Turbulent and surprisingly decelerated scenes in the Bundestag: the Corona debates provided unusual images.
The focus is on the ministers Heil and Spahn.
Berlin - There was a rather unusual process to marvel at on Friday afternoon in the German Bundestag: Social affairs chief Hubertus Heil (SPD) put the smartphone aside during an opposition speech - and stormed in the ongoing debate about the social package of Angela Merkel's GroKo, visibly excited Government bank in plenary.
It was about the Corona issue.
And the social democratic honor.
Corona dispute in the Bundestag: FDP criticism of Hartz IV outraged Heil - "led behind the spruce!"
The view of the mobile device is now quite common among government representatives when the opposition speaks - even Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) or Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) sometimes use it almost demonstratively.
The visibly urgent march from the cabinet seats to the parliamentary bench is unusual.
The occasion: Heil felt himself and the public “behind the spruce” when it came to the Hartz IV surcharge and wanted to confront FDP MP Pascal Kober.
The Liberals accused the SPD of a lack of commitment to financially weak people.
In order to be allowed to speak, Heil had to appear as a member of parliament instead of minister for labor and social affairs and “ask” from the ranks of the SPD parliamentary group - hence his sprint.
"Will you allow the
MP
Heil an interim question?", Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) then also smugly asked his party friend.
Kober agreed - and so Heil started an emotional speech.
Corona in Germany: Heil railed against “valued” colleagues - FDP MP Kober rebuffed him
The point of contention: Will the one-off payment of 150 euros for Hartz IV recipients come too late in May?
Kober accused Heil of this - an accusation that the minister “did not want to allow”.
The reason for the rather late payment is the need for a law passed by the Bundestag, called the Minister of Labor.
The federal government has no “cash in hand”, Heil rebuked his “humanly and professionally highly valued” colleague Kober: “What you are doing here is populism!”
However, he let the minister run up: He also appreciates Heil as a human being, said Kober - but added coolly that he had a different "technical and objective assessment" that he had already communicated to Heil almost a year ago: financial aid for Hartz-IV -Recipients could also have been via an additional requirement regulation.
Despite this, Angela Merkel's government had a year to get a law off the ground.
Heil shook his head indignantly - but had to accept that as the last word.
There was no further right to speak for him.
Corona topic in the Bundestag: Hartz surcharge as a 38 cent question?
Social association criticizes the SPD ministry
However, criticism of the surcharge regulation also came from other groups.
For example, the Green MP Sven Lehmann complained that, broken down for the duration of the pandemic, the federal government gave 38 cents per day for Hartz recipients - at best, it was “electoral handouts”.
Left leader Katja Kipping scoffed that as the chairman of a "socialist-democratic party" she could not support accusations that the 150 euro one-off payment was a "socialist" regulation: "That's not even social!"
There was no red-red-green alliance on this issue a good seven months before the federal election - the SPD parliamentary group was more loyal to the coalition: "You have to get a parliamentary salary to find that little," said the SPD member Dagmar Schmidt with a view to the one-off payment - it is “cynical” to claim that the 150 euros are “nothing”.
The Bundestag discussed the issue for the first time on Friday, and the cabinet initiated it on Wednesday.
The President of the Social Association Germany (SoVD), Adolf Bauer, called the measures discussed on Friday “a beginning”, but it was not enough.
Instead of a one-off payment of 150 euros, he demanded "100 euros per month and head for people affected by poverty during the pandemic".
In addition, recipients of housing benefit or child allowance would also have to be included.
Jens Spahn delivers a bizarre moment in the Corona debate: Minister in split screen on smartphone
Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) delivered another small bizarre way a few hours earlier.
He was late for the press conference with RKI boss Lothar Wieler.
The reason was a delay in the Bundestag debate about the extension of the pandemic regulations.
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The minister and his smartphone - Jens Spahn on Friday morning in the Bundestag.
© www.imago-images.de/political-moments
"First the parliament, then the press conference, that's the right order, I think," said Spahn after arriving at Wieler at the nearby federal press conference - probably also in order to prevent further accusations that parliaments would not be taken seriously during the crisis.
To a large extent, however, the minister had probably only listened to the speeches of the MPs: he too practiced looking at his smartphone.
On the Phoenix broadcaster it was sometimes possible to see the split-screen showing how Spahn is being waited for at the federal press conference - while the minister calmly looked at his mobile phone a few meters further in the plenary session of the Bundestag.
Of course, this Bundestag phenomenon is not new either. Before the digital revolution, files were demonstratively rolled over. The dangers of overly open-hearted smartphone use recently felt someone else: Thuringia's Prime Minister Bodo Ramelow. (
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