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Corona pandemic: Opinions differ in the traffic light coalition about how to deal with it
Photo: Ina Fassbender / AFP
Was crisis management appropriate during the corona pandemic? After the publication of partly redacted Corona protocols from the Robert Koch Institute, the traffic light is once again debating the correct way to deal with the pandemic. “We should reflect on the mistakes as well as the right decisions during the corona pandemic and learn from them,” said Johannes Vogel, First Parliamentary Managing Director of the FDP parliamentary group, to SPIEGEL.
A commission is needed to deal with the pandemic, measures, restrictions on freedom and fundamental rights as well as social consequences: "A study commission in the German Bundestag is particularly suitable for this." Vogel calls for this to be set up "promptly" in order to give sufficient notice before the end of the legislative period to begin this workup.
The Liberals had expressed the idea before. It goes back to Bundestag Vice President Wolfgang Kubicki and the FDP health politician Andrew Ullmann, who presented a position paper a good year ago calling for a study commission.
The SPD is against a study commission
According to SPIEGEL information, the idea has already been discussed several times in the traffic light coalition, but the SPD in particular does not believe in the idea of setting up a commission in parliament.
Study commissions usually consist of representatives and experts from science. Such a committee is currently dealing with lessons learned from the German mission in Afghanistan.
FDP man Vogel said that coming to terms with it would make society more resilient in the face of further crises: "The other factions in the German Bundestag should therefore finally open up to this proposal from the Free Democrats faction."
The SPD remains against dealing with the pandemic in the Bundestag. “The traffic light factions agreed on certain study commissions at the beginning of the legislative period,” said group vice-president Dagmar Schmidt.
A specific commission on the corona pandemic was deliberately not agreed upon. There are “more suitable formats” for processing. Schmidt refers to the report of an interministerial working group on the effects of the pandemic on the health of children and young people.
“More like a fight for sovereignty of interpretation”
There are different views among the Greens. Janosch Dahmen, health policy spokesman for the parliamentary group, rejected a study commission. There is a danger “that in the end it will be more of a battle over interpretive sovereignty and subsequent apportionment of blame and that further trust from the population will be lost,” Dahmen told the “NOZ”. Bundestag Vice President Katrin Göring-Eckardt, on the other hand, explained on the short message service “X” that it was necessary to clarify “without ideology” “how we prepare if a similar exceptional situation threatens.” However, a review should not be misused to defame those involved in politics, the medical profession and science.
Klaus Holetschek, CSU parliamentary group leader in the Bavarian state parliament and former Bavarian health minister, told SPIEGEL that one must "definitely draw the right conclusions for the future in order to be prepared for further challenges." He cited the creation of a pandemic central warehouse and improvements in digitalization as examples.
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