Berlin. The Bundestag’s review of state measures during the corona pandemic is apparently off the table, at least for this electoral period. “There will be no additional parliamentary review in this legislative period,” said SPD parliamentary group leader Katja Mast. Her FDP counterpart Stephan Thomae confirmed to the Editorial Network Germany (RND): “The time remaining in this electoral period is too short for a comprehensive assessment that would be appropriate for the corona pandemic,” he said.
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The SPD, Greens and FDP had not been able to agree on which body should investigate the state measures during the corona pandemic that broke out in 2020. In order to prevent the feared rapid spread of the potentially deadly virus, temporary curfews were imposed and schools and kindergartens as well as playgrounds were closed during the grand coalition under then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU). The federal states also took part in numerous prime ministerial conferences and some of them took different paths. The traffic light coalition, at the start of which the pandemic was waning, was still debating whether vaccination should be compulsory.
Citizens’ Assembly or Study Commission?
The SPD had advocated involving citizens in the process through a “citizens’ council”. This would have been useful to bring in their life experiences, said Mast. “The coalition didn’t have the strength to do that.” According to Mast’s account, the SPD also did not find sufficient support in the coalition for its demand to integrate the process with the federal states. The countries responsible for many of the measures are a central factor if you want to learn from mistakes and change something, argued Mast.
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The FDP had advocated the establishment of a parliamentary committee of inquiry or a commission of inquiry made up of MPs and scientists. With such committees “a master plan for possible future pandemics could be developed,” Thomae told the RND. “A comprehensive scientific and political assessment of the corona pandemic in order to be better prepared for possible future pandemics.” However, a citizens’ assembly would “not do justice to the dimensions of the corona crisis”. The Greens had always emphasized their flexibility.
