Severe summit Zoff in the small print - Söder caused an ice-cold mood with a pointed question to Scholz
Created: 02/18/2022, 12:43 p.m
By: Stephanie Munk
Bavaria's head of state Markus Söder had some objections at the Prime Minister's conference on the Corona situation.
© Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa
At the Corona summit there was apparently Zoff.
It is said that Markus Söder in particular caused an icy mood - he was even called back by FDP boss Lindner.
Berlin – everyday life without corona rules, that’s what most people see themselves as.
And at the Corona summit on Wednesday, February 16th, the way to get there was paved: the protective measures against the corona virus are to be gradually lifted until, on March 20th, almost nothing remains of them.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the prime ministers agreed on an easing timetable, which the chancellor then announced elatedly: One should now be confident about the future, said Scholz.
But a little later it leaked out: When the country heads were not publicly broadcast video, there was not only optimism and unity, but also some lasting points of conflict.
Even during the meeting, some prime ministers had "protocol statements" written into the resolution - the footnotes often serve to clarify a dissent.
Zoff at the Corona summit: Söder upset with a comment against Scholz
In separate statements, Bavaria, Saxony and Baden-Württemberg called for the rules on “basic protection” such as mouthguards, distance and tests to be extended.
So far, these have been regulated in a paragraph in the Infection Protection Act, which expires on March 19th.
The Bundestag must create a new legal basis if basic protection measures are to apply after March 20th.
Despite Scholz's commitment, some country heads seem to doubt that this will really happen.
Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) attacked the Chancellor directly in this context, writes
Der Spiegel
.
Söder recalled the times when it was easy for ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) to get the Corona decisions of the Prime Ministers' Conference through with her black and red majority in the Bundestag.
Merkel and Scholz as Vice Chancellor would have guaranteed the majority in Parliament at the time, Söder is said to have said.
Is that still the case?
He was "unsure", Söder is said to have teased, and wondered whether Scholz even had a negotiating mandate for the majority in the Bundestag.
Zoff at the Corona summit: Lindner intervenes – "Dear Markus Söder"
With this, Söder took a harsh stance against the Chancellor, who is supposed to bring three parties into line with his traffic light coalition - and with the FDP has a government partner who has long dreamed of a "Freedom Day" for Germany.
An idea for which the SPD and the Greens are not so readily available.
There are calls from the FDP to even phase out the mask requirement.
So Scholz is under pressure – but apparently immediately got help from the video switch.
And of all things by FDP leader and finance minister Christian Lindner.
"Dear Markus Söder", according to the participants, he is said to have said that Scholz has a majority in the Bundestag "and of course he also has a negotiating mandate".
The SPD Prime Minister Malu Dreyer (Rhineland-Palatinate) is also said to have whistled back at Söder: "I ask that something be dimmed down regarding these allegations," she said, according to
Spiegel
.
She is annoyed by the allegations, when it is the prime ministers of the Union who would open faster than it had been jointly agreed.
Söder had anticipated the federal-state round and had already decided to relax Bavaria on Tuesday.
SPD politician Franziska Giffey was also annoyed that Söder had sent out a protocol statement during the discussion: "If protocol statements are ready before a discussion is over, I think that's a shame," the Berlin mayor is said to have criticized.
Zoff at the Corona summit: Söder again criticizes Scholz's obligation to vaccinate
There also seems to be internal trouble about the partial vaccination requirement for employees in the nursing and healthcare sector.
The federal and state governments agreed without further comments to introduce this compulsory vaccination.
But Markus Söder, who recently caused a lot of fuss when it came to compulsory vaccination, did not miss the opportunity to distance himself with a protocol statement at the same time.
In his note, Söder referred to "numerous unanswered questions" and the "need for practical, nationwide enforcement rules".
The handout presented so far by the federal government is “at best a first step”.
Ensuring the supply in the health and care sector must be given “absolute priority” when enforcing facility-related compulsory vaccination.
Corona summit: Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt also complain about compulsory vaccination
Söder was not the only one with his criticism: The Prime Minister of Saxony, Michael Kretschmer, had it recorded in a protocol statement that it caused "misunderstanding and frustration" to "leave the trade-off between enforcing compulsory vaccination and ensuring care" to "the municipal level alone".
The federal government should put the nursing vaccination requirement to the test.
Its purpose is undecided anyway, where many vaccinated and recovered people fell ill with the omicron variant of the corona virus.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Social Affairs, one third of the health care workers in Saxony are not vaccinated.
The federal state would have a huge personnel problem if they were no longer allowed to work.
The country therefore put the preparations for compulsory vaccination on hold and initially wanted to wait for the prime minister's conference.
According to its protocol declaration, Saxony-Anhalt also saw “important implementation questions still open” with regard to the compulsory care vaccination.
The handout from the Ministry of Health in Berlin is “relevant, but non-binding”.
There are still open labor law issues.
In the event of implementation, the question of ensuring care “in regions with high rates of unvaccinated employees in the affected facilities” is also unresolved.
(smu/dpa)
