The morning situation: is the Union exploding?

Today we deal with the escalation of the mask scandal in the CDU and CSU, with the future of the AstraZeneca vaccine and with Joe Biden's declaration of war on Vladimir Putin.

Downward trend

Let's see who it hits today.

This question can be asked in the so-called

mask affair of

the Union, which is increasingly becoming a corruption scandal.

In any case, there is now sheer panic among the leaders of the CDU and CSU: What's next?

The Union's parliamentary group has already lost three parliamentarians in the past few days, two from the CDU and one from the CSU.

On Wednesday, the investigators turned up in Munich's Maximilianeum, the seat of the Bavarian state parliament, to search the offices of a CSU politician - not just any backbencher, but one of the party's most colorful pullers: the former Justice Minister

Alfred Sauter

.

Icon: enlarge

Alfred Sauter (archive image from December 2018)

Photo: Zeppo / imago images

As a lawyer, he is said to have drawn up at least one contract between a Hessian mask supplier and the Bavarian Ministry of Health and received a fee that Sauter himself describes as "moderate".

He does not name a sum, allegedly it is around one million euros.

One million euros.

Sauter rejects the fact that there could be something unclean about it; he claims to have donated the money.

When?

That remains open for the time being.

Markus Söder knows about the explosiveness of the matter

six months before the federal election, he wants to push Sauter out of the party and parliamentary group as soon as possible.

We are taking action, that is the message.

But it fizzles out as soon as a new case comes to light.

And

each case reinforces the impression that the Union has a structural problem.

That the separation of parliamentary mandate and business interests is not taken so seriously.

The Union cannot get rid of the suspicion of amigo any longer

, lobby registers, declarations of honor, code of conduct and personnel consequences only help to a limited extent.

In the end, it's not about legal details, whether a business was legal.

It's about whether it was indecent.

Caution is advised when the opposition certifies a ruling party in a precarious situation.

But FDP parliamentary group manager Marco Buschmann is not wrong when he analyzes

that the Union is threatened with a “political explosion”

.

In the dramatically poor election results of the weekend, the mask affair was hardly priced in because of the large number of postal voters, but now the Union is also below 30 percent in nationwide surveys, and the trend is falling.

And where should the power come from when the country is

steering

into the third corona wave

thanks to

increasingly erratic crisis management

?

Things are not looking good for the party, which recently believed it had a subscription to the Chancellery.

The fuse is burning.

• The Union Crisis: The Black Felt

Astra.

Something against?

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AstraZeneca vaccine

Photo: Frank Augstein / AP

The World Health Organization has made a commitment: the benefits outweigh the risks, so

AstraZeneca

should be

vaccinated further.

Germany and the other European countries that have temporarily stopped the use of the corona vaccine due to a possible connection with very rare thrombosis cases are waiting for the decision of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The EMA wants to decide today whether the vaccine will keep its approval.

The

EMA assessment is not insignificant

for the

German vaccination campaign

.

If AstraZeneca failed, the already slow vaccination rate would be further reduced, Health Minister

Jens Spahn

would have even bigger problems than those that already plague him.

This is also why the federal and state governments have

postponed the vaccination summit,

which was actually planned for Wednesday,

to Friday

.

Without knowing how things will go with AstraZeneca, the country leaders and the Chancellor don't even need to talk about integrating the 50,000 family doctors into the vaccination campaign as quickly as possible.

Problem: Even if the vaccine stays in the race, it should not be easy to get it to the woman or the man.

Even before the stop, Astra did not have the best reputation, the uncertainty will now be even greater.

The federal and state governments should seriously consider loosening, if not canceling, the prioritization sequence for this vaccine.

The prime ministers are already joining forces today - without Angela Merkel.

The

regular Prime Minister's

Conference is on the agenda

, the one that shouldn't be about Corona.

What would that be nice, some participants will think, just go about future technologies, innovation and mobility, as announced by the Berlin Presidency.

Nothing will come of that, the third virus wave is rolling through the country too threateningly, the discussion about

compliance and leveraging of the corona emergency brake

is too controversial

.

Or about

turning away from incidence values

, as if this would undo the third wave.

And then EU Commission President

Ursula von der Leyen is also

visiting

the federal

states - which brings us back to the vaccines.

• Calculations for AstraZeneca decision: which is riskier - vaccination or vaccination freeze?

A touch of cold war

Icon: enlarge

Joe Biden

Photo: KEVIN LAMARQUE / REUTERS

The US secret services accuse Russia of meddling in the presidential elections.

In an interview

,

Joe Biden

openly

calls

Vladimir Putin

a "murderer" and threatens that the Kremlin chief will pay a price.

Moscow immediately orders its ambassador back home from the USA - to prevent "irreversible damage" to relations.

And now?

The US and Russia have just extended the New Start Agreement, the last nuclear disarmament pact, and it was an important diplomatic breakthrough.

Now the mood between Washington and Moscow seems to have

hit rock bottom

.

One can assume that a man with experience in foreign policy like Biden, who earlier referred to Putin as a “KGB thug” or indirectly compared him to Adolf Hitler, did not answer the journalist's killer question carelessly.

The US President knows about the effect, he makes it clear:

When dealing with Russia, other times are dawning where Donald Trump offered himself to Putin, Biden is keeping his distance.

At the maximum distance - at least rhetorically.

But whoever chooses such sharp tones as president sets standards for his actions, he

has to translate words into deeds so that his authority is not damaged.

But what price should Putin pay for his attempts to influence the US elections in his favor?

Biden leaves that open.

He can continue to turn the sanctions screw, bringing the penalties closer to Putin.

In his analysis, my colleague Roland Nelles explains what drives the US president and what he could plan.

Whether Putin will be impressed by the new tones and possible penalties is another question.

Either way, the time was well chosen for a few clear words, even without the recent publication of the US intelligence report.

This Thursday marks the seventh anniversary of the Russian annexation of the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

• USA versus Russia: Biden and Putin on a crash course

Visitor of the day ...

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Sebastian Kurz

Photo: Michael Indra / imago images / SEPA.Media

... is

Sebastian Kurz.

Austria's Chancellor is coming to Berlin today to deliver the laudatory speech at the presentation of the Axel Springer Awards to the Biontech founders Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin.

A nice occasion for the head of government, who is currently under fire at home.

Of course, Kurz uses the opportunity to hold political talks about the corona crisis and, above all, freedom to travel in the summer: He meets Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU), Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU), and CDU Chairman Armin Laschet - Remarkably, however, not the Chancellor.

A spokeswoman for Angela Merkel announced that the appointments "did not match each other."

In Austrian media you can read that it was Merkel who could not find a gap for Kurz in her calendar.

Among other things, she is busy with preparatory meetings for the next Prime Minister's Conference.

Oh well.

• Austria's Chancellor In short: Escape to Berlin

The latest news from the night

• On a crash course with Putin - what is Biden up to?

  Harsh words and revelations about Moscow's misdeeds: unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, the new US President Joe Biden immediately messed with the Kremlin chief

• North Korea wants to ignore attempts by the United States to contact:

  Pyongyang has for the first time publicly admitted that the United States is proposing talks under President Biden.

  The problem: North Korea dismisses it as a "cheap trick"

• Denmark wants to introduce the highest level for "non-Western" residents:

  The Danish Ministry of the Interior speaks of "parallel societies" - and presents a radical plan.

  In the medium term, an upper limit for people of “non-Western” origins is to apply in urban districts

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Have a good day.

Heartily,

Your Philipp Wittrock