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Energy - only in the hands: Olaf Scholz.
Photo: Frank Rumpenhorst / dpa
"Anyone who orders a tour from me must know that he will get it." What a sentence, what an expression of will!
Olaf Scholz spoke these words again and again, in slightly different variations: in 2009 when he ran for chairmanship of the Hamburg SPD, later when he wanted to be elected first mayor of Hamburg, and now in the election campaign, from which he was the future chancellor emerged.
A sentence that helped him achieve success, a sentence that fits well with the aura of this traffic light coalition, as it promises new beginnings and progress, the key words of the new government.
Alone, he no longer suits Olaf Scholz.
Wait, observe, probe
For days, even weeks, it has been clear that the pandemic in the country is approaching one of its brutal climaxes.
The symbolic threshold of 100,000 deaths has been exceeded, doctors use the word triage, and the forecast figures for hotspots such as Saxony or Bavaria point to a medical catastrophe.
And what do the traffic light representatives do, what does the Chancellor do?
They wait, observe, want to sound out, advise, see what the federal states are up to, weigh up, put off until Tuesday when the Federal Constitutional Court ruled on the federal emergency brake, put off until ten days after everything has been viewed and analyzed, announce, to set up a council of experts, and assure them again and again how aware they are of the explosive nature of the situation.
But what they think is right politically, what they have concrete plans for the next few days and weeks, they don't say.
Third worst, because they can't agree on a line.
In the second worst case, because they simply don't know what to do now.
In the worst case, because they don't understand the situation or they underestimate it.
Empty phrases
The strongest expression of this political pressure was a tweet by the future Chancellor on Saturday.
"We are establishing a crisis team and developing a new, precise way of dealing with the current challenges of #Corona and #Omicron," wrote Olaf Scholz.
“We'll do whatever it takes.
There is nothing that cannot be taken into account. "
Words can hardly be emptier.
During the pandemic, Jens Spahn was often accused of being a mere announcement minister who made suggestions without backing them up with a clear plan.
After many days, the new government has not even made proposals, let alone a concrete plan.
Olaf Scholz is evidently very shy of proceeding without consulting his traffic light partners.
However, agreements take time, especially when the positions on some issues of the pandemic are as diametrically different as between the FDP and the more scientifically oriented parliamentary groups in the SPD and the Greens.
In a crisis that changes every day, the time to make decisions is limited.
How should a new start ever come about when the traffic lights always act as they do these days?
Concrete suggestions from the best scientists
The ground for clear next steps could hardly be better prepared. Scientists of the Leopoldina, the best of their kind, made specific suggestions over the weekend, from immediate, massive contact restrictions, the gradual introduction of the general compulsory vaccination to a mask requirement in schools. The National Academy of Sciences is not known for suggesting rash or hasty action. Somebody would just have to pick them up now, so far they have dwindled into political nirvana.
The situation is similar with the debate about the so-called epidemic situation of national scope.
The traffic light wanted this regulation, which enables the federal and state governments to take many measures in the fight against the virus, to expire in order to return the decision on freedom-restricting measures to parliament.
But if the result is as poor as the current Infection Protection Act, a wise government must recognize: It was a mistake that we will correct as soon as possible.
Spahn's authority is waning
The speechlessness of the future government can also be explained by the fact that there has not yet been a qualified person who - besides the Chancellor - could become the mouthpiece in this crisis. Nobody knows who the future Minister of Health will be. At most Olaf Scholz and the party leadership, who only want to reveal it when the entire personnel sheet is in place and the party congress has passed the coalition agreement. That may be good and appropriate for the party, it is not for a country in crisis. In these crucial days, Jens Spahn is still at the head of crisis management, the man from the resigning government, who suddenly finds too strong words, whose lust and actual power for quick,hard choices but highly limited - as is its public authority.
The longer Olaf Scholz hesitates and hesitates, the more the citizens' trust in him and his politics decreases.
But trust, that is the great realization of this crisis, is the basic condition for us to solve it together at some point.
There is now hope: tomorrow the executive chancellor will confer with the future chancellor and the heads of the states.
After that, Olaf Scholz has to set a line.
So we order with a certain urgency: a guided tour, please!
