How much protection do you want?
It could be any day now, get ready.
He expects results "in a very short time,"
said the Minister of Health.
Because together with FDP Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann, Karl Lauterbach is working on a draft for the revision of the Infection Protection Act.
To put it more prosaically:
The two fight it out with each other as to how protected we are going into the next corona waves in autumn and winter.
The roles in the traffic light coalition seem to be clearly distributed: FDP for less protection, SPD and Greens for more.
Enlarge image
Minister Lauterbach, Buschmann
Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images
In fact, we have tested the FDP model over the past few months, i.e. summer wave and epidemic.
In return, this has enabled many of us to live a largely normal life, and some even seem to be able to completely suppress Corona.
That doesn't have to be bad, in any case FDP bashing is not appropriate.
I don't know about you, but you probably feel a lot like me:
it's hard to tell what's right and what's wrong at this point in the pandemic.
I felt differently at other times, with other virus variants.
Let's try common sense with a few basic things that everyone should be able to agree on:
Then, for the fall, we must first of all strive to ensure that the
healthcare system
works, is not paralyzed by staff failures due to Corona, or is overwhelmed by intensive care patients.
Secondly, we have to ensure that children and young people
can go to their
day care centers and schools regularly (!) and that their everyday lives are not shaped by the pandemic.
Thirdly, we need a convincing
vaccination campaign
.
And fourthly, we must protect those
vulnerable groups
who are not adequately protected by vaccinations alone.
What follows?
If we as a society and the SPD, Greens and FDP as a coalition can agree on these four basic requirements, then we will not be able to avoid a possible mask requirement for certain areas.
Depending on the infection situation, this could also apply to rules such as 2G or 3G.
It would be better to regulate access to clubs and bars than to endure failures in schools again.
I chatted with my colleague Milena Hassenkamp last night so I wouldn't write nonsense here.
Milena deals with health policy in our capital office:
Fischer, Sebastian:
Hey Milena, question for LAGE: When will this draft of the Infection Protection Act finally come out?
Hassenkamp, Milena:
Actually this week, but when Lauterbach and Buschmann are negotiating, they usually argue until the last minute.
Fischer, Sebastian:
What will it say in the end?
Hassenkamp, Milena:
Both find it useful to wear masks indoors, the FDP has ruled out lockdowns and renewed school closures.
Perhaps they agree on test concepts.
Fischer, Sebastian:
Thank you.
And when will the pandemic be over?
Hassenkamp, Milena:
Haha.
Pandemic: Lauterbach is promising an early corona concept for autumn
summer fairy tale
Excuse me, where is this weird men's football World Cup taking place again this winter?
Doesn't matter.
Can we forget
Now it's summer, now it's football.
And what a football.
The German team led by captain Alexandra Popp beat France 2-1 last night and are expected to face 90,000 spectators at Wembley Stadium in the final against hosts England on Sunday.
The European title - it would be the ninth for record winner Germany - would come at the right time:
a sporty mood lift against the ongoing feeling of crisis.
Football can be highly political.
I still remember how disappointed some SPD strategists were when Gerhard Schröder, after losing the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia in 2005, called for new elections.
And didn't wait for the following year with the World Cup in their own country to benefit from the mood resulting from a possible World Cup victory.
Germany did not get a world champion, but a summer fairy tale.
And the new chancellor, Angela Merkel, stayed with the national team for the next 16 years.
In the crisis year 2022, a summer fairy tale sounds almost too good to be true.
Germany moves into the final of the European Championship: "Honestly, there's nothing nicer"
Ideological heat fire passé
What's the matter with the Greens?
Has a democratic party in Germany ever made such a change in such a short time?
The SPD, for example, needed almost 100 years to say goodbye to Karl Marx.
The Greens, however, are now the drivers of arms deliveries to a war zone, as well as the internationally respected anchor of stability in the governing coalition - and they are venting their last ideological heat fire these days: the long-awaited definitive phase-out of nuclear energy on December 31st.
Then the last three German piles should actually go offline.
But suddenly there is talk of practical constraints everywhere.
Will the base go along with it?
Or will the nuclear debate be for the Greens what Agenda2010 was for the SPD: a party-political disaster?
More and more leading Greens do not want to rule out a temporary continued operation of the nuclear power plants beyond the end of the year because of the energy crisis.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck sees it that way and has initiated a “stress test” that is intended to clarify the situation.
Bundestag Vice-President Katrin Göring-Eckardt has made the nice phrase of "stretching operation" public.
