Vaccination Zoff: Scholz is already the "lame duck" - but the result could be spot on

Created: 01/14/2022Updated: 01/14/2022 05:33

By: Florian Naumann

When it comes to compulsory vaccination, Olaf Scholz cannot govern according to Gusto - but that harbors opportunities, comments Florian Naumann © Kay Nietfeld/dpa/Marcus Schlaf/fn

The Union grills Olaf Scholz because of the compulsory vaccination.

CDU and CSU have a point - but the involuntary action of the traffic light tip could help the country, comments Florian Naumann.

Munich - Olaf Scholz (SPD) survived his first government survey as chancellor on Wednesday - with the weapons of a woman.

A specific woman, his predecessor Angela Merkel: friendly, cool, matter-of-fact, only slightly smug and evasive from time to time.

Among other things, Scholz had to dodge part of the mandatory vaccination debate.

There is a reason for this: the SPD leader is more of a "lame duck" on this issue - as master of the coalition.

As a result, this can even be good for compulsory vaccination and for the country.

Corona vaccination requirement: FDP slows down Scholz - but the big, open debate could be the right thing

The Union as an opposition apprentice has already identified the issue as an open flank. In the debate, the CDU repeatedly called for "leadership" from Scholz instead of the proposed proposals "from the middle of the Bundestag", the CSU followed suit. What is right about the allegations is that there are inconsistencies. It is not rational to explain why the general obligation to vaccinate should be passed in a special way, but this did not apply to the job-related one. Scholz didn't really try at all.

After all, there is no substantive reason. The reason is simply that it is not possible to force the self-divided FDP to adopt a coalition line on the subject of "general vaccination requirements". This can be interpreted weeks after taking office and rather full-bodied vaccination promises as failure, as the Union is doing. But it is also to be respected in this very question.

Scholz - and with him, in the best case, the whole country - may even be lucky: In the heated debate about compulsory vaccination, it could be spot on not to intervene in the fast track, but to let the forces of the strongest argument prevail in the Bundestag with an open mind.

Not because a cabinet proposal approved by the coalition majority would be illegitimate.

But because parliament and, above all, a strong debate about the pros and cons have the power to find the best possible solution - and to involve even more people in the country.

Vaccination obligation: It's probably too late for Omikron, now politicians should build the emergency brake - but don't pull it yet

And there is another point where Scholz's traffic light and the country could be lucky: It is difficult to predict which capers the pandemic will still cause - but at the moment there seems to be a lot to be said for compulsory vaccination even in the speed process for the towering Omicron - Wave would come too late. After all, the decree is not enough, it also has to be vaccinated. The vaccination requirement is more of an emergency brake lever for upcoming variants, waves and winter.

And that is precisely what the Bundestag should now prepare for, including new Omicron findings, as requested by the Minister of Justice - and perhaps even creating it as an instrument that can only be put into effect by a separate Bundestag resolution.

As things stand, that's enough even in the summer.

A duty can only exist as a last resort.

As a last resort against more deaths and lockdowns, it's an option.

On the other hand, the greatest political accident that can be assumed is ultimately a useless instrument because of hypothetical new, more dangerous or harmless variants.

Traffic light: More transparency doesn't hurt - trust in the Bundestag would be good for the Union

If there is something to blame for Scholz and the traffic light, then it is a lack of transparency. After all, Jens Spahn had painfully demonstrated several times in the GroKo that politics shouldn't just promise something - and the new chancellor wouldn't break a zigzag if he admitted that the traffic lights didn't agree on compulsory vaccination. That parts of reality could unsettle the population is a traditional requirement: honesty creates trust.

And all parliamentarians should also have confidence in the elected representatives in the Bundestag.

When ex-CSU Minister Eberhard Sinner tweeted that the issue was "so complex" that the government had to act itself, that casts a very unfavorable light on democracy - and incidentally also on his party friends, who ultimately sit in the opposition.