Status: 02/10/2022 7:09 p.m
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A compromise in the event of possible easing of the corona measures seems to be getting further and further away. There is no consensus in sight between the traffic light parties either. And even with the partial vaccination requirement, there is no peace for a long time.
In the dispute over possible easing of the current corona measures, the fronts are becoming increasingly hard – even within the traffic light coalition. The co-governing FDP continues to push for the end of all editions in March.
“On March 20, Germany should return to normal,” Christian Dürr, leader of the FDP parliamentary group, specified the limit for the restrictions that his party was targeting in the newspapers of the Funke media group. Dürr emphasized that all measures will then expire if the Bundestag does not decide to extend the current transitional regulations.
The traffic light parties had already worked out these regulations last October. When the epidemic emergency ended in November, they came into force – with the time limit in March. Even then, the current Federal Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann, had announced March 20 as the end date for the conditions. The Federal Ministry of Health also recently confirmed that the applicable legal basis for the current corona measures would then expire. Always on the condition that the Bundestag does not exercise its right to extend it once by three months.
Continued discussion about institution-related compulsory vaccination
Hanni Hüsch, ARD Berlin, daily news at 8:00 p.m., February 10, 2022
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Dürr: No overloading of the clinics
But Dürr sees no reason to take this step. “The yardstick for the corona restrictions must always be the burden on the health system,” he said. “Fortunately, this overload no longer exists.”
The German Hospital Society also announced on Wednesday that the omicron wave would no longer be expected to overload the clinics. Unlike the previous variant Delta, omicron often causes a milder course of the disease.
Lauterbach warns not to unnecessarily prolong the pandemic
But the nationwide seven-day incidence of new infections continues to rise to a new high every day. In view of this persistently high number of infections, Federal Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach remains cautious on the subject of easing. He does not reject them – most recently the SPD politician had promised opening steps “well before Easter”.
But the easing should not take place too early and too extensively, as this would unnecessarily prolong the pandemic, Lauterbach warned again today. This is neither good for the economy nor for health. The minister also referred to the barely increasing vaccination rate and the ongoing risk for particularly vulnerable groups such as the elderly during the pandemic.
CDU criticizes Lauterbach as “minister of fear”
Arguments that are increasingly encountering resistance in the Union. Lauterbach should not become the “minister of fear,” warned Hamburg’s CDU boss Christoph Ploß in the “Bild”. And the legal policy spokesman for the Union faction, Günter Krings, accused the Federal Minister of Health in the “Welt” of exchanging the reasons for maintaining the corona measures. Ultimately, however, the only thing that counts is protecting the health system from being overloaded.
And the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck also advocated easing. “In general, you have to ask yourself whether you want to stick to the G rules,” he told the online edition of “Münchner Merkur”. Streeck spoke out in favor of a cautious return to normality.
2G-Plus, 2G and 3G – FDP parliamentary group leader Dürr also wants to say goodbye to this, at least wherever a protective mask is worn consistently, he told the “Bild”. This applies to both retail and hotels. Dürr is striving for the next federal-state meeting planned for next Wednesday to be relaxed, as well as less strict contact restrictions for vaccinated people at private meetings.
Holetschek is generally committed to partial vaccination
In addition to the topic of easing, the debate about facility-related compulsory vaccination is also causing increasingly sharper tones between the parties. On Monday, Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder announced that he wanted to “de facto” suspend compulsory vaccination for certain professional groups through “generous transitional regulations”.
His health minister, Klaus Holetschek, now rowed back to a somewhat less drastic way of expressing himself and emphasized: “Neither the prime minister, nor the state government, nor anyone else questions this vaccination requirement.” But the necessary “guard rails” were missing – clear regulations on how this partial vaccination obligation should be implemented. And without them, the law threatens to end in chaos.
“Tyranny Not Far Away”
Despite this commitment, the criticism of Bavaria’s state boss Söder does not stop. Federal Minister of Justice Buschmann attacked him in clear words on Twitter:
Laws apply in the rule of law. If those in government choose which laws to obey and which not, tyranny is not far off.
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The reply promptly came from the ranks of Söders CSU. Its Secretary General, Markus Blume, also countered in a tweet: “The amateurism of the traffic light parties is damaging to democracy.” It is the task of the Minister of Justice to clarify existing legal uncertainties instead of distracting from their own failures on Twitter. Söder had previously received support from the sister party CDU, including from the new chairman Friedrich Merz, who had also spoken out in favor of suspending the facility-related vaccination requirement.
The Federal Constitutional Court is also currently dealing with the partial vaccination requirement. Most recently, 74 constitutional complaints were received from 300 plaintiffs. The court plans to announce its decision on an urgent appeal against the law on Friday. It is possible that the provisions will be temporarily suspended until a decision is made on the main issue.
German Freedom Day? FDP parliamentary group wants the end of the Corona rules
Oliver Neuroth, ARD Berlin, February 10, 2022 7:51 p.m
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