After the decision of the Federal Administrative Court on the Corona exit restriction in April 2020, Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) defended the procedure at the time. One will accept the verdict and look at the reasoning, Holetschek said on BR24live. However, at that time politicians “didn’t have time for legal talks forever”. In retrospect, he rated the measures as responsible and fair.
In a statement, Holetschek continued: “In the spring of 2020, there was only limited knowledge of the highly contagious new corona virus, no drugs and no vaccines.” In view of the many serious diseases and high mortality, a consistent approach was needed.
No statement from Holetschek about a possible apology
Holetschek did not directly respond to the question of whether an apology was due on BR24live. However, he stressed several times that an ex post evaluation is always easier. Furthermore, conclusions for the future must be drawn from the current ruling.
FDP is confirmed: “Team disproportionality”
The leader of the Bavarian parliamentary group FDP Martin Hagen contradicted the minister. As early as the spring of 2020, many people were of the opinion that the restrictions on going out were disproportionate. Since April 2020 this has also been the position of the FDP. “It’s good that this has now been confirmed by a court,” Hagen said on BR24live. In retrospect, that didn’t help single people who were alone in their apartments at the time.
In other federal states, it had already been shown in the spring of 2020 “that milder means had at least as large an effect,” said Hagen. “Back then in Bavaria we had the strictest rules and at the same time the highest crown numbers.” However, the extremely strict exit restrictions would not have made it possible to contain the infection process any better than in other federal states.
The deputy chairwoman of the Bavarian FDP, Katja Hessel, also welcomed the verdict. “It’s not even illegal to sit on a park bench in Bavaria,” Hessel tweeted. Politicians should not overrestrict freedom rights with exit restrictions. Franziska Brandmann, Federal Chair of the Young Liberals, said on Twitter: Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) had been leading “squad disproportionality” instead of “squad prudence” during the pandemic.
Federal judge: “disproportionate” exit restriction
The Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig had previously ruled that the Free State’s appeal against a decision of the Bavarian Administrative Court was unsuccessful. The exit restriction from Bavaria in April 2020 was not compatible with the principle of proportionality.
The all-day ban on leaving one’s apartment to be outdoors is a serious violation of fundamental rights. As a milder measure, contact restrictions would have been considered, allowing people to be outdoors only with their family members. In particular, it concerned the Bavarian Crown Ordinance of March 31, 2020. It was in effect from April 1 to 19, 2020. At that time, Bavaria acted more strictly than other federal states, where most state governments relied on contact restrictions.
SPD head of state von Brunn: Citizens “illegally locked up”
The Bavarian state and faction leader of the SPD, Florian von Brunn, has reacted to the current verdict with sharp criticism of Prime Minister Söder. Von Brunn tweeted that he had “locked up Bavarians without sufficient reason and illegally” and trampled on the Bavarian way of life. “In his quest for recognition, he has always had to outdo the federal government.”
In retrospect, the SPD politician accuses Söder of not acting out of conviction at the time: “The fact that everything with him is primarily a political calculation is shown by his 180-degree turn in Corona politics today.”
Verdi: “Serious violation of our freedom”
Bavarian Health Minister Holetschek sees it very differently. Without directly confronting von Brunn’s accusation, Holetschek stressed that the situation has changed in the meantime. The measures must always be proportionate, the CSU politician stressed: “This is also shown by our current Corona course – for example when the isolation obligation is lifted, in which Bavaria is a pioneer.” Holetschek also pointed out that the Federal Constitutional Court had, for example, approved the so-called Corona emergency brake in principle.
Bavarian Greens leader Thomas von Sarnowski explained that Söder’s special route in the first block in 2020 was “a gross violation of our freedom”. According to Sarnowski, contact restrictions would have been enough.
AfD calls for Söder’s resignation
The Bavarian AfD member of parliament Katrin Ebner-Steiner, like the FDP and SPD, welcomed the decision of the Federal Administrative Court and called for personal consequences at the head of the Free State. “Federal Administrative Court slaps state government: Söder acted against the law,” Ebner-Steiner tweeted. “In the past, prime ministers would have tendered their resignations in case of similar sentences for decency!”
AfD health expert Andreas Winhart stressed that “the flood of measures, which Markus Söder in particular, as a hardliner, fanatically implemented against all reason and the rule of law”, has now been punished with the utmost instance . The AfD parliamentary group will demand consequences from the decision: “A comprehensive political and legal review of the crown hysteria is needed.”
There was an exit restriction in Bavaria before and after, but the current procedure only covered the period in the first half of April. Indeed, in spring 2020, representatives of the SPD, FDP and AfD initially supported the state government’s Corona course. The then parliamentary group leader of the SPD, Horst Arnold, on March 20, 2020 defined the measure as inevitable: “My parliamentary group and I appeal to the self-discipline of every citizen of the Free State to remain in the house or apartment in per protect yourself and other people to protect yourself from being infected with the dangerous corona virus.”
Legal expert ARD Kehlbach: “He actually went too far”
So far it is not clear exactly what follows from the current ruling of the Federal Administrative Court. The legal value of the decision is “very high”, ARD legal expert Christoph Kehlbach said on BR24live. For the first time, the highest administrative court in Germany has dealt with this matter. For Bavarian citizens, the decision could be a belated satisfaction: “Actually it has been exaggerated, the state has exaggerated a bit”.
The ruling also does not mean that all those who complain about some corona measures are now right, Kehlbach stressed. It cannot yet be definitively said to what extent people who were fined in April 2020 for violating exit restrictions, for example, will now get their money back. “Lawyers are not entirely on board with this.”
