Ethics Council vice criticizes parts of the corona policy: "Triage situations in children's clinics - but not because of Covid"
Created: 01/04/2022, 4:45 PM
From: Florian Naumann
Julian Nida-Rümelin at a public appearance in Cologne in September.
© STAR-MEDIA / www.imago-images.de
Julian Nida-Rümelin is a member of the Ethics Council.
He sees German democracy in good condition, but also criticizes Merkur.de for omissions - for example in the tone of the pandemic debate.
Berlin - There are some loud protests in Germany against Corona measures. But the mood in Germany is quite a bit more complex: On the one hand, a majority of people have recently been quite satisfied with the Corona policy - on the other hand, a group of citizens has reservations not only against the pandemic measures, but also against the democratic institutions in the country. This is shown by a recently published, long-term survey commissioned by the Körber Foundation.
The foundation has linked the survey to an expertise by the philosopher and politics lecturer Julian Nida-Rümelin on the state of democracy in Germany.
Nida-Rümelin, Vice-Chairman of the German Ethics Council, praised
the state of democracy
in an interview with
Merkur.de
, but also criticized parts of the political reaction to the corona pandemic: The subject of mandatory vaccinations is rather "instrumentalized" in current protests.
However, there have also been errors and disadvantageous political results - for example in the tone of voice in the corona debate or in pandemic measures relating to children.
Survey on trust in democracy in the Corona crisis - majority of respondents satisfied with measures
The figures from the representative survey by the institute policy matters are a few weeks old, but they also target longer-term trends. According to them, in the survey period at the end of October / beginning of November, 57 percent of adult Germans felt that the corona measures were justified over the period of the pandemic - 13 percent said they were not far enough, 30 percent said they were too far. Very similar results were found when asked whether the measures were “oriented towards the common good”.
However, the survey also produced critical results.
For example, when it comes to the trust some citizens have in democracy in the country.
30 percent of those surveyed stated that they had a tendency to or great confidence in the federal government as an institution - they placed themselves on a scale from one (“have no confidence at all”) to seven (“have very great confidence”) at levels five, six and seven.
At levels one, two and three, 43 percent saw themselves, 22 percent were neutral.
Among the respondents who were dissatisfied with the Corona policy, a total of 68 percent placed themselves on the scale levels one to three, i.e. between rather low to "no confidence at all" in the government.
Nida-Rümelin: Doubts about Covid dangers "no reason to call people idiots"
In an international comparison, Nida-Rümelin emphasized in an interview with
Merkur.de
that
democracy in Germany was in good
shape
: “Everything is not perfect, but there is no deep gap between the rulers and the citizens.” This is also shown by the survey: “Man still sees very positive values, also with regard to the corona policy, ”said Nida-Rümelin.
The long-time politics professor at LMU Munich also reprimanded communication errors in the course of the pandemic.
"If people are of the opinion that the danger of Covid-19 is overestimated, then that is no reason to call them idiots," he emphasized.
"But then you have to look at statistics and discuss them."
Nida-Rümelin also criticized some aspects of fighting pandemic.
In his opinion, when it comes to compulsory vaccination, "a different strategy at an early stage would have meant less stress for the health system".
If there is the realization that it is not possible to cope with the pandemic without “massive vaccination pressure”, then restricting it to vulnerable groups from the outset would have been more productive, said the ethicist and decision theorist: Health system. ”This“ Greek model ”is currently also being debated in Germany.
Vice-Ethics Council: Fears of compulsory vaccination "instrumentalized" - but also "massive burdens" for unvaccinated people
Nida-Rümelin judged the conflict issue of compulsory vaccination being "rather instrumentalized" and "emotionalized" in the ongoing Corona protests. This request meets in part with "deep distrust of modern medicine": "This is an ancient story, you can read about it". At the same time, however, he expressed understanding for tense moods in unvaccinated people. “The part of the population that is not vaccinated is at least partially excluded from social and cultural life. Not being able to go to a gym, a cinema, a restaurant, not being able to meet friends in the pub is a massive, massive limitation. "
It is also a fact that the danger posed by Covid-19
for younger people is
"not that great". “The risk increases with age, and it does so dramatically. It varies over the entire age spectrum by a factor of more than 1,000 - that is much more than with influenza, for example, ”he said. Nevertheless, children in particular suffered from the consequences of the corona measures. "The children's clinics are meanwhile massively overloaded, there are triage situations," explained Nida-Rümelin in the conversation that was held in December. “But not because of Covid. But, for example, because of the RS virus and other diseases to which the children are defenseless because of the long period of corona measures. ”On Wednesday, the Conference of Ministers of Education will discuss the situation in schools.
Corona expert advice: Nida-Rümelin praises Scholz's committee - and hopes for a wake-up call from the pandemic
For the corona political debut of the Scholz government, Nida-Rümelin - once Minister of State for Culture in Gerhard Schröder's red-green government - also had words of praise ready.
The newly constituted Expert Council represents an improvement. The round is no longer "handpicked" by the Federal Chancellery and is held continuously instead of ad hoc.
"This is now really an attempt to map the spectrum of expertise," said Nida-Rümelin.
That may not have succeeded perfectly, but the result is "more pluralistic, more open-ended and more inclusive" than in the advisory practice of Angela Merkel's government.
According to his own information, Nida-Rümelin also hopes for a wake-up call from the Corona crisis.
“There is a realization that there is no way things can simply go on in this rut,” he emphasizes.
You can read a detailed interview with the philosopher on Wednesday on
Merkur.de
.
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