Friday, November 26th, 2021
Dramatic corona situation
Country bosses disagree about MPK brought forward
The next Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK) is scheduled for December 9th. In view of the escalating number of corona cases, however, some country leaders are in favor of an earlier peak meeting. This met with little approval, especially in the north and among SPD representatives.
The federal states are divided on the question of whether the prime ministers should meet for another crisis discussion earlier than planned in view of the corona situation. Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein see no need to bring forward the Prime Minister’s Conference (MPK) planned for December 9th. Now it is time to act, especially in the countries with a very high incidence, it was said in circles of the red-green Hamburg Senate. The necessary and necessary funds for this would be available.
“I have nothing against prime ministerial conferences, I have participated in everyone. But it is of no use that new discussions take place there and decisions are made, while at the level of action there is not enough pressure in the large, large-scale states in the south to make things happen also come out on the streets, “said Hamburg’s First Mayor Peter Tschentscher in an interview with ntv. The SPD politician criticized the fact that some prime ministers were “repeatedly” surprised by “what all the experts have predicted.” On the other hand, one could not organize an MPK either: “That is really also a question of attitude, that one accepts what was to be expected.”
Schleswig-Holstein is observing the situation very carefully, said a government spokesman for CDU Prime Minister Daniel Günther. The federal and state governments agreed on measures to combat corona only last week. “The Infection Protection Act gives us sufficient instruments to implement these measures.”
“Hesitation is punished”
The Prime Minister of the Saarland, Tobias Hans, recently called for rapid consultations from the state leaders on uniformly stricter rules and declared that one should not wait until December 9th. Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder has also repeatedly called for a faster Prime Minister’s Conference. The acting Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn said the best would be an MPK with the federal government in the next few days.
Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer told the editorial network Germany: “Hesitation is punished – we need a federal-state meeting as soon as possible.” The new South African variant of the virus is exacerbating the situation. “We now need uniform nationwide regulations in the fight against this aggressive virus all the more urgently!” The CDU politician said the urgent need for coordination and action could not wait 14 days.
Union colleague Reiner Haseloff, Prime Minister of Saxony-Anhalt, is also in favor of a rapid exchange between the states on further corona measures. In the next week it should be examined “whether the decision of the Prime Minister’s Conference of November 18 should be supplemented in the current legal framework,” said a government spokeswoman on request.
The effect of these resolutions cannot be fully assessed at the current time, the spokeswoman said. An evaluation must take place as planned at the next Prime Minister’s Conference on December 9th. In view of the “worrying development of the corona numbers”, however, it could make sense to expand the catalog of measures beforehand.
SPD ministers not fundamentally averse, but …
From the point of view of Berlin’s Governing Mayor Michael Müller, bringing the MPK forward is superfluous. “In some parts of Germany there are already partial lockdowns in hot-spot regions. In addition, there is the obligation to work from home, the 3G rule at work and in public transport,” said the deputy MPK chairman. “The traffic light has announced that it will set up a crisis team. All these measures can only be evaluated and have a measurable effect after one or two weeks,” said the SPD politician. “Against this background, asking for a new MPK every few days is hardly expedient.”
The Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate, Malu Dreyer, had already made it clear on Thursday that she wanted to stick to the original date. “Should a majority emerge in the district in favor of bringing the deliberations forward, Rhineland-Palatinate will not ignore this,” said the Social Democrat.
The prime minister of the currently badly affected Brandenburg, Dietmar Woidke, considers an early prime ministerial conference to be “sensible” – but only together with the new federal government. “It would make sense to hold such an MPK with the old and the upcoming new federal government,” said Woidke ntv. According to the SPD politician, however, the prerequisite must be that the executive and the upcoming federal government agree on this. Possible “additional measures” would then have to be discussed with the federal states in order to end up with concrete results from such a round. Woidke added: “It was good for us to talk to each other about the measures at an early stage and today, from the point of view of the state of Brandenburg, I cannot rule out any further measures.”
In addition, Woidke emphasized that a lot had already been done in Brandenburg that was still possible with the “old legal situation”. And further: “However, I could, for example, no longer make an exit restriction from December 15 with the current legal situation at the federal level.” This is one of the reasons why one must think with the federal government about how “we can introduce the legal basis as quickly as possible, but also the measures to combat the pandemic effectively”.