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Thorsten Frei (CDU) wrote the letter to the head of the chancellery
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via www.imago-images.de / imago images / Political-Moments
The Union parliamentary group wants to increase the pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the traffic light government in the debate about a general vaccination requirement with a 17-point questionnaire. In view of the impending spread of the Omikron variant, people are "unsettled and rightly ask whether the new federal government is doing everything necessary and possible to combat the pandemic," says a six-page letter from the parliamentary director of the CDU / CSU available to SPIEGEL. Parliamentary group, Thorsten Frei (CDU), to the head of the Chancellery, Wolfgang Schmidt.
Against this background, it is very astonishing that the federal government has "so far taken a passive stance on the compulsory vaccination debate and has left it with mere references to the Bundestag," criticized Frei in the letter.
The MPs could only make responsible decisions if they had comprehensive information, sound legal assessments and a valid picture of the situation at their disposal.
Schmidt asked Frei to answer the catalog of questions before the end of the year.
How should a general compulsory vaccination be checked?
The Union parliamentary group asks, among other things, whether the federal government wants to submit its own draft law "in view of the fundamental rights-relevant dimension of the issue as well as the legal technical complexity and the high need for justification".
The impression that the government is indifferent to the margins or stealing from responsibility must be avoided.
"This would only be further food for the uncertainty of the people in our country and poison for the resolute fight against the pandemic."
The questionnaire asks about the possibilities of controlling and enforcing a mandatory vaccination, the establishment of a vaccination register and the dangers for the critical infrastructures in the areas of health, food, electricity and water supply.
The Union also wants to have answered whether the federal government considers the prerequisites for the resolution of an epidemic situation of national scope to be given - and if so, why the traffic light parties have spoken out against its extension beyond November 25th.
The Ethics Council presented the expected recommendation on a general vaccination requirement on Wednesday.
The committee is in favor of extending the mandatory vaccination adopted for employees in clinics or nursing homes to "major parts of the population".
According to the federal-state resolution, the Bundestag and the federal government should speed up the preparations and present a schedule at short notice.
It is envisaged that the Bundestag will vote on a possible introduction without being forced into a parliamentary group.
After the federal-state consultations on Tuesday, Chancellor Scholz said about a general vaccination requirement: "I do not think that we should refrain from it."
The Union has recently not held back with criticism of the corona policy of the new federal government.
After the federal-state round on Tuesday, North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst said that he continued to consider the abolition of the so-called epidemic situation enforced by the traffic lights to be a serious mistake.
svs / dpa