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The situation in the morning: In a vacuum and in need

2021-11-12T04:44:08.590Z


Finally: Ceremony for constitutional judge Stephan Harbarth. Again: Bundeswehr in front of the Reichstag. So yes: UN climate conference ends optimistically. That is the situation on Friday.


Today it's about Jens Spahn as a service provider for the traffic light coalition, about new allies and opponents at the UN climate conference and a Pope on a pilgrimage.

Spahn: Service provider of the traffic light coalition

The picture will look familiar: Federal Health

Minister

Jens Spahn

next to RKI President

Lothar Wieler

at the federal press conference.

You meet today at 10:30 a.m.

You won't be able to tell from the gentlemen that something has changed in the meantime: the minister is now only in office.

"

They are now virtually the service of the traffic light coalition

"

, as my fellow Melanie Amann and Cornelia Schmergal told the minister his new role in an interview - Spahn's Ministry at the request of the SPD, Greens and FDP have to formulate a draft for the new infection protection law provides the framework for fighting pandemics.

Do you like everything you had to write down?

"

, Asked my colleagues.

He found it

"at least quite brave" to want all corona measures to expire on March 19

, replied Spahn, thereby providing my colleagues with a template:

"

You triggered the debate yourself with your attempt to end the epidemic emergency,

"

replied she. Spahn defended himself:

I only said what everyone knew: The pandemic is not over. But there is no longer a parliamentary majority in favor of extending the legal state of emergency. Self-critically, however, I have to admit that this gave some people the wrong impression.

«

These are irritating times.

A minister acts on behalf of a government that is not yet in office and does what he himself initiated but does not think is right now.

The country is in need and at the same time in interregnum.

The magic of a beginning by a new government, which would have been necessary after the many bitter corona months with all the political mismanagement, is over before this new government has even taken office.

  • Interview with Jens Spahn on the coronavirus: "A compulsory vaccination would tear our country apart"

Federal Constitutional Court: Ceremony follows

Stephan Harbarth

has been

President of the Federal Constitutional Court

since June 2020

. The former lawyer and CDU member had replaced the law professor Andreas Vosskuhle. At that time, Germany was in the grip of the corona pandemic,

the ceremony was

canceled

. Today he will be made up for.

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will celebrate the change of president in the morning in the Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, although the fourth wave is rolling across the country.

Harbarth already knows what it means to exercise this office in polarized times. Freedom rights against security, anti-vaccination campaigners against vaccination advocates, things are rough, the country is now divided several times, the rifts seem insurmountable, even thoughtless remarks trigger an outrage that is immeasurable. A health politician like Karl Lauterbach is threatened with death just for presenting scientific studies. In this excitement, all sorts of questions are being dragged before the Constitutional Court. How to deal with it

Harbarth's predecessor was a good role model.

Vosskuhle tried again and again to calm the public down by approaching them.

He managed to make the decisions of the court understandable, he answered the questions in interviews.

That wasn't new, but Vosskuhle showed particular skill in it.

»

Harbarth has so far held back in and with interviews.

Just like his Senate when examining the corona measures,

"

observes SPIEGEL Karlsruhe correspondent Dietmar Hipp.

Unintentionally, Harbarth has so far mainly made a name for itself with a controversial meeting of constitutional judges with the federal government in June.

Plaintiffs accused him of bias

because corona policy was also discussed at the dinner, although the Federal Constitutional Court was in the process of proceeding with the federal emergency brake.

Not only to compensate for outrage, but also to attract outrage, is part of the job description of a constitutional court president.

Especially nowadays.

  • Karlsruhe: Request for bias against the President of the Constitutional Court Harbarth rejected

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze in Glasgow: Nuclear power, no thanks

The United Nations World Climate Conference in Glasgow (

COP26

) is

scheduled to

officially end

today

. It had started almost two weeks ago. My colleague Gerald Traufetter, SPIEGEL's climate policy expert, has been with us for days, together with our colleague Susanne Götze.

Gerald Traufetter has already attended many climate conferences. He was often disappointed. This time his impression is rather positive.

The mood was optimistic

, even among environmental groups, he reports.

They cheered a joint statement by China and the US on climate and methane.

In fact, the agreement between the two rival superpowers is seen as a breakthrough. In addition, according to Traufetter, the declarations of intent of many nations to save more CO₂ are gratifying:

»

There is a new momentum for climate protection, despite the corona crisis.

«

But there was some disagreement on one question.

Representatives from countries such as the USA, France and Brazil speak naturally of

nuclear power as climate-friendly energy

.

However, the German Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze doesn't think much of nuclear power and used her appearance yesterday to make a declaration: Nuclear power is not a green energy source and should not be recognized by the EU Commission.

Schulze was supported by four colleagues from Denmark, Luxembourg, Austria and Portugal.

"

It was a declaration of war on EU partner France and its President Macron," says my colleague.

China and the US come to an agreement, Germany and France argue?

Nobody can say for a long time that climate policy is boring.

  • Climate conference in Glasgow: Environment Minister Schulze concludes an alliance against nuclear power

Bundeswehr: new pledge, new debate?

Again Berlin, again the area in front of the Reichstag.

A

pledge is

planned

for 3:30 p.m.

on the occasion of the 66th year of the founding of the Bundeswehr

.

Then there will be a speech by Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) and then again a speech by Bundestag President Bärbel Bas (SPD).

Then it will be dark a long time ago.

When it got dark in front of the Reichstag building less than a month ago and soldiers honored the Bundeswehr's mission in Afghanistan with a torchlight procession during the Great Zapfenstreich, some users on Twitter were reminded of pictures from the Nazi era, while others disagreed.

It was a loud debate.

The Defense Ministry announced that the comparison to the darkest chapter of German history was disappointing:

The Bundeswehr is a parliamentary army.

As this she has her place in the midst of society - on special occasions also in front of the Reichstag.

«

As a parliamentary army, however, the Bundeswehr should be able to withstand debates like the most recent one.

What would a parliament be without debate?

  • Debate about military ceremonies: "There were torchlight procession even before the Nazis"

Person of the day ...

... is

Pope Francis

.

As the Argentine Jesuit Jorge Maria Bergoglio

When he became Pope in 2013, he chose the name Francis.

He took the beggar and founder of the order Francis of Assisi as his model, who was born in the Umbrian city of Assisi in the Middle Ages.

When he took office, Pope Francis could still hope to go down in the history of the Roman bishops as a great reformer.

But his church is in the most serious crisis of its existence due to innumerable abuse crimes.

Today, Friday, the Pope is going on a journey - he is visiting the pilgrimage site of Assisi.

May it be useful for anything.

The latest news from the night

  • Robert Koch Institute advises the cancellation of larger events:

    In view of the high number of infections, the RKI calls on people to reduce contacts.

    Institute boss Wieler says: "I don't know why some people got the idea to suggest that the pandemic was over."

  • German astronaut Matthias Maurer arrived at the ISS:

    The flight into space went smoothly, now astronaut Matthias Maurer and his colleagues have arrived at the International Space Station.

    They were greeted with cheers, hugs and selfies

  • Thomas Müller overtakes Jürgen Klinsmann:

    Thomas Müller played for the DFB for the 109th time against Liechtenstein - only five players are ahead of him in the ranking.

    In addition, Müller now drew level with Michael Ballack in the top scorer list

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

  • Full children's clinics: "We are at the limit of capacity"

  • Climate Policy in Turkey: How Environmentalists Challenge Erdoğan

  • The swan song for the internal combustion engine: it's over

  • Parents' Column: The Worries of a Young Mother

I wish you a good start to the day.

Your Susanne Beyer

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-11-12

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