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WORLD:
Mr. Blume, the federal government and the federal states have lumped Christmas and New Year's Eve in the corona rules for the next few weeks.
Is that appropriate?
Markus Blume:
We will look at the further infection process.
I definitely recommend a New Year's Eve light.
And when it comes to Christmas, we should focus on the essentials.
It was repeatedly complained that the time before and around Christmas is so accelerated that it would be nice if things got a little quieter.
In Bavaria it was called the stade time.
Maybe this year we at least have the chance to gain something from a quieter Christmas.
CSU General Secretary Markus Blume: "There is one thing we shouldn't do: lead a typically German vaccination debate"
Source: Martin UK Lengemann / WELT
WORLD:
Do citizens have to expect surveillance?
Does someone come and count whether there are really only ten people present?
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Blume:
Excesses on New Year's Eve have to be stopped, especially in public spaces.
You have to intervene where rules are obviously disregarded and large parties are invited.
But of course there will be no Christmas police or New Year's Eve controls in your own four walls.
WORLD:
If the number of infections has still not changed in three weeks: Do we have to talk about nationwide exit restrictions?
Blume:
We have to end the phase of sideways movement in the number of infections.
We cannot afford a continuous corona loop in terms of health, ethics and economy.
We must not allow 400 to 500 people to die of Corona every day.
We have to protect the health system from further overload.
And we cannot compensate for lost sales month after month with 17 billion euros.
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We just can't get used to the current Corona numbers as normal.
The numbers have to go down quickly.
WORLD:
Again: With exit restrictions?
Flower:
This can be an option in hotspots.
Bavaria has provided exit restrictions in regions with an incidence of over 300 cases per week and 100,000 inhabitants as a possibility.
This is now taking effect in Passau, for example.
Nobody wants to impose exit restrictions, but given such values they can be a means of choice.
What nobody wants is a disease that lasts for weeks or months.
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WORLD:
In Berchtesgaden, far tougher measures were imposed in October than have now been decided nationwide.
The schools there were also closed.
And yet the district still has incidence values close to 200 and well above the national average.
Doesn't that show that we can't avoid even more hardship?
Blume:
The measures have already paid off in Berchtesgaden.
In the meantime, the numbers have fallen sharply.
But the fact is: the region suffers from border traffic.
We need a solution there.
That is why Markus Söder warned against traveling to neighboring countries during the winter holidays.
And anyone who does it anyway has to be quarantined.
"Two months of lockdown and then three days of skiing fun at risk: That would be crazy!"
Source: Martin UK Lengemann / WELT
WORLD:
Söder said that measures must be justified from infection protection.
With the argument, the CSU rejected a ban on firecrackers - Söder still calls for a ban on skiing holidays.
What's the problem when people wagging thickly over the slopes?
Blume:
Just waving down the mountain is no problem.
But in the end you meet again in line at the lift, at lunch in the hut, in the evening in your accommodation.
There are too many uncontrolled encounters.
Two months of lockdown and then three days of skiing fun at risk: That would be crazy!
Which ski areas are open this winter?
In spring, the ski vacationers pushed the spread of the corona virus.
This should now be prevented.
The Alpine countries are fighting for a common approach.
But not every country goes along with it.
Source: WELT / Dagmar Böhning
WORLD:
Companies like the catering industry complain that the compensation payments are flowing too slowly or not at all.
What's wrong with that?
Blume:
Unfortunately, the European Commission is also responsible for the hesitant arrival of the aid.
The EU stubbornly applies a subsidy system that is made for times of good weather.
That acts as a real brake block.
Here the economic substance in Germany and Europe is damaged.
Brussels now has to act quickly and adapt it to the circumstances of Corona.
We have to build a bridge into the next year for the industries affected.
WORLD:
What comes after the help?
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Blume:
If we have beaten the pandemic, we have to beat the downturn.
To do this, we have to create the second German economic miracle.
With relief, entrepreneurial spirit and a love of progress - creative, digital, sustainable.
