Corona summit over, all questions clarified?
Not at all.
Now the borders and the economy come into focus.
And Friedrich Merz once again targets Peter Altmaier.
At the Corona summit on Wednesday, questions about the lockdown in Germany were initially clarified.
But the top politicians remain under pressure.
Problems threaten, among other things, with the border closings.
There is also a risk of turbulence in the CDU: Friedrich Merz is again criticizing - of all things, Minister of Economics Altmaier.
Berlin / Munich - The most striking of the open corona questions have been clarified * - and have been vigorously defended by the Chancellor and Prime Minister: Lockdown until March 7, openings from an incidence of 35, school openings in the hands of the federal states.
But there is no breathing space for politics.
The next questions are already coming into focus.
And they have it all too.
For example, there is a risk of a dispute with the EU over the German border closings - and a problem with the currently so important care of the elderly.
The economy continues to groan under the corona-related closings.
The question of how to proceed after the ominous 7th of March is dawning on the horizon, and finally the upcoming state elections *.
Merkel and Söder complete Corona explanation tour - dispute over the borders threatens
On Friday it was again time for the explanatory and defense speeches.
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) appeared again in front of the cameras on ZDF for a television interview.
She explained details of the opening steps and, as in her government statement, admitted errors in fighting the pandemic in autumn.
With Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), a main protagonist of the crisis in the Munich state parliament did the same.
He recently indicated sympathy for no-Covid strategies, as reported by
Münchner Merkur
*.
But the Federal Republic is currently still a long way from such spheres.
One of the concerns is the spread of virus mutations in border areas.
On Thursday the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Interior Minister announced border closings for Austria and the Czech Republic.
There are also restrictions for Slovakia.
However, they encounter concerns with the EU in Brussels.
The EU Commission appealed to Germany to allow exceptions for commuters.
However, Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) firmly rejected this.
He said the federal government would not "stand idly by as the virus mutation spills over to us".
Border controls in the heart of Europe are painful, but currently unavoidable.
Corona: Several borders close - Seehofer is defending itself against the EU, but there are also domestic concerns
However, it is also clear that the devil is in the details.
As Seehofer's ministry announced on Friday evening, from Sunday onwards only Germans, foreigners with residence and right of residence in Germany, seasonal agricultural workers and health workers will be allowed to enter from the Czech Republic and large parts of the Austrian state of Tyrol.
Spouses, registered partners, underage children and parents of underage children are therefore also allowed to come, but only if they cross the border together with the German relative.
Truck drivers and other transport personnel in freight transport are also exempt from the ban.
In addition, entry for urgent humanitarian reasons - such as a death - should be allowed.
Test and quarantine regulations also apply in exceptional cases.
There should be no restrictions on entry to certain border crossings.
But the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IHK) in the Bavarian border region with the Czech Republic warned on Friday that the border would actually be closed.
“The number of infections is currently high in the border region to the Czech Republic.
If the staff in the hospitals were to drop out, it would be very bitter, ”said Peter Belina from the Chamber of Commerce for Upper Franconia.
In the worst case, individual care facilities and companies would have to close completely, the IHK feared.
According to Deutsche Bahn, long-distance traffic to Tyrol and the Czech Republic has been suspended until further notice.
Corona in Germany: Altmaier defends himself - but suddenly Merz shoots across
The economy is also worried elsewhere.
Minister Peter Altmaier * (CDU) defended the procedure for paying out the long-promised aid.
"It's not about little things, but billions of dollars," emphasized Altmaier.
Incidentally, it is part of a democracy "that decisions are made by a minister alone in the rarest of cases".
In the direction of the critics, including from within his own ranks, Altmaier said, "Assigning blame doesn't help anyone, it ultimately harms everyone".
An old acquaintance seemed to see it at least a little differently: Friedrich Merz.
"The school bureaucracy is not keeping pace with the Corona challenge, the financial administration is not included in the disbursement of the aid," tweeted the failed CDU presidency applicant *.
"So trust in politics is lost at a time when it particularly needs the trust of the population." The request to speak can also be understood as a criticism of Altmaier - for whose post Merz had publicly applied.
There are undoubtedly problems.
“I am very worried that we will not recognize our inner cities when things are more or less normal again.
Many shops will not survive the pandemic - the industry association speaks of around 50,000 imminent bankruptcies in the retail sector, ”said the chief executive of the Association of Cities and Towns, Gerd Landsberg, of the
Passauer Neue Presse
.
There was an unusually emotional dispute in the Bundestag on Friday about a special grant for Hartz IV recipients, as
Merkur.de *
reported.
Corona easing?
WHO already warns - "Now is no time for any country"
Incidentally, regardless of all these problems, the World Health Organization (WHO) also has a clear opinion on faster ways out of lockdown.
The number of new deaths worldwide has been falling for two weeks, the number of new infections for four weeks, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Geneva on Friday.
"This seems to be due to the fact that countries enforce the protective measures more strictly."
He combined this with a warning: complacency was out of place, he emphasized.
“Now is not the right time for any country to loosen up measures, nor is it the right time for individual people to relax their vigilance,” said Tedros.
(
fn / dpa / AFP
)