The situation in the morning: take your time with compulsory vaccinations!

Praise to slowness

Today is such a day on which the major crisis issues are prominently occupied with appointments: democracy, climate, corona, Europe.

So it's getting serious.

Let's start with

.

Today the parliamentary groups will deal intensively with this question.

It's all about the pace.

Can Olaf Scholz live up to his announcement that there will be

by the end of March ?

I recommend the opposite:

.

I am a big fan of vaccination, but opposed to mandatory vaccination at this point in time.

The omicron wave can no longer be stopped, and there are still questions about the effectiveness of the vaccine.

And there is hope that the pandemic could gradually come to an end even without a vaccination requirement.

Am I writing this with full conviction?

No, I write this with doubts and scruples.

I just don't know what's to come.

And that seems to be the case for everyone, including the experts.

In view of this uncertainty, I believe that such a drastic measure as compulsory vaccination is inappropriate.

• SPIEGEL editorial on the debate about Omikron and incidences: Leave that of the vaccination requirement

How a minority wants to secure majorities

US President

and Vice -President

make a

today .

The topic is the right to

, one of the most important foundations of democracy.

For centuries there has been a struggle to extend the right to vote.

At first it only applied to wealthy white men, not to the poor, not to women, in the USA not to slaves and sometimes not to their descendants.

It took a long time for almost everyone over the age of 18 in the democracies to vote.

The

.

Above all, she wants to make voting difficult for blacks because they are more likely to opt for the Democratic Party.

The Republicans also want to change the electoral law in some states so that they would have an advantage if the results were tight.

In principle, they want to ensure that an extremely conservative, especially white minority, could win their presidential candidate over the majority.

So it's about not having to lose again in elections.

However, even a minimalist definition of democracy implies that the outcome of elections must be open.

If the Republicans succeed with their tricks, US democracy is dead.

• New US State Election Laws: How Republicans Plan the Silent Coup

How bold is Habeck?

has a big appointment today

.

In Berlin he wants to present his

.

It has already been leaked that it is likely to be grim.

Germany will probably miss its climate targets this year.

Embarrassing, embarrassing, they liked to see themselves as a pioneer.

Above all, Habeck will want to ensure that wind power and solar systems generate far more electricity than before.

How one evaluates the start of the new federal government will also depend on its program.

So far, it is not doing well, mainly because of its erratic corona policy.

A bold advance on the climate issue could improve the overall impression.

• First annual economic report: Habeck ends the dream of eternal growth

"Great thirst for recognition"

and the President of the EU Council,

, are meeting in Paris today

for a

to discuss European politics over the next few months.

The meeting will be overshadowed by the news that EU Parliament President David Sassoli died on Tuesday night.

France holds the presidency for the first half of the year, which is a bit unfortunate given that the national presidential election is due in April.

Macron will not do anything that could threaten his re-election even a little.

And the Belgian Michel is a special type, as my colleague Ralf Neukirch describes in a portrait: "His thirst for recognition is so great that even companions shake their heads." Neukirch's text is

.

• EU Council President Charles Michel: This man torpedoed Ursula von der Leyen - why?

Winner of the day

What annoys me even more than a defeat by Bayern Munich is that while watching football I am constantly bombarded with advertising for football bets: on the boards in the stadium, in the TV commercials around the game, and sometimes on the players' shirts.

Few manifestations of capitalism are as obscene as this.

While fans live out their love and passion for football, they are lured into gambling, are mostly deprived of money with the hope of winning money, are exposed to high dangers of addiction.

The

will present a paper today in which it calls for the cooperation between the football business and the sports betting providers to be radically curtailed.

That's why "Our Curve" is my winner of the day.

The latest news from the night

• EU Parliament President David Sassoli is dead:

  his spokesman confirmed this.

  Sassoli died at the age of 65 in a hospital in his native Italy

• North Korea is apparently testing a second missile within a week:

  The USA and other countries in the UN Security Council have sharply criticized North Korea's missile test from last week.

  Pyongyang now apparently responded with a new weapon test

• Doctors use genetically modified pig hearts in patients for the first time:

  In the USA, doctors say they have transplanted the heart of a genetically modified pig into a man.

  The 57-year-old patient is fine three days after the operation

The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today

• Russia's troop deployment: party mood and fear of war

• Derailed cocaine investigation by the Munich police: a chat typo ruins a civil servant's career

• Food of the future: "The farmer feeds the steel cow and sells the proteins"

• New novel »Destroy«: In this book, Houellebecq lets the real monsters loose on France

I wish you a good start to the day.

Yours Dirk Kurbjuweit