The most important thing for you this Friday:

Tatjana Heid

Editor on duty at FAZ.NET.

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    1. Iran elects a new president


    2. What about the German vaccination campaign?


    3. Greens plan pact with business


    4. Dispute over World War II commemoration


    5. UN General Assembly votes on Guterres' second term of office


    6. Macron threatens hardship in regional elections in France


    7. DFB-Elf under pressure before game against Portugal

    1. Iran elects a new president

    After two terms in office, Hasan Rouhani was no longer allowed to run.

    In all likelihood, a hardliner will follow him.

    Hardliner:

    It is very likely that the head of justice, Ebrahim Raisi, who is favored by the hardliners, will succeed Hasan Rohani.

    In addition to Raisi, there are two other hardliners up for election on Friday, as well as the former governor of the central bank, Abdolnasser Hemmati.

    The Council of Guardians has excluded the promising candidates of the moderates and pragmatists from the election.

    Since the 1979 revolution, the Iranians have not had as few choices as they did this year.

    Turnout:

    There is a risk of a low turnout.

    According to surveys, it could be as low as 40 percent.

    The reason is the widespread frustration that elections cannot bring about real political change.

    In 2017, the turnout was 70 percent.

    Topics:

    The dramatically bad economic situation was the all-determining topic of the election campaign.

    That could at least give Hemmati a respectable success.

    In previous elections, rapprochement with the West and the nuclear deal played an important role, which has taken a backseat in view of the struggle of the middle class for economic survival.

    However, it can be assumed that the negotiations in Vienna on the nuclear deal will continue under the new Iranian president.

    2. What about the German vaccination campaign?

    The low effectiveness of the CureVac vaccine is the latest in a string of bad news for the vaccination campaign.

    The Ministry of Health is nevertheless optimistic.

    Warn others.

    Bad news:

    According to a second interim analysis, the vaccine from CureVac is only 47 percent effective against Covid 19 disease of any severity - probably also due to the variants.

    It is therefore questionable whether the vaccine will even be used in the EU.

    The European Commission also expects that Johnson & Johnson will not be able to meet its delivery targets for the second quarter.

    Optimism:

    The Federal Ministry of Health is nevertheless optimistic. It assumes that the agreed deliveries from Moderna and BioNTech will be sufficient for more than 59 million people to receive an initial vaccination by July 25th. So far, a good 41 million Germans have been vaccinated at least once. This Friday, Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) and RKI boss Lothar Wieler will comment on the involvement of company doctors in the vaccination campaign, among other things.

    Votes against:

    The Central Institute for Statutory Health Insurance (ZI) points out that the preparation from Johnson & Johnson in particular is important for rapid vaccination because one dose is sufficient.

    On the other hand, BioNTech delivers more than agreed, but prefers large quantities from July to June.

    These could then be missing for the second vaccinations, warns the ZI.

    The second vaccinations are especially important to protect against the delta variant.

    SPD health expert Karl Lauterbach is also concerned.

    According to him, herd immunity could not be achieved until mid-September.

    more on the subject

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    3rd

    Greens plan pact with business

    The so-called climate protection agreements are to be a central component. With them, Chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock wants to reduce the financing costs of climate-friendly investments.