Relief but no redemption.

This is how the reactions to the easing of the corona measures that the federal and state governments decided on Wednesday can be summarized.

Stefan Genth, General Manager of the HDE trade association, spoke of a “big step forward”.

Ingrid Hartges, general manager of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga), hopes that business will pick up again from April.

"In individual summer months it will be possible to get back to the sales level of 2019," she said.

Jonas Jansen

Business correspondent in Düsseldorf.

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Julia Loehr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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Johannes Pennekamp

Responsible editor for economic reporting, responsible for "The Lounge".

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Trade and gastronomy are the main beneficiaries of the easing: In retail, the 2G rule introduced nationwide in shops at the beginning of December is to be abolished.

Customers will then no longer have to show their vaccination or recovery certificate anywhere in Germany at the entrance.

The only access requirement should then be the FFP2 mask.

Discotheques and clubs should be allowed to reopen for those who have recovered and those vaccinated with a daily test or a third vaccination in a second step from March 4th, before all “profound protective measures” are to be lifted on March 20th.

Echo not entirely positive

However, the response from the affected sectors is not entirely positive.

As soon as the pandemic becomes endemic, "we also have to do away with the many other federal rules," demanded HDE Managing Director Genth.

In some cases, there is still a square meter limit per customer.

The mask requirement and the distance regulations would also have to be eliminated at some point.

Genth emphasized how much the retailers had suffered from the restrictions in the past two years.

He fears: "This year alone, another 16,000 shops could be lost nationwide." Dehoga's general manager Hartges also pointed out that the mood in hotels that make a living from business trips was still bad.

Sales there are up to 60 percent below the pre-crisis level.

Loss of work slows the economy

Leading economists welcomed the opening steps in principle.

They expect the economy to recover soon.

"From spring I expect strong growth rates again after this difficult winter half-year," said Stefan Kooths, Vice President of the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

215 billion euros in purchasing power accumulated among citizens during the pandemic.

This money is now very loose – and in the summer it could even lead to the economy being overstretched and prices continuing to rise.

The Kiel economist considers the government's approach to be "still very hesitant".

He sees the biggest shortcoming in the fact that politicians are leaving the existing quarantine rules untouched.

The many absenteeism slowed down the economy considerably.

Kooths and other economists believe it is wrong that most economic aid for companies should continue to flow unabated.

Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) said last week that he wanted to work in the federal government to extend the aid until the end of June - as the economics ministers of the federal states and the business associations had demanded.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the federal government has paid out around 78 billion euros in grants and granted loans of around 55 billion euros.

The costs of the short-time allowance are not yet included.

The Freiburg researcher Lars Feld, whom Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) has just appointed as his chief adviser, warns against too much help.

"I'm assuming that the German economy will see an economic boost as early as the second quarter," he says.

"If there are no more restrictions, politicians no longer have to compensate for anything." Clemens Fuest, President of the Munich Ifo Institute, also criticizes the permanent aid: "It is expensive and leads to deadweight effects." Hardship regulations should only be used in individual cases .

Economist Kooths complains that many companies have also been helped that no longer had a viable business model at the beginning of the pandemic.

He expects a wave of bankruptcies in the near future.

A spokeswoman for Economics Minister Habeck rejected the economists' demands for an end to the aid.

"It's not like we're going around with the cornucopia," she said, referring to the entry requirements for bridging aid IV. Anyone who wants to apply for this must use their tax advisor to prove a corona-related drop in sales of at least 30 percent compared to 2019.

This rule ensures that only companies that are still suffering from restrictions receive help.