Corona scandal: after scolding for "little judges" - FDP minister rebukes world physician chief personally

Created: 12/27/2021, 12:34 PM

From: Florian Naumann

FDP Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (left) and World Medical Director Ulrich Montgomery (assembly).

© Imago / Jürgen Heinrich / Chris Emil Janßen / fn

Doubts about the corona policy are often a matter for the courts.

World medical chief Montgomery is outraged by a judgment.

The reprimand follows from the highest traffic light.

Berlin - Since the first day of the Corona measures, every political step has been accompanied by a crucial question: Which interventions are necessary and legitimate protection against the pandemic - and where are restrictions possibly going too far?

In the event of a dispute, courts will clarify this point.

With criticism of the judiciary, world physician chief Frank Ulrich Montgomery has now brought himself violently into the line of fire.

Corona dispute over Montgomery: world doctors boss criticizes justice - FDP minister answers personally

Montgomery had also made people sit up and take notice with a rather disrespectful choice of words. "I bump into the fact that little judges stand up and tip over, as in Lower Saxony, 2G in retail because they don't think it's proportionate," he told the

. A court presumed to reject something that scientific and political bodies had laboriously wrested with reference to proportionality, he reprimanded. “I have big problems there. There are situations in which it is right to rank the rights of freedom after the right to physical health - not just for oneself, but for everyone. And we have such a situation, ”emphasized the medical representative.

There was a contradiction from the new Justice Minister on Sunday evening.

“Germany can be proud of its highly qualified and independent judiciary.

It opens access to the law and brings the idea of ​​the rule of law to life, ”wrote the FDP politician Marco Buschmann on Twitter.

"So it deserves respect - regardless of whether the viewer makes every decision," he added.

Buschmann and other FDP politicians had recently failed with objections before the Federal Constitutional Court.

Karlsruhe rejected a complaint against the so-called Corona emergency brake at the end of November.

At the time, the liberal admitted that “we would of course have wished for a different result, particularly with regard to the curfews” - but at the same time accepted the judgment.

Corona in Germany: dispute over court judgments - doctors also criticize Montgomery

There was also criticism from the German medical profession.

Andreas Gassen, controversial chairman of the board of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians, distanced himself from Montgomery's statements, according to a report by Bild.

Gassen called the expression "unacceptable and unbearable" - he also emphasized: "Even if the individual may not like every decision, we in Germany can be proud of an independent judiciary." 

The background to the current dispute: On December 16, the Lower Saxony Higher Administrative Court overturned the 2G rule in the state's retail trade. The court decided that the measure was not necessary to further contain the coronavirus and was not compatible with the general principle of equality. Judges in North Rhine-Westphalia saw it differently.

Among other things, the Senate in Lower Saxony complained that there was a lack of reliable and comprehensible findings on the actual risk of infection in retail.

In addition, the state could oblige retail customers to wear an FFP2 mask.

This would lower the risk of infection to such an extent "that it could almost be neglected," said the court.

On December 2, the federal and state governments decided that 2G should apply nationwide and regardless of the incidence in retail.

Exceptions to the 2G rule apply to shops with daily needs, such as supermarkets and drug stores.

Montgomery was recently the victim of a harsh verbal attack - FDP politician Wolfgang Kubicki apologized afterwards.

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