So you don't have to talk about the extension of the term.
And in the green-red government of Munich, where the public utility company holds 25 percent of the Isar 2 nuclear power plant, the green second mayor, Katrin Habenschaden, says: The stretching operation should not be taboo if there is a threat of a power supply bottleneck.
Jürgen Trittin, who was once the father of the German nuclear phase-out in the red-green coalition, is annoyed in an interview with my colleague Serafin Reiber.
Serafin asked what signal the Munich Greens were sending to the party.
Trittin responded:
"In my state association in Lower Saxony, the annoyed shaking of heads triggered the beginning of the state election campaign."
This morning, the "Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz" (BUND), an important green preliminary organization, wants to present its study on the "state of nuclear power plant safety and an extension of the lifespan".
The title of the press release already makes it clear where the journey is headed:
»Unsafe, unprofitable, unnecessary.«
An appointment at which the distance between the party leadership and the party environment will have to be measured.
Old beliefs meet new pragmatism.
I am very excited about the coming months and the discussions in the Greens.
"Stuttgart Declaration": Is this the hour of the mood makers against the nuclear phase-out?
You can find news and background information on the war in Ukraine here:
Selenskyj promises the EU electricity, Russia is apparently struggling with massive losses - that happened at night:
In view of the impending energy bottlenecks in Europe, the Ukrainian President announces help.
And: According to US findings, the number of fallen Russians is much higher than assumed.
"The Russian armed forces are running out of air":
Russia's offensive in the Donbass is making only sluggish progress.
However, Moscow would like to place the areas it has already conquered under its nuclear deterrent umbrella as soon as possible.
Why, says military expert Ed Arnold.
Comment: Do not rely on China:
even if the People's Republic has great influence in Moscow, it will hardly stand in the way of Putin in Ukraine.
Hopes for China to play a mediating role are misplaced - it is not in Beijing's strategic interest.
Berlin switches off spotlights at 200 sights:
Victory Column and Cathedral will soon remain dark.
The idea is supposed to save energy – it doesn't make economic sense at first.
Here is the current quiz of the day
The starting question today: What is the legal basis for private gun ownership in the USA?
Winner of the day...
...
... we are gas savers.
Yesterday at this point I wrote about Putin's Stasi methods in the gas war, his subversive measures against Europe's societies.
One of the countermeasures is to act now as if gas were no longer flowing out of Russia.
Enlarge image
Brandenburg Gate in Berlin: still illuminated
Photo: stefan zeitz / imago images/Stefan Zeitz
Apparently we are on the right track, as I have gathered from this text by my colleague Michael Kröger: According to a calculation by the Federal Association of Energy and Water Industries, gas consumption in May was more than a third lower than in the same month of 2021. Adjusted for temperature effects, that is Minus still 10.8 percent.
According to the first figures, 19.2 percent less gas was consumed in June than in the same month last year.
It works.
The latest news from the night
Pope rejects sole guilt of the church:
At a meeting with Canada's Prime Minister Trudeau, Pope Francis asked forgiveness for the evils that Christians have done to indigenous peoples.
At the same time, he said that others were to blame.
Facebook with the first drop in sales since its IPO:
The Facebook group Meta has reported its first drop in sales.
After years of rapid growth, the development is tantamount to the end of an era.
"Putin" shouts from Fenerbahçe fans when Dynamo Kiev wins:
scandal in the qualification for the Champions League: Fenerbahçe fans celebrated Russian President Putin with chants when their team lost against Dynamo Kiev.
The SPIEGEL + recommendations for today
How China's carmakers are using Europe's crisis: Chinese
e-car manufacturers have set themselves big goals for Europe.
The prospects for the challengers are dazzling - because supply bottlenecks are paralyzing the established brands.
An inside story.
"Even a green man can rave about his Mercedes on social media":
the social scientist Marius Sältzer examined 1.2 million tweets from politicians - with astonishing results.
Why did you put 1537 aphorisms online, Mr. Exler?:
Nobody has published more of their own wisdom on zitate.de than Georg-Wilhelm Exler.
Whether for speeches or funeral cards, not even Goethe can keep up with his collection.
What drives this man?
Investigative book about the Windsors: Meghan, Harry and the Smutty War:
450 pages about Meghan and Harry: The author hopes this will speed up the "crash of the couple".
Unfortunately, this is all too evident in his book.
I wish you a good start into the day.
Yours Sebastian Fischer
