Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Tightening in the corona course
Traffic light spikes at crisis meetings in the Chancellery
The heads of the future traffic light government make a quick visit to the Chancellery in the afternoon. The day before, Merkel called for more drastic measures against the pandemic. Some prime ministers are currently pushing for a general vaccination requirement.
The top politicians of the traffic light parties met with Chancellor Angela Merkel to talk about the course in the corona pandemic. According to information from several media, the meeting in the Chancellery was organized because of the dramatic pandemic. The “Bild” newspaper showed photos of how the SPD politician Olaf Scholz, the Greens leaders Annalena Baerbock and Robert Habeck and the FDP politicians Christian Lindner and Marco Buschmann arrive for the appointment in the late afternoon.
The federal government did not initially provide any information on the exact content of the talks. According to “Bild”, the meeting lasted almost two hours and revolved around stricter corona rules against the further steep rise in incidences.
In the past few days, Merkel had repeatedly urged more decisive action against the pandemic in view of the worsening situation. In view of the dramatic development of corona infections, the Executive Chancellor does not consider the current measures to be sufficient. “We have a highly dramatic situation. What is now true is not sufficient,” Merkel was quoted on Monday from those participating in the hybrid deliberations of the CDU board in Berlin. Merkel warned: “We have a situation that will surpass everything we have had so far.” Even the 2G rule with access for vaccinated and convalescent people will no longer be sufficient.
Some prime ministers want vaccinations to be mandatory
While the outgoing Chancellor has not yet advocated compulsory vaccination in Germany and the leaders of the traffic light parties are keeping a low profile, the prime ministers of the federal states are driving the debate forward. After the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder from the CSU, who had pushed forward with the demand, Hesse’s Prime Minister Volker Bouffier from the CDU also affirmed that the pandemic could not be brought under control without a general vaccination requirement. Baden-Württemberg’s Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann von den Grünen said compulsory vaccination could also reduce the polarization of society: the state would then attract the conflict between those who advocate and oppose vaccination. The Rhineland-Palatinate Social Democratic Prime Minister Malu Dreyer, on the other hand, initially campaigned for an open-ended discussion.
The managing health minister Jens Spahn from the CDU, on the other hand, said on Deutschlandfunk that the effect of a mandatory vaccination would come too late for the fourth wave. On Monday, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said that the federal government was sticking to the rejection of a general vaccination requirement. The discussion is understandable, but the incumbent federal government will no longer change its position.