Is there enough money, Mr. Lindner?
Today in the Bundestag, the Ukraine war in all its dramatic facets is broken down into German domestic politics.
There is a current hour on the oil embargo, the deputies are debating the planned tax relief package of the traffic light coalition, an immediate surcharge for children from poorer families, the 9-euro ticket, the faster construction of wind turbines and much more.
We will find out whether there is enough money for all these projects when
Christian Lindner presents the results of the tax assessment today
.
Later that day, the war also reached Weißenhäuser Strand in Schleswig-Holstein, at least as a topic of conversation.
Starting in the afternoon, the G7 foreign ministers will meet here
with their hostess Annalena Baerbock in a luxury hotel on the Baltic Sea.
Although Finland is not a member of this group, the G7 representatives will keep their eyes on Helsinki today: Finnish President Sauli Niinistö wants to announce his position on the question of his country's NATO membership there.
Because an application for membership would require his approval.
Prime Minister Sanna Marin also announced that she would like to explain her opinion today.
If international crisis policy is not enough for you, US President
Joe Biden is hosting an international video summit on the corona pandemic today
.
Germany is co-host, together with Belize, Indonesia and Senegal.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz will give a speech and perhaps incorporate one or two gold nuggets that he collected the previous evening at his meeting with the Corona Expert Council.
You can find more news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:
This happened at night:
Ukraine tries to save defenders of the Azov steel plant with a barter deal.
Klitschko sees Kyiv as the main target of the Russian military.
And: Human Rights Watch denounces cluster munitions.
The overview.
What disrupted gas transit means for Europe:
The transit of Russian gas to Europe is partially disrupted.
The backgrounds are dubious – and highly political.
How serious is the failure?
And what's behind it?
The overview.
There is disarmament - but only verbally:
the US President is more reserved than ever in the conflict with Putin - and is thus reminiscent of the German Chancellor.
With the allies he wants to look for a possible compromise between Moscow and Kyiv.
"The Strack carpenters make balcony bellicism":
How to deal with Putin's aggression?
And what about Russian culture in Germany?
Svenja Flasspöhler and Wladimir Kaminer argue about this in a talk with Markus Feldenkirchen.
The highlights from the »Top Talks«.
Friedrich Merz remains loyal to Angela Merkel
Today the top candidates for the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia meet in a TV duel.
CDU Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst and his SPD challenger Thomas Kutschaty argue for 75 minutes about their concepts for state politics.
For CDU leader Friedrich Merz, this election is the most important touchstone for his central campaign promise:
Everything will be better with me than with Angela Merkel.
So far it is 2:1 for Merkel: Under her presidency, the CDU won in Saarland and Schleswig-Holstein.
Merz only managed one federal state.
Should Hendrik Wüst not remain Prime Minister, the CDU base could notice that the promised renewal of their party is not exactly going ahead with seven league boots.
The new basic program, which ex-party leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer had already started, is still in progress.
CDU people complain that the new general secretary Mario Czaja's election campaign help for the state associations was rather meager.
Especially since he is said to have announced internally before the election: "We have lost the Saarland."
The wind of change isn't exactly blowing in the staff either: many top people were already sitting in the party headquarters when Merz was still outside the door complaining that the CDU establishment was against him.
The federal manager has remained the same, his new deputy previously worked for Angela Merkel's faction leaders.
The CDU press office has also had to put up hardly any new name tags lately.
A new office manager that Merz had brought with him threw in the towel again after a short time.
The party leader has already chosen a successor – but he comes from the camp of those who used to work against Merz.
Nothing speaks against continuity and classic tones, especially not in a conservative party.
Unless the campaign promise was rock 'n' roll, the revolution.
Where there is no continuity in the CDU, there is confusion:
There is the new »political coordinator« Markus Kerber, a Swabian who is always in a good mood and was previously State Secretary in the government of – you guessed it – Angela Merkel.
How Kerber delimits his responsibilities to Secretary General Czaja and Federal Managing Director Stefan Hennewig remains vague.
Because Kerber is assigned important topics, such as strategic planning and opponent observation, as well as speeches and demoscopy – what do the other two then take care of again?
