Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) does the role backwards and asks forgiveness for a mistake in their corona policy. NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) is also irritated: First he announces the Corona emergency brake “implement one to one“, then he allows it to be undermined with a test strategy.
There is talk of chaos – not only in Corona politics, but also in your crisis communication. Political advisor Daniel Dettling explains how this happens in an interview.
WDR: What impression does the current corona policy and crisis communication make on you?
Daniel Dettling: Many people no longer see through. The responsibilities of the federal and state governments are not clearly divided. That promotes pandemic annoyance. And that has resulted in a tremendous loss of trust, as can be seen from the approval ratings for the federal government.
WDR: What’s wrong?
Dettling: We went into the second and third waves very unprepared. There was no coordinated plan between the federal government and the federal states. There is no national crisis council like other countries have. And we are now also seeing the limits of cooperative federalism.
Overall, there needs to be more competition of ideas between the federal government and the federal states and also among the federal states. But the most important thing is consistent, clear crisis communication. That is missing.
WDR: Crisis communication seemed less chaotic at the beginning of the pandemic. Do you share the impression?
Dettling: Yes, things are more chaotic now. The Chancellor can handle crises, but she cannot communicate. So the prime ministers would have to take on more responsibility. But since October they have only been doing this reactively, hardly proactively. The federal ministers and the government spokesman would also have to explain more. That hardly happens at all.
Nobody speaks directly to the citizens. You would have to explain a lot more to people. And at the same time you need a perspective of hope, openness and confidence. That is also missing.
WDR: So there is also someone missing who can show a vision?
Dettling: I agree. This can be a national crisis team – for example with Health Minister Spahn, SPD-Mann Lauterbach, Virologist Drosten, with the government spokesman and the chairman of the Federal Council. A few people are enough to explain the corona policy in understandable words. And from that you can craft a communication campaign that extends to the municipalities.
You can see that in countries that are successful in fighting pandemics: They included the citizens from the start. It is not just a job for politicians and experts to fight Corona – it is a job for all of us.
In the first wave, the involvement of citizens still worked to some extent. In the second and third waves this was completely forgotten. Now we are alternating between pandemic fatigue, disenchantment and panic. And that’s not a good way out of the crisis.
Andrea Moos asked the questions. Writing: Jörn Seidel.
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