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Health Minister for a long time: Jens Spahn (CDU)
Photo: POOL / REUTERS
For a year and a half, Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) led through the first waves of the pandemic.
But after the federal election, Corona policy will soon be in other hands.
Spahn wants to give his successors on the way: Even with the possible expiry of the nationwide state of emergency corona at the end of November, it is "absolutely necessary" that certain protective measures can be further ordered regionally and at the state level.
Coordinated the letter with Helge Braun
This emerges from a letter dated October 15 from the minister to the party and faction leaders of the SPD, Greens and FDP.
»Bild« had previously reported on the letter.
It is also available to the German Press Agency.
In the letter to the leaders of the prospective traffic light coalition agreed with Chancellor Helge Braun (CDU), Spahn points out two ways in which this could be legally implemented.
Paragraph 28a of the Infection Protection Act, in which the known Corona measures are listed, could either be changed so that the measures are no longer linked to the existence of a nationwide "epidemic situation of national scope".
This would give the state governments a free hand to regularly update their Corona ordinances as before.
Alternatively, the federal states could also have the further applicability of this paragraph and thus the measures determined via their state parliaments - that would then be a kind of "epidemic situation" at the state level, so that masks, 3G or other measures can be further ordered.
The Infection Protection Act expressly provides for this possibility.
"As Federal Minister of Health, I am suggesting an agreement on how to proceed in this matter between the parties that are currently negotiating a governing coalition," the letter says.
Spahn himself had spoken out in favor of not extending the state of emergency corona at the federal level beyond November 25.
muk / dpa
