Even today it is about the dramatic corona situation: What leeway does the Federal Constitutional Court give politics?
How do the still and soon government react to the judgment?
And why do we still not know who will be Minister of Health?
What is the state allowed to do in the fight against Corona?
From today's perspective, the limit values seem downright ridiculous: With a seven-day incidence of 100, nationwide contact and exit restrictions should come into force, and 165 schools should also close.
This is what the so-called
federal emergency brake
was planned, which could be pulled from spring to summer of this year in Germany in the fight against the pandemic.
The emergency brake has been history since the end of June, but the
Federal Constitutional Court will
decide
on Tuesday morning
whether the measures were constitutional at the time
.
This is important because the pandemic is far from over.
The seven-day incidence nationwide is now 450 and in Saxony over 1,400. The situation has never been more dramatic.
The Karlsruhe judges will therefore explain in principle
what the state can expect citizens
to do in order to get the corona crisis (or future pandemics) under control.
And by doing so, they will possibly anticipate what will soon be in concrete terms again by defining the scope for action for the hitherto hesitant policy.
Olaf Scholz and Angela Merkel: The shyness of the L-word
The price of procrastination
Shortly after the Federal Constitutional Court spoke, the current chancellor
Angela Merkel
and soon-to-be-chancellor
Olaf Scholz
want to
connect
with the
prime ministers of the federal states
.
Knowing the words of the judge, they should advise on stricter, more uniform rules to contain the virus.
So maybe something is still moving, even if it may be too late to prevent a bad corona winter.
The fact that the traffic light parties find it so difficult to finally react decisively to the escalation is probably due to the fear of having to admit that they have already failed at the first challenge - before they even govern.
As the first informal official act, the traffic light
let
the so-called
epidemic situation of national scope
expire and the
Infection
Protection Act purified. Exit restrictions, travel bans, area-wide closings of restaurants and shops, daycare centers and schools should no longer be possible. Already in the legislative process one had to sharpen up, now even party friends in the federal states are sounding the alarm:
the instrument
box
is too small!
For a long time Olaf Scholz said little about this, gave Christian Lindner the steadfast freedom fighter and Annalena Baerbock declared in all seriousness that one shouldn't unsettle people. It is better to proudly announce that
a new crisis team
will start work
this week
, headed
by a Bundeswehr general.
Apart from the fact that one can wonder what the Greens are giving their blessings to in passing these days - what signal should that go out?
Is the fight against the virus finally being waged with military precision?
In the meantime, it has dawned on the future coalitionists that everything will not be okay just because a German general takes the vaccination campaign in hand.
However, regardless of whether the traffic light extends the Infection Protection Act, whether the Bundestag reactivates the epidemic emergency and thus makes all previous measures possible again, whether the federal and state governments agree on a new catalog of rules -
every course correction will reveal that the SPD, Greens and FDP were wrong in their first joint decision.
Lying dangerously wrong.
But the traffic light parties should endure that, they have to endure it.
The price of procrastination is too high.
Scholz in the corona crisis: one tour, please!
Minister of Health?
Later…
One of the things that has stunned me these days is that we still don't know
who will head the health department in the future
.
While the Greens and FDP have already occupied their ministries, the future Chancellor
prefers to wait until the party congress on the weekend to make
the public
announcement of the SPD cabinet members
, allegedly so as not to burden the internal party debate on the coalition agreement.
Sounds great, like this: Hey, it's all about the content, not the posts.
But there is currently no time for social democratic sensitivities.
If Scholz himself, who is at least known to want to become chancellor, is not offering any leadership in the crisis, then he should at least ensure that there is a seamless transition in this ministry, which is so important for fighting pandemics. Instead, Health Minister
Jens Spahn is allowed to
sit on talk shows
with a comfortable I-can't-do-much-more attitude
. There he can accuse the traffic light of a lack of zest for action and joke about how much he would like to train his successor. You can tell that he is happy that soon he will no longer have to answer for all the misery.
But who should do it now after Spahn?
We have already written a lot about
Karl Lauterbach's
qualifications
, and also about the arguments against him. For reasons of parity, Scholz can now transfer the office to
Sabine Dittmar
, doctor and rather unknown health expert in the SPD parliamentary group. If he thinks it's a good idea, he can also make
Petra Köpping
Federal
Minister of
Health. She is currently head of the specialist department in Saxony, which, if it were an independent state, would currently have the highest incidence in the world together with Slovakia.
It would only be nice if Scholz would finally offer the office to someone and tell people who should better manage the crisis in the future.
The demonstrative deliberation on this question simply does not fit the dramatic situation and sends the devastating message: It is not so important who does the job.
I hope you don't mean it.
Karl Lauterbach and the Ministry of Health: He will, he will not ...
Loser of the day ...
... is
the queen.
On this Tuesday, Queen Elizabeth II loses part of her dominion: Barbados leaves the British monarchy after 396 years and proclaims a republic.
Although the Caribbean state has been independent for exactly 55 years, the official head of state was still Queen Elizabeth.
Barbados is now finally leaving its colonial legacy behind, Sandra Mason, who was previously the Queen's representative as Governor General, is sworn in as the country's first woman President.
Heir to the throne, Prince Charles, will be there when his future empire shrinks from 16 to 15 states.
The latest news from the night
Epstein's "right hand" or victim of his manipulation?
The criminal case against Ghislaine Maxwell has begun.
She is charged with serious sexual offenses against minors.
In contrast, she portrays her defense as a victim of Jeffrey Epstein
Ballon d'Or for Messi, consolation prize for Lewandowski:
Lionel Messi was honored for the seventh time in Paris with the coveted "Golden Ball".
The favored Bayern star Robert Lewandowski finished second - not the only disappointment from the perspective of the Bundesliga
Gucci family threatens to take legal action against "House of Gucci":
The Gucci heirs are bothered by the portrayal of their clan in the new film by director Ridley Scott: A former family member comes off way too well in the work
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I wish you a good start to the day.
Heartfelt,
Your Philipp Wittrock
