State parliament debate on Corona: Stricter rules possible

The Hessian state parliament has cleared the way for possible stricter corona rules. With the votes of the CDU, the Greens, the SPD and the left, an epidemic situation was determined on Tuesday at the request of the black-green state government. Now, according to the Infection Protection Act, the state government could further tighten the corona measures in certain areas of life. Prime Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) named recreational and cultural institutions, a ban on alcohol in public and regulations for Christmas markets as examples. The parliamentary groups of AfD and FDP voted against the request.

The new Bundestag had let the epidemic situation of national scope, which until then had been the legal basis for far-reaching corona measures, expire.

The federal states can now only implement certain measures if there is a corresponding decision by the state parliament.

Bouffier solicits support from the opposition

In the previous debate, Bouffier had asked the state parliament opposition for support in the fight against Corona.

With the current Corona regulation, the black-green state government did what it could do, he said in parliament in Wiesbaden.

However, the country must also be prepared if the situation continues to develop in a difficult and serious manner and the corona numbers rise again.

Further measures to protect the population from infection with the coronavirus must be differentiated and proportionate, emphasized Bouffier.

He mentioned, for example, new regulations for leisure and cultural facilities as well as the handling of discos and clubs.

The guideline of the state government remains in all measures to preserve as much freedom as possible for the people and to impose as few restrictions as necessary.

The Prime Minister offered the parliamentary groups to discuss the proposals of the state government together and, if possible, to reach an agreement.

Since all measures would take at least two weeks to become effective, action must be taken quickly.

Vaccination, testing, fewer contacts

The strategy of the Hessian state government is based on three pillars: vaccination, testing, contact restrictions.

Immunizing the population is the most important measure to combat pandemics, said the CDU politician.

In Hesse, around 68 percent of the population have been vaccinated twice.

For those over sixty, it is 85 percent.

Even if the vaccinations had increased significantly in the past two weeks, this was still too little, warned Bouffier.

Above all, the previously unvaccinated are the biggest problem in the corona pandemic.

Therefore, he is firmly convinced that there is no avoiding a general compulsory vaccination, emphasized the Prime Minister.

The SPD health expert Daniela Sommer accused the state government of being organizationally overwhelmed when it comes to corona policy. The state government always reacts too late with its measures to protect the population and never acts with foresight, said the vice chairwoman of the parliamentary group. Even the booster vaccinations in the country were chaotic due to organizational deficiencies. The complete closure of the Hessian vaccination centers was wrong and led to the current bottlenecks.

The FDP parliamentary group leader René Rock demanded that the state government should explain and justify corona measures to the citizens in the public state parliament, instead of having the maximum number of possible prohibition and restriction measures approved in advance and then declaring the debate over .

"The discussion belongs in Parliament," said Rock.

In addition, the vaccination infrastructure must be expanded.

From the point of view of his parliamentary group, there is no “epidemic situation”, said the deputy chairman of the AfD parliamentary group, Volker Richter.

Rather, there is a crisis that the state government only brought about with its own policy.

Black-Green wanted to distract people from their own failure by assigning blame to the unvaccinated.

Richter called a vaccination requirement "completely absurd".

The chairman of the left parliamentary group, Elisabeth Kula, criticized that the state government was partly to blame for the extent of the fourth corona wave.

"What was missed in the second and third quarters of 2020 and 2021 leads to hectic activities as soon as the temperatures drop."