The federal and state governments are still reluctant, but for RKI boss Wieler it is clear: it will not work without contact restrictions. A nationwide lockdown is not possible according to the current legal situation. That leaves the way across the countries.
“The number of contacts has to go down, significantly down,” said the acting Federal Minister of Health Jens Spahn in the federal press conference. “We now have to reduce our contacts as much as possible,” adds RKI President Lothar Wieler, who is sitting next to him. There is one word they do not utter voluntarily: Lockdown.
When a journalist asks whether it still works without it, Spahn replies that the real point is what is meant by “lockdown”. That could mean: Are restaurants included, should schools be closed again across the board and curfews imposed? All of this is no longer possible since the Infection Protection Act, which was changed by the traffic light parties, came into force yesterday and the epidemic situation has expired. At least with regard to schools, there was actually a consensus that children and young people should not be the first to be held responsible for the failures of the state and society. “It must now be our top priority to keep daycare centers and schools open,” demanded Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in a video address in the morning at a school principals’ congress in Düsseldorf.
No matter what one understands by “lockdown”, Spahn cannot simply impose it anyway, neither can the outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel. As of now, a lockdown is a matter for the countries, and corresponding regional restrictions have long been in place. But the Bundestag could also become active, as it has already done with the federal emergency brake. After Merkel and the federal states had failed with the “Easter lockdown”, she organized an extensive reduction in public life, depending on the incidence, including curfews. But the federal emergency brake no longer applies, it was limited to the end of June. Spahn does not want to reveal what he would do if he could: “I think I’ve just made it pretty clear what I’m expecting.” When asked whether he meant a lockdown, he shows a stationary face. A “no” looks different.
How useful would an MPK be?
When tough Corona measures have been decided, it has usually gone like this: First the topic was delayed, then the first Prime Ministers appealed to the federal government to finally do something, which the Chancellor warned. A few days later, the Chancellor of the country leaders met for the Prime Minister’s Conference, where compromises were agreed. However, these resolutions of the MPK were not always implemented by all federal states.
There are therefore good reasons to regard federal-state conferences as an inadequate means in the fight against the pandemic. On the other hand, they have a decisive advantage within the real existing federalism: They make it easier for countries to make decisions for which they alone cannot muster the necessary political strength. These two pages explain why prime ministers of countries with dramatic numbers of infections are now calling for MPK to be carried out quickly, whereas heads of government in countries with lower incidences are not.
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder, for example, said during a visit to the hotspot district of Passau today that Angela Merkel was always looking for a conversation. The traffic light, on the other hand, refuses to talk. “I can only assume a tactical calculation.” In Rosenheim he had previously called for a “uniform federal emergency brake”, as well as a rapid MPK. Spahn sees the latter as well. Hamburg’s Mayor Peter Tschentscher from the SPD, on the other hand, told ntv that he had nothing against Prime Minister conferences. “But it is of no use that there are always new discussions taking place and decisions being made, while at the level of action there is not enough pressure in the large states in the south to get things onto the streets.”
Is there something missing in the instrument case?
In addition to Tschentscher, other representatives of the traffic light parties also criticize the fact that the federal states are not yet making full use of the possibilities that are available to them after the change in the Infection Protection Act. FDP General Secretary Volker Wissing called on the federal states in the early start of the ntv to implement the regulations of the Infection Protection Act “immediately”: “I can only appeal to everyone to initiate contact restrictions as much as possible.” Something similar was heard from CDU politician Spahn: “The legal bases that exist have not yet been fully exhausted.”
In fact, the possibilities are not exhausted. Bavaria, for example, has just decided on a number of clear tightenings. Among other things, Christmas markets were banned, clubs and bars were closed. The Free State uses a transitional regulation from the Infection Protection Act, which made it possible to apply the old catalog of measures until November 24th. However, Bavaria does not make full use of this old catalog. Restaurants can stay open until 10 p.m. With the transitional regulation, which still applies until December 15, they could have been closed completely.