All three bosses seem to be responsible for the five departments at the same time.
But maybe someone just forgot to draw a few lines in the new organizational chart.
State elections in North Rhine-Westphalia: why NRW is so important for Scholz and Merz
Steffi Lemke talks about the climate
Today the environment ministers meet in Wilhelmshaven.
Among other things, it is about species protection, specifically »wolf management«.
In addition, the "Scientists for Future Wilhelmshaven" will present the politicians with a thesis paper on climate policy.
Steffi
Lemke
, the Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, is pleased that she can also talk about climate protection.
Because this important responsibility was cut out of Lemke's ministry when the government was formed
and entrusted to Vice Chancellor and Climate Minister Robert Habeck
.
Lemke's remaining themes, while all eminently important in their own right, seem a bit cobbled together.
Incidentally, Lemke has a son.
I don't want to know whether he likes to travel with her or with friends.
This question regarding the son of Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht was felt by many readers of the situation yesterday as improper and not at all funny, which I am sincerely sorry about.
Maybe it was my way of coping with the trauma: My own mother has such a full calendar, even without a post in the Federal Cabinet, that she can neither travel with me nor read the situation in the morning.
Incidentally, we journalists have similar problems to Steffi Lemke when it comes to the issue of responsibilities.
We too are scrambling about exciting topics, but we quickly lose interest again. The climate crisis is a good example of this.
Before the Ukraine war and the pandemic, it was the number one topic and would have deserved this status given the seriousness of the situation.
Is the media still reporting enough on climate policy?
How can the crisis be depicted without overwhelming the audience or becoming activist?
That's what a new episode of the SPIEGEL podcast "Climate Report" will be about today.
The guest this time is the climate researcher Stefan Rahmstorf.
Drought in Germany: will 2022 be another dry year?
Winner of the day...
…is the talk show host
Raúl Krauthausen
.
Hey, never heard of it, you think now, and admittedly, Krauthausen's show isn't exactly running at prime time on Sport 1 either, but it has been since 2015. In his show "Krauthausen - Face to face", the 41-year-old interviews people who like have a disability, but also special talents or interesting jobs.
Krauthausen, an activist for more inclusion in Germany, has the so-called "brittle bone" disease, is short in stature and uses a wheelchair.
Now he was interviewed himself by my colleague Alexander Kühn.
Krauthausen told him about his childhood, which was marked by financial hardship, and what he saw as unfair compensation for the disabled.
Anyone who works in a workshop for the disabled does not even earn the minimum wage, every intern gets more.
»Then they always say: Oh, the disabled people don't work properly.
Yes, they work eight hours a day,” says Krauthausen.
The interview touched me a lot because it reminded me once again that you can count yourself lucky simply to have a functioning body.
The latest news from the night
Croatian woman is now allowed to abort a seriously ill fetus:
Four hospitals in Zagreb had turned her away: Now a woman in Croatia is still allowed to abort her fetus with a tumor.
The case sparked outrage across the country.
Arizona executes student killer:
It was the first time since 2014 that the state of Arizona has carried out a death sentence: Clarence Dixon was killed with lethal injection.
The convicted murderer had protested his innocence to the end.
Hundreds of children died in Indigenous boarding schools:
The graves of Indigenous children in Canada have been examined for months.
Now the USA has also submitted a report: At least 500 children are said to have died there in boarding schools.
The number is likely to increase.
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
"Ultimately, I also sacrifice my own youth for this job":
The Green Party politician shows up at appointments with the longboard and received a ghetto fist from Angela Merkel: Emilia Fester is the youngest member of the Bundestag.
Why her age is not just a privilege for her.
"It's unbelievable how Ferry Porsche twisted history":
Under National Socialism, dynasties like Quandt, Flick and Oetker used forced labor and "Aryanization" to build empires.
Author David de Jong is outraged that corporations even run charity on behalf of Nazi perpetrators.
A Berlin bunker builder makes a profit from the Germans' fear of war:
the Piejde family used to build houses.
Now they sell armored steel and artillery shelters.
A private bunker costs up to 375,000 euros – but business is good.
I wish you a good start into the day.
Yours, Melanie Amann
