The hard lockdown is coming – only when?
The reins are tightened again, that much is certain: schools are closed, maybe a ban on alcohol on the street or even curfews at night. In the meantime, the heads of government of those countries that have not yet been hit so hard by the second corona wave – Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania – are pleading for tightening the previously applicable measures in the fight against the virus. The lockdown light, which has been in place since the beginning of November, has not changed the number of infections.
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The only questions are: When will the hard lockdown come? How hard is it getting? And how long does it last? There will probably be answers this week, and the Prime Ministers will probably talk to the Chancellor on Sunday.
Angela Merkel on Wednesday in the Bundestag once again strongly advocated that something must happen. Merkel has rarely been seen so emotionally at the lectern, the observers agree. Almost pleadingly, she appealed to people to take responsibility for themselves, while at the same time their calls for extended vacations, business closings and other contact restrictions made it clear that she does not want to rely on personal responsibility alone.
Both are also an admission of your own failure: Politicians have no real strategy against the virus. Pretty unprepared, she ran into the second wave. With the November shutdown, the federal and state governments relied on the principle of hope. But the hope was not fulfilled, and the extension did not have the desired effect. In the meantime, people regret the promised Christmas and New Year exceptions, and are gradually turning them back.
Well a harter Lockdown the numbers of infections press – according to the old Christmas motto: This time we don’t give each other anything. Will that work? Maybe, temporarily. But the winter is still long, the virus stubborn, the vaccine scarce for the time being. The vaccine, it is perhaps the only sustainable strategy against this pandemic. And politics didn’t invent that.
On Thursday morning, the Robert Koch Institute will again provide information on the current situation – it should provide new arguments for an early tightening of the measures. In addition, the education ministers of the federal states meet in the afternoon. Then it will also be a question of whether an extension of the Christmas holidays is justifiable from your point of view.
Hostility ends with money
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The 27 heads of state and government are expected to come to Brussels on Thursday last EU summit this year together. And it looks very much as if Angela Merkel could bring her six-month Council Presidency to a proper end – if her colleagues agree to the compromise that Germany stubbornly stubbornly struck at the last minute in the tiresome budget dispute Hungary and Poland has negotiated.
They wanted the next one Seven year budget and the Corona aid package block so the planned Rule of law mechanism to prevent. With this mechanism, the EU should in future be able to cut funds to member states if they violate the rule of law.
Now Hungary and Poland should be able to make an “interpretative declaration” on this. It is not legally binding, but above all it will ensure that the mechanism is not applied so quickly – only after the European Court of Justice has checked its legality. That could take a while, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán would probably have nothing to fear at home until the next election in 2022. That is important to him.
After all, the mechanism as such remains untouched. The ultimatum of the German Council Presidency to Poland and Hungary is likely to have had an effect: no compromise, no coal. According to the threat, the € 750 billion corona reconstruction package could also be divided among 25 members. There was also a massive cut in funding.
Suddenly the stubborn showed themselves to be flexible again. When it comes to money, hostility ends in the EU. The fact that the Hungarians are now celebrating their »victory« should be taken calmly in Berlin and Brussels.
Brexit decision in four days?
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It should have been »lively«, the joint Brexit dinner from Ursula von der Leyen and Boris Johnson. After all. As expected, the EU Commission chief and the British prime minister did not reach an agreement in the struggle for a Brexit deal in the “food fight” (“The Sun”). The positions were still far apart, both camps then let know.
The chefs at the Commission’s headquarters in Brussels did everything they can to symbolically charge the dinner. As a starter there was pumpkin soup with scallops – possibly as a little reminder of how British and French fishermen once attacked each other in the fight for the mussel fishing grounds on the high seas.
The main course then: steamed turbot, mashed potatoes with wasabi and vegetables. Turbot is common in waters off the British coast, and whether European fishermen still have access to these waters if the Post-Brexit transition phase Ending the year is one of the issues at stake in the trade talks.
This morning the teams on both sides are supposed to continue negotiating until Sunday, von der Leyen and the British government have now announced that they want to come to a “decision”. It cannot be ruled out that this decision means that you give yourself a few more days.
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A request…
… on our own behalf: My colleagues from the video department don’t just want to look back on the year negatively, even if good news was rare. Hence the following request from my colleague Andreas Evelt: »Which personal memories are you taking with you from 2020? Feel free to send a video statement (landscape format, maximum 30 seconds). «His address: [email protected].
“And if you still want to get rid of something: If you could really speak out about the year 2020 – what would you say?” (Also in the video by email, maximum ten seconds). In Andis and in my name: Thank you for taking part!
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