"Need for coordination" at the federal level: the federal-state summit postponed for a short time

Tuesday, January 05, 2021

"Need for coordination" at the federal level
Bund-Länder summit postponed for a short time

There is little doubt that the hard lockdown will be extended. However, there will be discussions at the meeting between the country leaders and the Chancellor. That already shows the short-term postponement of the start. Apparently there is still a need for clarification.

Before the Corona crisis summit with Chancellor Angela Merkel, the signs are pointing to an extension of the hard lockdown. The country chiefs had largely agreed on an extension of the restrictions until January 31, it said on Monday in matching media reports. However, it was still a matter of dispute how to proceed with the schools and daycare centers, which, like the retail trade, have largely been closed since mid-December.

The hard lockdown is limited until next Sunday. During the consultations between the Chancellor and the heads of government of the federal states, a decision will be taken on how to proceed. However, according to information from ntv, the start of the meeting was postponed from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The reason is a "need for coordination on the part of the federal government," it said from negotiating circles.

The education ministers decided on Monday that school operations could be resumed in stages – "the situation in the individual countries should allow it". The Association of Education and Upbringing (VBE) called for a clear decision against the nationwide opening of schools. "The infection numbers simply do not provide that," said VBE boss Udo Beckmann to the editorial network in Germany. CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer also spoke out in favor of a cautious course. "I hope that we have no or as little presence as possible in schools and daycare centers," she said. "If the basis for all federal states is to avoid face-to-face teaching as far as possible, that can be a good way. That would be a very, very important signal."

The Economic Council of the CDU, on the other hand, is pushing for daycare centers and schools to be opened soon. "To continue the school and day-care center closings and to resolve other tougher measures seems to me to be a substitute act," said General Secretary Wolfgang Steiger of the Funke media group. Children in schools, employees in workplaces and customers in shops with well-established hygiene concepts are still safer than seniors in old people's and care facilities.

Medical President Klaus Reinhardt called for a nationwide uniform approach to the pandemic. In addition, "binding resolutions" are required at the federal-state summit, said the President of the German Medical Association of the Funke media group. The German Association of Cities warned against hasty relaxation of the corona restrictions by individual federal states. The measures should "not be relaxed until a stable downward trend in new infections can be seen in all of Germany," said City Council President Burkhard Jung to the Funke newspapers. The lockdown will only "have a lasting effect if it is continued nationwide and not weakened in individual countries".

SPD hands over catalog of questions

The course of the vaccination campaign, which started immediately after Christmas, should also be one of the central topics of the federal-state summit. In the past few days, criticism of Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn from the CDU had come from within the ranks of the SPD because of the relatively slow start of the vaccinations and the amount of vaccine ordered.

According to the Federal Ministry of Finance, Spahn was given a catalog of questions by the Berlin Prime Minister Michael Müller. SPD politician Müller is currently chairing the Prime Minister's Conference. Federal Finance Minister and SPD top candidate Olaf Scholz knew about the catalog. According to information from RTL, the Ministry of Health reacted "calmly" and promised to answer the questions quickly. In the catalog of questions available to ntv.de, it is asked, among other things, why the EU Commission "pre-ordered so few vaccine doses" and why "did not order parts of the doses not used by the EU (…) for Germany" would.

Spahn defended the procedure. "First of all, from my point of view, it is still right to have and to follow this European path," he told ZDF. Right from the start, the company relied on several manufacturers, as it was not clear who would get there first. Spahn also reiterated his goal of being able to offer a vaccination against the corona virus to all interested parties in Germany in the summer. "The goal is and will remain to offer all Germans a vaccination offer in the summer."

Criticism of attempts at profiling

CDU leader Kramp-Karrenbauer rejected the allegations from the SPD. There are legitimate questions and there is a need for improvement in the processes. The SPD criticism is "a cheap attempt to campaign in the midst of the pandemic". The decisions were made by the federal government from the Union and the SPD together, either together in the Corona cabinet or in the federal cabinet. "It seems to me that the SPD is more concerned with the fight for its own polls than with the fight against the pandemic. That speaks for itself."

The SPD legal expert Florian Post called for an investigative committee of the Bundestag to examine the vaccination campaign. Merkel and Spahn had entrusted the procurement of vaccines to "the dilettantes" to EU Commission President von der Leyen, said the Bundestag member of the "Bild" newspaper. Hundreds of thousands of senior citizens and carers in Germany who would have to wait for their vaccine now suffered from their "failure". "This scandal must be cleared up in investigative committees in the Bundestag and in the EU Parliament," said Post.

Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer from the CDU warned the SPD against attempting to raise a profile in the vaccination debate. Germany had so far differed from other countries during the pandemic in that "the crisis was not charged with party politics," he told the RND. So far, only one actor has done this, namely the AfD. All other parties, on the other hand, stuck together and put the well-being of the people at the center. "The SPD should not leave this path now," said Kretschmer.