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Millions affected: More and more doubts - does Germany really support Merkel's Corona law?

2021-04-23T18:17:57.771Z


The statutory Corona emergency brake is heavily criticized. Does Chancellor Angela Merkel really have enough backing? A search for clues.


The statutory Corona emergency brake is heavily criticized.

Does Chancellor Angela Merkel really have enough backing?

A search for clues.

  • Coronavirus pandemic

    : The Bundestag resolves the

    statutory Corona emergency brake

    with uniform rules for all of Germany.

  • The day after (April 22) it becomes clear

    how fragile the approval for the controversial law

    by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) really is.

  • Now (at least) one

    constitutional complaint is

    expected

    at the Federal Constitutional Court

    .

Munich / Berlin / Karlsruhe - "The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe monitors compliance with the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany." With this brief but unmistakable sentence, the court describes its main task.

And so quite a few political observers expect that the Federal Constitutional Court will soon play a prominent role in the heated debate about the nationwide Corona emergency brake by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).

The SPD legal expert Florian Post from Munich has already announced that he will file a constitutional complaint against the tightened Infection Protection Act.

The chairman of the FDP, Christian Lindner, had also announced that his party would prepare a constitutional complaint if the highly controversial curfew remained part of the law.

The free voters even want to tip the Corona emergency brake from Berlin in Karlsruhe.

Federal Corona emergency brake in Germany: Serious criticism of Angela Merkel's Covid-19 law

One after the other: Affected by the strict Corona rules, Merkel's perhaps last big move as Chancellor, 83 million citizens are in Germany.

Even those who introduced the legislative initiative agree that the measures have a deep impact on civil liberties.

"I am aware that the popularity of the emergency brake is limited," said Merkel on Thursday afternoon (April 22), while Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier signed the law: "But we need it as a breakwater for the third wave."

This is damage to federalism that is difficult to cure.

Reiner Haseloff on Angela Merkel's federal emergency brake

Steinmeier's signature was the final act under a real political drama of paramount importance for social life in the Federal Republic.

Already on the day of the decision (April 21) in the Bundestag, for example, curfew advocate Karl Lauterbach from the SPD and curfew opponent Wolfgang Kubicki from the FDP had a heated discussion in front of a live audience in the “Morgenmagazin” of the ZDF.

“Exit restrictions have also had an effect in Germany,” said Lauterbach - and couldn't finish because Kubicki accused him of “making an assertion”.

Merkel's Corona Federal Emergency Brake: Narrow approval in the Bundestag, scolding in the Bundesrat

“Take a look at the infection processes in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg.

We have no curfews in Schleswig-Holstein and the infection processes run exactly in parallel.

Take a look at the Saarland: They have no curfews, they are even open, "said Kubicki:" And the incidence figures are falling.

The Danes did it without a curfew, the Swiss did it without a curfew.

This link, curfews automatically lead to fewer incidence figures, is simply not correct. "

Distribution of seats in the 19th German Bundestag:

Mandates (a total of 709 seats):

CDU / CSU

245 seats

SPD

152 seats

AfD

88 seats

FDP

80 seats

The left

69 seats

The green

67 seats

The polarizing discussions continued in parliament, where the legislative initiative on the coronavirus ultimately only just met with approval.

Very close.

According to the

picture

, 342 of the MPs present voted yes.

That was enough for an absolute majority, even if the Bundestag actually has 709 seats.

250 parliamentarians had decided against it, including 64 members - according to the report without exception from the Greens.

Sovereign looks different.

Especially since not all representatives of the governing parties from the Union and SPD (together 397 seats) were in favor.

Statutory corona emergency brake and curfews decided in Germany

So how much backing does Chancellor Merkel really have for her law? The day after the Bundestag decision, it only became clear how highly controversial the statutory Corona emergency brake really is in Germany's political landscape. The Federal Council worked on the legislative initiative. The country chiefs Volker Bouffier from Hesse, Tobias Hans (Saarland) and Reiner Haseloff (all CDU) were the sharpest critics at the meeting. Ironically, three CDU members and thus party friends of Merkel.

Saxony-Anhalt's Haseloff got really emotional.

Among other things, the 67-year-old spoke of “damage to federalism that is difficult to cure” and the “low point in the federal culture of the Federal Republic of Germany” through the Merkel Act, which transfers far-reaching powers to the federal government - for example in the School policy.

On top of that.

Mega criticism of Angela Merkel's corona law: is the constitutional lawsuit coming now?

The Federal Constitutional Court is now facing a lot of work.

In the Federal Council, the Saarland state chief criticized “not inconsiderable interference with civil liberties.

My guess is that this will be considered again from a highly judicial point of view ”.

The said constitutional complaints were obviously already being prepared.

The focus of the indignation: the legally anchored night exit restrictions from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m.

The Munich SPD member of the Bundestag Post tweeted on Wednesday: “I will file a BVerfG lawsuit on Friday.

There are possibilities beyond curfews. ”The Free Voters immediately announced a double constitutional complaint.

The aim is to defend the citizens' “rights to freedom”, said Federal Chairman Hubert Aiwanger this Thursday when the first complaint was presented in Berlin.

Some of the rules of the corona emergency brake are downright "schizophrenic", said Aiwanger in an interview with

Welt live

.

Corona emergency brake: SPD man, FDP and free voters want to go to the Federal Constitutional Court

The FDP MP Gerald Ullrich also wrote on Twitter: "Then just off to Karlsruhe!" He will sue the Federal Constitutional Court with colleagues from the FDP parliamentary group.

Party leader Christian Lindner had previously announced a constitutional lawsuit.

According to various media reports, legal experts in the Grand Coalition (GroKo) also have doubts about the legality of curfews.

And the citizens: inside?

In an ARD Germany trend, 51 percent of the representative respondents had recently spoken out in favor of exit restrictions if necessary, 46 percent were against.

Merkel's federal emergency brake - no law in Germany has caused so much attention for years.

(pm)

List of rubric lists: © Jens Schicke via www.imago-images.de

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2021-04-23

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