The Morning Situation - The Reckless Side of Freedom

The ruthless side of freedom

In the German Bundestag, the

on a

prepared

these days

.

It was declared a decision of conscience, so the parliamentary group requirement was lifted.

So it is less noticeable that the traffic light coalition would

probably not get a majority for the compulsory vaccination

because of several

.

Now there is a draft in which more than

speak out against such an obligation. Accordingly, the Bundestag should affirm "that there will be no general compulsory vaccination against Sars-CoV-2 in the Federal Republic of Germany". The most prominent signatory is Bundestag Vice President

. He and many other FDP politicians see the fight against compulsory vaccination as a fight for individual freedom.

Of course, the freedom to decide whether you want to be vaccinated can be made the measure of all things.

But then you also acknowledge

at the expense of others.

Because word of this is likely to have got around to Kubicki's local pub by now: If you don't get vaccinated, you not only endanger yourself, but also countless others.

For example:

• your own relatives, friends, colleagues

• Nurses and doctors who are physically and emotionally stressed and stressed

• People who receive poorer care than would otherwise be possible due to the large number of intensive care beds occupied by unvaccinated people

• People who are not treated at all or only treated later due to the large number of hospital beds occupied by unvaccinated people, possibly too late

• People who have to endure their pain longer because treatments that are not vital have to be canceled

By the way, none of the above could freely decide whether he or she would like to accept these disadvantages.

• Fighting a pandemic: what matters when it comes to compulsory vaccination

Friedrich Merz, the third

At 2 p.m. the time has finally come!

Then the German nation will receive the answer to the question that has haunted it like no other in the past few weeks: Who will be

?

Ok, no more irony.

For

in just three years, the Christian Democrats are looking for a new party leader. But unlike the first two attempts, this race took place almost in camera. That may be because a new federal government has just come together, which is not entirely uninteresting. But it's also because less seems to be at stake.

In the first two attempts it was still believed that the CDU chairmanship would also vote on the

(

which, however, was not the case with Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer or Armin Laschet). This time it's different. First, the next general election will probably not take place for four years. And secondly, the old certainty that the Union has a subscription to the Chancellery seems to be out of date.

By the way, the choices were

and

.

When the result of the member survey is announced this afternoon, the question will also be whether one of them received more than 50 percent of the votes cast.

If not, the top two will go to a runoff.

For Merz it is the third attempt to become chairman within a very short time.

For Röttgen, after all, already the second.

Only Braun is new to the application business.

Incidentally, Merz has announced that it will not run for a fourth time if it does not work again.

• SPIEGEL top talk: Ex-Chancellor Braun accuses Scholz of hesitant corona policy

Who is sitting with the dirty kids?

Things are going to be rock hard

for the

these days. She doesn't just have to watch the other parties take up all the beautiful government posts. Now your

the Bundestag

. To where the FDP previously sat, right next to the parliamentary grubby children of the

. This is what the new traffic light coalition decided yesterday with its majority in the Bundestag.

Of course, one can understand the FDP's wish for a transfer.

Personally, I would also be reluctant to share an office with Alexander Gauland.

"We don't just hear what the AfD says into the microphones," the new Justice Minister Marco Buschmann once said.

"We also hear the whispering" AfD MP Beatrix von Storch, for example, has already insulted him as a terrorist.

The risk of corona infection is probably greater on the right wing of parliament because the gentlemen (and the few women) are probably not vaccinated consistently and use their masks as chin warmer.

Nevertheless, I found the arrangement of the new

a bit stylistically.

The old seating arrangement had a tradition.

Suddenly changing it just because you suddenly can is not really sovereign.

• New seating arrangements in the Bundestag: Moved to the right

Loser of the day ...

... is the

, at least that of the past few months.

Lothar Wieler, the

, gave my colleague Heike le Ker and my colleague Detlef Hacke an astonishingly frank interview.

Every day he gets up with the certainty that several hundred infected people will die in Germany again today, he said.

“We could have prevented that to this extent.

It depresses me deeply. ”The warnings from the summer, including from him, had gone unheeded.

However, Wieler is pleased that he now has a specialist in Karl Lauterbach as a direct contact.

The new Minister of Health has always made very specific and well-founded statements on the pandemic over the past two years.

"He is clear in his opinions," says Wieler.

"One can well imagine how he intends to fight the crisis."

• SPIEGEL interview with RKI President Wieler: "Compulsory vaccination would not help quickly enough"

The latest news from the night

• Threats against Russia, pressure on the countries of origin of migrants:

  At the first summit with Chancellor Scholz, the EU presented itself powerfully externally and internally at odds.

  There was a symbolic finale for this

• RKI warns of corona numbers falling too slowly: New

  infections and incidence are

  falling

  - but according to the Robert Koch Institute, not fast and strong enough.

  Therefore, according to the experts, the corona measures must be strictly adhered to

• Two women accuse Chris Noth of sexual abuse:

  They accuse the "Sex and the City" actor of having abused her in 2004 and 2015.

  Noth categorically rejects this and speaks of friendly meetings

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

• Scarce Biontech supplies: what speaks in favor of vaccinating with Moderna

• Vaccinations for children: when the corona denier is in the classroom

• Subsidies for plug-in hybrids: when e-cars become a climate problem

• Classical Christmas music: it doesn't always have to be Bach

I wish you a happy Friday

Your Markus Feldenkirchen