Even if Karl Lauterbach did not mention the name Söder, the Bavarian Prime Minister was meant first.
With his warning to the prime ministers not to enter a competition to loosen the corona measures as quickly as possible, despite the recent opening decisions, the health minister remains the undisputed leader of the “caution team”.
A role with which Söder had deliberately made a name for himself populist at the expense of Armin Laschet over the long months of the pandemic.
Now that the German "Freedom Day" announced by the FDP in autumn is approaching on March 20, Söder is the leader of the "Team Freedom" ahead of Minister of Justice Buschmann.
From Söder's point of view, the milder omicron wave makes it possible to relax corona rules in gastronomy, leisure and retail even earlier than decided with Lauterbach.
And so to collect pre-election campaign points in Bavaria with a view to the free voter competition.
After all: The CSU boss has not yet said goodbye to his demand for general vaccination.
Lauterbach is right when he promotes what is still the most effective instrument to close the vaccination gap that is not getting smaller until autumn.
Because in the case of the next virus variant, measures restricting freedom could only be avoided with high vaccination rates.
Söder knows that too.