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Jens Spahn looks tired when he gets up from the government bench in the Bundestag.
The Federal Minister of Health is to be questioned by the MPs about his Corona policy this Wednesday afternoon.
Before that, the criticism of the CDU politician had come to a head.
The day before, SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich called him an "announcement minister";
his party colleague Carsten Schneider accused Spahn of a lack of professionalism.
Germany should not make the standstill a state philosophy, added Marco Buschmann, parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group.
And Amira Mohamed Ali, parliamentary group leader of the Left Party, railed: "Corona management is a single disaster."
It seemed for a long time that Spahn would benefit from the crisis that had been going on for a year.
According to surveys, he was the biggest political winner of the pandemic for a long time and was even considered a secret candidate for chancellor of the Union.
Eight weeks ago he overtook Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) in an opinion poll, making him Germany's most respected politician.
But those times seem to be over for now.
The main reason for this development are two issues that are decisive for the way out of the permanent lockdown: vaccination and testing.
Failures in both areas are primarily blamed on the Federal Minister of Health.
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It was expected that the government survey in the Bundestag would be a tough cross-examination.
After all, criticism of the CDU minister is not bad at the start of the super election year 2021 with six state elections and the federal election in September.
Spahn did not show any nervousness
In fact, the parliamentary groups remained surprisingly tame - and seemed a bit helpless.
Many of the questions put to the minister were either completely vague, ignored the issue or did not concern his jurisdiction.
For example, the question of whether hairdressers have to present PCR or rapid tests and why the outbreak occurred in a specific care facility.
Spahn remained polite in the round, which lasted more than an hour, and thanked him again and again for the questions asked.
He did not show the nervousness one might expect from a minister under attack.
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The reasons for the reluctance of the MPs are varied: On the one hand, they have little to do with the implementation of Spahn's plans compared to the federal states and can only report difficulties in practice to a limited extent.
It is also difficult to name a single culprit in the pandemic because the responsibility of the federal and state governments overlap on many issues.
When there were many questions, Spahn directly dismissed them by pointing out that he was the wrong person to contact.
In addition, some of the MPs do not seem to want to participate in the electoral roar of some party friends at the head of the respective parliamentary groups.
The minister must have been particularly relieved that the currently crucial question was not even asked.
This is the botched start of his quick test offensive.
Last week, Spahn surprisingly announced on Twitter that there would be free quick tests for everyone from March 1st.
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He's too experienced a politician not to know that exact dates are a dangerous matter on such major projects.
On the other hand, there was probably great resentment about the delays in vaccinating many citizens.
So that this impression is not repeated in the rapid tests, he apparently wanted to announce a success message quickly.
"Self-tests can provide security in a specific situation"
After three self-tests have already been approved, Health Minister Jens Spahn is confident that the test capacity will continue to grow.
Theater visits or events may be possible again in the future after a negative test.
Source: WORLD
He did agree with Federal Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (SPD), but not with the federal states.
With the implementation they were “completely taken by surprise”, said Malu Dreyer (SPD), Prime Minister of Rhineland-Palatinate.
In addition, according to government spokesman Steffen Seibert, "a number of important questions" arose in the Corona cabinet.
This should include the question of how often citizens can be tested.
And so Merkel Spahn effectively withdrew part of his responsibility - and decided that next week at the federal-state summit, the rapid tests would be discussed as part of the opening strategy.
It is the second time that Merkel Spahn does not want to leave a topic alone.
Already during the vaccine production she provided him - together with a working group - with Chancellery Minister Helge Braun (CDU).
At the time, this was seen as an affront to the Minister of Health.
And this time, too, it remains somewhat unclear with what motivation Merkel pushed through the delay of the rapid test offensive.
The open questions and concerns of the federal states and municipalities certainly play a role.
But it can also be heard from among the federal government that Merkel does not want to send the wrong signal to the citizens.
Because broad tests could increase the pressure on an opening debate.
The number of new infections is increasing and the country is - at least according to the Chancellor - in the third wave.
In fact, the approval of the first corona self-tests for at home by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices is already pushing the debate about further opening steps.
The approval, however, does not involve the free tests planned by Spahn, which are carried out by trained staff.
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"We have to get out of the lockdown," said Saxony-Anhalt's Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff on Wednesday.
The Rhineland-Palatinate Prime Minister Dreyer spoke out in favor of easing the contact restrictions.
Hesse's Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) suggested, according to a report by the Hessischer Rundfunk, that outdoor catering should be allowed again from April 1st.
For Jens Spahn, the coming weeks will be another rehearsal.
The bumpy vaccination start has already clearly damaged his image.
The quick tests could either make up for the failures somewhat - or exacerbate them further.
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