The contrast between rhetoric and practice in North Rhine-Westphalia is even more drastic. “In the pandemic, we need the full instrument kit,” said the North Rhine-Westphalian Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst on Wednesday of last week on ARD. However, not even the existing measures are used between the Rhine and Weser rivers. Teacher President Heinz-Peter Meidinger criticized that it was completely incomprehensible that there was no mask requirement in the classroom in North Rhine-Westphalia. And in Cologne there will be a Bundesliga game on Saturday in a full stadium.
If a lockdown is currently called for that goes beyond the currently possible measures, then it means either to include school and restaurant closings again in the Infection Protection Act, to adopt a nationwide regulation – or to organize an MPK, which would help the federal states to disguise that it is they who are responsible for the corona measures.
Targeted school closings are still possible
In any case, the traffic light parties are correspondingly critical. “We just had an MPK at which it was decided very specifically what needs to be done in which cases,” says Green health expert Janosch Dahmen ntv.de. “So there is no shortage of instruments. What matters now is that what has been agreed and for which there is a legal basis is put into practice.”
SPD parliamentary group vice-president Dirk Wiese refers to the new Infection Protection Act, with which they would have given the countries “specific options for action” “with which they can effectively and legally prevent the spread of Covid-19 without having to interfere with fundamental rights.” The federal states could cancel events, close discos or other leisure facilities if the high level of infection required it, they could also apply “extensive 2G or 2G plus rules”, and specifically close schools, daycare centers or restaurants. This is already happening: In Saxony 193 schools are partially and 110 completely closed, as the Saxon Minister of Education Christian Piwarz announced on Thursday. In addition, the requirement to be present was suspended again in view of the increasing number of infections in Saxony, Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt.
“Capacity and contact restrictions are also possible and are an effective means of reducing contact,” Wiese told ntv.de. “In order for all of these measures to be effective, the countries actually have to implement them.” Wiese refers to Bavaria: Söder has been calling for the federal government for weeks, “until recently, even in extremely affected districts in Bavaria, the possible bundle of measures was not exhausted to the maximum”.
Bavaria in particular could provide an indication that the measures are working. Due to a possible delay in reporting due to overloaded laboratories and health authorities, the numbers should be treated with caution, but: The country currently has the most infected people and is one of the front runners in terms of incidence, but compared to the previous week the development is no longer as steep as it is in Saxony or Thuringia, the other two front runners.
Greens assume rework
What if that’s not enough? Even the FDP no longer wants to rule out a lockdown. “After what we have seen in the last few months, it is not wise to keep excluding things,” says Volker Wissing. As of now, the next MPK will take place on December 9th, immediately after Olaf Scholz was elected Federal Chancellor. It could well be that this federal-state round will then help the traffic light to improve the Infection Protection Act so that the transitional regulation will be extended beyond December 15 in order not only to limit restaurant visits, but to be able to completely prohibit them. Perhaps the MPK will also help the federal states to impose 2G plus nationwide in Germany, i.e. a lockdown for unvaccinated people.
What is certain is that it cannot stay as it is – and that the ten days that the traffic light parties want to wait to see whether the previous measures work will be too long. Green health expert Dahmen says he is “extremely concerned” about the dramatic developments. “I do not understand why the countries have not long since introduced 2G plus nationwide. I am very worried that the booster vaccinations have not yet picked up the necessary speed.” He also says, however, that he is assuming “that as part of further improvements to the current legal situation, it must be ensured that effective regional measures beyond December 15, including the nationwide lockdown in the particularly badly affected countries, to effectively limit contacts possible are”. Whether the lockdown comes is not just a question of time, but also of the number – there might not be one, but several lockdowns, in some federal states.
In his lack of understanding, Dahmen seems to agree with Spahn. “We have now been discussing compulsory vaccinations for a week,” he says in his press conference and is visibly annoyed. “But that’s not the topic of these days. The topic of these days is how we break the fourth wave.”