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Prime ministers argue about an early federal

2021-11-26T13:24:56.524Z


With a view to the corona infections, the map of Germany turns rapidly dark red - but the federal and state governments should not consult again for two weeks. Now the first federal states are bringing a federal lockdown into play.


Enlarge image

Brandenburg's head of government Dietmar Woidke (SPD)

Photo: Bernd Settnik / dpa

In just under two weeks, the heads of the states want to meet again with the Chancellery to discuss the fight against Corona - presumably under the leadership of the newly elected Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).

But now more and more prime ministers are pushing for an early federal-state round - and further restrictions.

"There aren't too many measures in the quiver now," said Brandenburg's Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke (SPD) with a view to the new Infection Protection Act on Deutschlandfunk.

The law passed by the SPD, Greens and FDP replaces the epidemic emergency that expired on Thursday.

"We are exhausting the federal legal framework that we have today," said Woidke.

Before the development of the currently rapidly increasing number of new infections, he did not believe that further restrictions could be avoided for a long time.

The seven-day incidence in Brandenburg is just under 664, the fourth highest value after Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt.

Measures that change every week do not need to be implemented, according to Woidke.

But he is not sure whether there are ten days left before a new decision.

Stronger countermeasures

However, the new federal government must be involved in an early Prime Minister's conference, Woidke told the television stations RTL and ntv.

"It would make sense to hold such an MPK with the old and the upcoming new federal government." Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU), among others, has already requested an earlier Prime Minister's Conference to discuss stricter corona measures.

The Executive Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is also urging stronger countermeasures across Germany.

Even federal states that are not yet in such a serious situation as Saxony, Thuringia or Bavaria would have to reckon with increasing numbers of infections, Merkel said through her government spokesman Steffen Seibert.

The Chancellor advocates taking the situation really seriously and expressing this in measures. One could not wait long with the introduction.

Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens) is also urging an early federal-state round due to the rapidly increasing corona numbers. "I am very much in favor of a quick Prime Minister's Conference," said Kretschmann of the dpa news agency in Stuttgart. "The new virus variant, the worsening situation in the intensive care units in many regions, the continued unchecked exponential growth - all of this makes rapid action necessary." The Greens politician emphasized that December 9 was too late as the date for the next crisis meeting may be. "And it is becoming increasingly clear that the countries urgently need the full range of instruments for extensive restrictions."

Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) speaks out in favor of a meeting in the coming week.

Then it should be examined "whether the resolution of the Prime Minister's Conference of November 18 should be supplemented in the current legal framework," said a government spokeswoman on Friday when asked.

This could, for example, be about agreeing the maximum number of participants for events.


"Every country is free to intervene here harder than the minimum"

Berlin's Governing Mayor Michael Müller (SPD), however, considers an earlier meeting to be superfluous.

»In some parts of Germany there are already partial lockdowns in hot-spot regions.

In addition, there is the obligation to work from home, the 3G rule at work and in public transport, "said the deputy MPK chairman of the dpa news agency.

“The traffic light has announced that it will deploy a crisis team.

All of these measures can only be evaluated and have a measurable effect after one or two weeks. ”Therefore, December 9th is scheduled for the next MPK.

»Against this background, requesting a new MPK every few days is hardly expedient.«

In Berlin there are already stricter measures than the MPK decision, according to Müller.

"Every country is free to intervene harder than the minimum here."

Hamburg's First Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) also brought another nationwide lockdown, also for vaccinated people, into play.

"We can't rule out anything now, because the situation is still developing," said Tschentscher on the TV channel "Welt".

He hopes that the impetus resulting from the decision on 2G restrictions will be sufficient to trigger booster vaccinations and initial vaccinations very quickly.

mrc / asc / dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2021-11-26

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