The grand coalition wants to establish an “epidemic situation of national importance” for a further three months.
On the other hand, members of parliament from their own ranks protest.
Munich - For almost 15 months there has been an "epidemic of national importance" in Germany.
In March 2020, with the spread of the corona pandemic to Germany, this new legal term was introduced into the Infection Protection Act and the epidemic situation was immediately determined by the Bundestag.
The determination should be made when the entire federal territory is threatened by a virus spread.
It is the legal basis for several measures under the Federal Infection Protection Act.
It allows the Federal Government to issue certain regulations, for example on entry, tests and vaccinations, by ordinance without the consent of the Federal Council.
Corona in Germany: Political resistance to plans of the grand coalition
The number of infections has now been falling continuously for weeks.
Nevertheless, the grand coalition wants to extend the determination of the epidemic situation one more time this week, by three months until the end of September.
The opposition did not want to support the last extension.
But resistance is also rising in the government factions.
After the Chancellor * and the SPD parliamentary group leaders had spoken out in favor of an extension on Friday, a letter to the parliamentary groups of the Union and SPD, written by CDU MP Albert Weiler, became known.
Five other MPs, four from the CDU and one from the SPD *, have signed.
Corona in Germany: "Trapped in an endless loop of over-regulation and bans"
"Politics has lost the measure," it says in it.
“It is time to give the citizens back their self-determination.
We are caught in a seemingly endless loop of over-regulation, warnings and bans. "
Placing the message in a quasi-public letter to the parliamentary groups is unusual, and the wording is drastic.
But the position of the authors is not surprising.
Your request to speak is hardly an indication of broad resistance in the GroKo.
The five CDU MPs, along with around half a dozen other parliamentary group colleagues, had not approved the last extension in April.
Munich MP Florian Post was one of two Social Democrats who voted against.
AfD, FDP and Left also rejected the extension, the Greens abstained.
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Corona in Germany: Post sees no need for measures anymore
The Munich SPD man Post had supported the determination of the epidemic situation for a long time.
In principle, the regulation also makes sense.
However, apart from “generally accepted precautionary measures such as disinfectant dispensers”, he currently sees no need for any Corona * measures, as he told our newspaper.
Post also recently filed a lawsuit against the federal emergency brake with the Federal Constitutional Court.
However, the upcoming vote only has to do indirectly with the emergency brake and the lockdown * measures.
If the Bundestag * were to lift the epidemic situation prematurely, the federal emergency brake would also be overridden.
The nationwide uniform automatism for closings or contact restrictions for certain incidences in a district would end.
But even if the epidemic situation is prolonged, the federal emergency brake will end on June 30, as long as the Bundestag does not expressly decide otherwise. But there have been signals from the governing parties against an extension for a long time.
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