WORLD:
What was noticeable in the discussions between the federal and state governments was an inconsistency on the subject of schools: on the one hand, the holidays are brought forward so that the risks of meetings on the holidays are reduced - and, on the other hand, far-reaching measures such as alternating lessons are discarded.
Blume:
If you want to keep the school open, you have to protect it better.
At school there would definitely have been more on Wednesday.
Anyone who despairs at school despairs in the wrong place.
Markus Söder shows how it's done in Bavaria: Mask requirement also in schools and alternating lessons in hotspots from the 8th grade.
WORLD:
Is the school now partly responsible for the high number of infections or not?
Blume:
School is absolutely relevant to the system, so it should remain open.
But it would be naive to say that no infections would be passed on there.
WORLD:
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) said in the government statement that the first vaccines may come before Christmas.
However, the entire vaccination plan is not yet fully developed.
Blume:
German ingenuity has led to the fact that we will soon have vaccines.
It will still be a few weeks before the doses are available in greater numbers.
But there is one thing we should not do: lead a typically German vaccination debate.
That would poison the subject before the vaccine is there.
We should mainly talk about the practical effects and less the theoretical side effects!
Vaccination is the only way to get back to normal.
Vaccination should become a patriotic matter of course for everyone.
For yourself and for others.
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WORLD:
When are politicians actually vaccinated?
Blume:
First of all, I think of the medical staff.
Here I am under the impression that the hospitals, doctors and nurses are at their limit, many are also infected.
We owe it to these professionals to protect them.
This also serves to guarantee the supply.
Otherwise we will get bottlenecks.
I would like politicians to set a good example and get vaccinated.
WORLD:
The official recommendations for prioritization should come at the end of the year.
Isn't that too late?
Blume:
Corona sets the pace, not politics.
When we have the vaccination, it is necessary to speed up the process.
As soon as the vaccine is available in significant quantities, we need clarity as to who can be vaccinated and in which order.
WORLD:
Will we soon travel with the vaccination card, go to sporting events, experience culture, go dancing?
Blume:
I wouldn't want to start dividing society into classes of vaccinated and non-vaccinated.
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WORLD:
The first airlines only want to let passengers board who are vaccinated.
States will in all likelihood impose an entry ban for unvaccinated people.
Blume:
There will be many incentives to protect yourself from Corona.
The most important one is of a health nature.
It will be crucial that people are convinced of the effectiveness of the vaccine.
WORLD:
On January 16, the CDU wants to hold its party congress.
The corona measures should apply until January.
Can you imagine that the party congress will work out?
Blume:
The conditions under which party conferences can be held during these times have been clarified.
This can also be done without the physical presence of all delegates in one place.
I have no sympathy for a party like the AfD, which is abusing the constitutionally protected party privilege with a presence party congress in these times to demonstrate democracy.
The AfD is a super spreader of political and intellectual dirt in Germany!
Blume (left) in an interview with WELT reporter Thomas Vitzthum in the Bavarian State Representation in Berlin
Source: Martin UK Lengemann / WELT
WORLD:
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt wants to permanently exclude the AfD from offices such as the vice-presidential post ten days ago after troublemakers were smuggled into the Bundestag.
Is that appropriate?
Blume:
One shouldn't treat the intolerant with tolerance.
In the dispute with the AfD, I consider all parliamentary means necessary to show the party barriers.
The AfD tries to undermine parliamentarism from within.
A liberal democracy must also be able to defend itself.
WORLD:
How do you define “defensive”?
A CDU politician said in the Bundestag that the fight would be taken up in parliament and on the street.
Isn't that also a derailment?
Blume:
The AfD's business consists of constantly crossing borders and provoking.
Not participating in this yourself is important and crucial.
Rather, we need to set up guard rails.
One of these guard rails is that we do not help the AfD to get a vice-presidential post.
But my political goal is another: the AfD's time in parliaments has expired.
I want to do my bit to ensure that next time she is no longer in the Bundestag.
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