Enlarge image
FDP parliamentary group leader Johannes Vogel
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / dpa
The Bundestag should vote on the general compulsory vaccination without being compulsory for parliamentary groups - but so far the debate has not progressed.
Individual applications for a possible law have not yet been received.
Now the FDP and the Union are getting into a dispute over how to proceed.
The liberals accuse the largest opposition force of procrastination.
"It is disturbing that the Union parliamentary group in the opposition seems to have given up any design claim," said FDP parliamentary group manager Johannes Vogel of the AFP news agency.
He was referring to the refusal of the Union to participate in the Bundestag in drafting cross-party legislative proposals to introduce a general compulsory vaccination.
The Union demands that the federal government submit a draft.
This means that the Union faction is not living up to its parliamentary responsibility, said Vogel.
"The core task and constitutional mandate for us as parliamentarians is legislation," he said.
"In the case of medical-ethical questions of fundamental importance, there are good reasons why we always do so in group proceedings."
Vogel said the "traffic light" explicitly invites "the Union's colleagues to participate as proud parliamentarians in the group proposal work, to take a stand in this important debate and to help find a solution."
Vogel responded with his remarks to Union parliamentary group manager Thorsten Frei (CDU), who had reiterated his criticism of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in the morning.
"I would like the Chancellor to submit a bill in any case," said Frei in the ZDF "Morgenmagazin".
"The Chancellor is not taking the lead in the crisis"
Scholz has repeatedly emphasized that he regards compulsory vaccination as a necessary measure in the fight against the pandemic.
"And if he does that, then in the worst crisis of our time he will have to submit a draft law and cannot stand on the sidelines with crossed arms and wait for what happens in parliament," said Frei.
"The Federal Chancellor is not taking the lead in the crisis."
In the Bundestag, the members of the Bundestag should only be obliged to their conscience when voting on the compulsory vaccination for everyone.
Scholz had already initiated the proposals in December.
As things stand, the CDU and CSU in the Bundestag do not want to submit their own application to introduce compulsory vaccinations.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) does not want to work out his own application either, he told SPIEGEL.
For reasons of neutrality, he wanted to be available to all parliamentary groups in an advisory capacity, without being "leading" himself.
mrc / AFP
