Politics is always also party and power politics.

The worsening of the corona pandemic made this clear on Tuesday.

A few hours after the Federal Constitutional Court in the morning had comprehensively assessed the federal emergency brake decided by the grand coalition in April as legal, this did not lead to a collective sigh of relief on the part of the federal political actors because of the legally impeccable action, but to very different reactions.

Not least, they had to do with the fact that the Union part of the grand coalition had to say goodbye to power in the federal government in the coming week, whereas the SPD wants to continue to govern together with its new partners, the Greens and FDP.

Eckart Lohse

Head of the parliamentary editorial office in Berlin.

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At noon, Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), her presumed successor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and the heads of government of the federal states met for a discussion on how to deal with the increasing number of infections and the worsening emergency in hospitals. Just recently, Scholz and the majority of his new traffic light partners in the Bundestag ensured that the epidemic situation of national scope as the legal basis for far-reaching restrictions on public life was not prolonged. Even when that was so far, it should have been clear to him that in addition to the Infection Protection Act, which was changed by a majority of traffic lights, extensive tightening of the corona measures would be necessary.

The embassy from Karlsruhe increased the pressure to act.

Therefore, Scholz went to the federal-state meeting with extensive proposals.

It quickly leaked out that he had expressed sympathy for a general compulsory vaccination, which the Bundestag should enforce by the end of February next year.

The FAZ found out about this from groups of participants.

The outgoing finance minister suggested something else.

A 2G obligation should be introduced in retail.

In any case, he promised to make improvements to the Infection Protection Act.

Joy in the Union

It was also important for Scholz to explain to the participants in the round how the crisis team he planned in the Chancellery would work to better coordinate measures to contain the pandemic. His boss, the Bundeswehr General Carsten Breuer, was also introduced. At the traffic light parties, the new staff of the soon-to-be-new Chancellor did not meet with unanimous approval. According to a report from participant circles, Baden-Württemberg's Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann is said to have expressed his conviction in his own clearness that one can get along without such a new body.

It was particularly difficult for the FDP to stay on course after the constitutional court's decision.

As the opposition party, the Free Democrats had repeatedly vehemently opposed what they believed to be excessive restrictions on freedom in the fight against the pandemic.

Now they are practically already a ruling party and have to take care of stricter corona measures with the SPD and the Greens.