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Düsseldorf / Berlin (dpa) - A few days before the next federal-state talks on the corona crisis, the NRW Prime Minister and CDU Federal Chairman Armin Laschet called for a joint course.
"We should all strive to jointly implement what we decide," said Laschet in Düsseldorf before the online meeting of the NRW Expert Council Corona.
Of course, there are also country-specific deviations - for example in the school systems.
"But everyone should do everything to ensure that we come to similar appointments and implementations."
According to a government spokesman in Düsseldorf, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) also took part in the deliberations of the panel of experts.
According to the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, Laschet said that independent, even critical, statements by the expert council on combating pandemics are important for political decisions.
"They are the basis for weighing every decision."
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The talks serve, among other things, to prepare for the exchange between the prime ministers and Merkel, which is planned for March 3, during which a decision will be made on how to proceed in the lockdown that has been going on for months.
According to Laschet, the Prime Minister's Conference has basically proven its worth, "because it corresponds to the federal state and you can also include different experiences."
However, indiscretions from the principally confidential circle made the discussions more difficult, which should actually offer the advantage of exchanging arguments “without being abused by party politics”.
"It is still imperative to be careful," said Laschet, according to the State Chancellery.
"Openings are only possible there if we can absorb severe damage."
At the same time, one must also have debates about how perspectives for the economy, culture, for business life and for the self-employed can be opened up.
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The expert group convened by Laschet at the beginning of April 2020 includes the Bonn virologist Hendrik Streeck, the former Federal Constitutional Court judge Udo di Fabio and the director of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, Michael Hüther.
During the consultations, transparent criteria and strategies for returning to social and public life should be developed.
In addition to the virological numbers, the council has always aimed to also take into account the social, cultural and economic damage caused by the pandemic, explained Laschet.
The weighing up is a value in itself, especially in a pandemic.
The evening before, after a special EU summit on the pandemic, Merkel had dampened hopes for a very quick and comprehensive relaxation of the strict contact restrictions with the introduction of self-tests.
First of all, it must be thoroughly checked, "whether we can work out a buffer with these self-tests by doing more testing, so that we can go slightly higher than 35 in the incidence".
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Despite the self-tests, you can neither do without incidences in general nor open them immediately.
It could “not be the case that we first define the opening and then see whether the testing helps us,” said Merkel.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210226-99-610515 / 2