still need to be done." Firstly, testing and ventilation strategies are needed for the schools, and secondly, the software problem must be solved at the health authorities and quality management introduced Thirdly, it is important to think about how new residents can always be vaccinated and protected in old people's homes, and fourthly, a vaccination strategy is needed for 2022.

With all due respect for globalization, the EU must be able to produce its own vaccine independently of other governments.

In addition, Germany has a moral obligation to make vaccines available worldwide.

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This speech contained everything a good government statement needs.

Only: It wasn't the government statement.

All quotes come from Union faction leader Ralph Brinkhaus, not from the Chancellor.

Brinkhaus has already been perceived as an antithesis to Merkel in earlier Bundestag debates, she has sometimes criticized.

But this Thursday, Brinkhaus is less of an antipole, but a necessary addition.

The 52-year-old shows what the Chancellor is now missing in this crisis.

Merkel's speech seems strangely dull against Brinkhaus' tackle.

At the height of her government statement, the Chancellor issues a kind of protocol note on the federal-state resolutions from the previous day.

Childcare and school lessons have priority, she says, "and yet at this point I had wished that we would also make decisions based on the incidence".

But she accepted that "the countries also have their own cultural sovereignty."

That was the compromise in the federal-state resolution: that the federal states should decide for themselves.

In plain language: Angela Merkel once again distances herself from the federal states' plan to continue opening schools from Monday.

Political protocol notes are now generally submitted by those who have fallen into a position of weakness due to a lack of power or a majority, but still insist on their point of view, but do not want to refuse as a whole.

Among other things, the small and politically rather light federal state of Saxony-Anhalt has done this with past Corona resolutions.

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But a chancellor?

Constitutional lawyer Christoph Möllers recently even said in an interview with SPIEGEL that Merkel could theoretically rule through if she wanted: "The federal government can finally regulate the fight against the pandemic."

There are very good reasons for not doing this.

But Merkel is doing even less: since the beginning of the crisis she has repeatedly drawn back on the policy of minutes.

Sometimes she said that she had hoped for more;

Another time she attested that the ministerial presidents' lack of consistency.

Finally, on Thursday she too recalled the successes of last summer, the low incidences "which today seem fantastic."

And then?

“We weren't careful or fast enough.

In response to the signs of the second wave and the warnings of the scientists, we did not shut down public life early and not consistently enough. "

Merkel's "we" is a passive "I".

She wouldn't have done it like that, she always put her doubts on the record - but let it do it to herself and the country.

It remains with justification attempts and perseverance slogans.

"We have to be persistent and we have to be patient," she says: "In the end, we can work together to defeat this pandemic."

She doesn't say: We can do it.

The corona crisis, that much is clear, will extend beyond your reign.

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