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Berlin (dpa) - In view of the week-long lockdown, business associations are vehemently calling for a timetable to open and warning of a wave of bankruptcies.
The mood in restaurants and shops, for example, is getting increasingly worse.
"We urgently need clear criteria as to when and under what conditions our establishments will be reopened," said Ingrid Hartges, the general manager of the German Hotel and Restaurant Association (Dehoga).
The German trade association also called for the federal and state governments to create a clear opening perspective.
A step-by-step plan for the way out of the lockdown must provide for easing measures for the retail trade even with incidence values above 50, said managing director Stefan Genth.
"Openings under even stricter specifications for the maximum number of customers or stricter hygiene rules would be conceivable."
According to the trade association, these can be relaxed if the corona numbers continue to fall.
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This concerns the number of new infections reported within seven days per 100,000 inhabitants.
The lockdown with the closure of restaurants and many shops has been scheduled until mid-February.
Several countries have presented step-by-step plans or are working on them.
On Wednesday, the federal and state governments will again discuss the lockdown.
“The mood and the situation in the hospitality industry are catastrophic,” said Hartges.
Despair and fears about the future spread among the companies - 75 percent feared for their existence.
The trade association also reported the desperation of many retailers in the lockdown.
"The money from the state aid programs is still not getting enough," said Genth.
Hairdressers also sound the alarm.
"For the owners of the 80,000 salons, the economic situation is sometimes dramatic," said the general manager of the Central Association of the German Hairdressing Trade, Jörg Müller.
The hairdressing salons had to close in mid-December.
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"Especially from the point of view of fighting pandemics, moonlighting in our trade has now become a real problem," said Müller.
The association therefore emphasizes that hairdressing services can only be safe in professional salons.
The 240,000 hairdressers were hoping for the hairdressing trade to restart on February 15th.
Crafts President Hans Peter Wollseifer called for a nationwide traffic light system for Corona decisions based on regional incidence - "so that companies can plan and get a perspective," he said.
An opening plan must define clear conditions with which companies can work again.
In addition, aid would have to be paid out much faster.
A large number of the companies have not yet received a single euro of the promised money.
The President of the Federal Association of Liberal Professions, Wolfgang Ewer, said that after many months of lockdown, an opening strategy had to be in place that would take greater account of both health and economic perspectives.
"There is a lot at stake and there are serious concerns that the crisis will cause permanent damage, for example in terms of education and infrastructure," said Ewer.
The aid programs must be refined.
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Meanwhile, Industry President Siegfried Russwurm is concerned about the development of the corona situation in Europe.
The growing number of infections across Europe is increasingly worrying the industry.
«Germany is not an island, but lies in the middle of Europe.
Like almost no other industry, our industry is closely interwoven with cross-border supply chains and employee structures, ”said Russwurm.
If it is not possible to successfully drive forward pandemic containment across Europe, every national success is a flash in the pan.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210209-99-358968 / 2