Blood, sweat and Habeck
Easter is the festival of good news, and Robert Habeck also has a message to announce for the Easter weekend, but not a happy one. His message is very serious. And politically quite insightful.
Yesterday, the Vice Chancellor posted a video on his Instagram account in which he, wearing a burgundy tie with a black suit, talks about the war in Ukraine, about the consequences for Germany and what follows from it. Habeck explains, analyses, reveals his own doubts and feelings, formulates straight and understandable. He is doing what Olaf Scholz has all too often failed to do, and what Scholz has repeatedly failed to do when it was particularly necessary. The Vice Chancellor shows once again that he is a class and a half above the Chancellor in terms of communication. If he sounded a little less unctuous, there might be two.
This could be quite interesting in the election campaign - provided that Habeck is allowed to run as the top candidate for the Greens this time.
Towards the end of his video, Habeck says about the war in Ukraine: "There probably won't be a quick, happy ending." And: "We have to prepare for the threat situation; anything else would be naive."
Therefore, says Habeck, “we are well advised to invest more in our own security.” He says: “The ability to protect is the imperative of this time and the political task” – so that “Putin does not dare to attack us. We have to significantly strengthen our military capabilities." He adds: "It's an imposition, I know, but a necessary one."
In this passage, Habeck no longer sounds particularly green, more like Churchill, like Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat. And he sounds much more realistic than those parts of the SPD that still hope to be able to meaningfully negotiate with Vladimir Putin.
This could also be quite interesting in the election campaign.
More background here: Robert from the ashes
Hell would sooner freeze over
Oh yes, election campaign. In the USA it is already in full swing, Biden against Trump, democracy against contempt for democracy. Joe Biden, the president, has now appeared in New York with his Democratic predecessors Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. It must have been a fun evening. Unfortunately, there will hardly be anything like that in our federal election campaign next year.
A former chancellor and a former chancellor are still alive, Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel. But Olaf Scholz is more likely to invite Chucky the murderer doll to a joint election campaign appearance than Putin's friend Schröder, who turns 80 next weekend.
And what about Merkel?
If Friedrich Merz becomes the Union's candidate for chancellor, Merkel would not be allowed to appear in the election campaign either, at least not on a stage with the candidate. The two like each other about as much as Dortmund and Schalke, Pepsi and Coca Cola, Liam and Noel Gallagher.
But who knows. A joint appearance between the two would have something, above all it would have greatness. From both sides.
The whole story here: An evening for three
From drilling very, very hard boards
Politics, as Max Weber wrote, means "a strong, slow drilling of hard boards with passion and a sense of proportion at the same time." These boards can be particularly hard if you don't have the long levers, if you're not chancellor, minister or parliamentary group leader, but simply a member of parliament. Like Sarah Wiener.
The (television) chef was elected to the European Parliament in 2019 as a non-party for the Austrian Greens and has since represented her group in the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development. She is no longer running in the European elections in June and has now described her experiences as a career changer in parliamentary work to my colleague Timo Lehmann in a very readable interview.
“It took at least two years to get through the parliamentary process,” says Sarah Wiener. "Sometimes I'm almost desperate because I still don't understand how things work."
Wiener describes particularly clearly how she failed with a law that was supposed to reduce the use of pesticides in agriculture. Despite these and other experiences, she doesn't sound bitter or resigned. She has retained the belief that democratic politics can improve things and move them forward. No matter how hard the boards are.
I found this passage particularly nice: »Of course I initially asked myself at the group meetings why 30 people now have to come forward for this or that topic and discuss a half-sentence for hours. Everything has been said. Later I understood how important this exchange is. Listening to everyone has its own beauty and justification - democracy is exhausting.«
The whole story here: "Sometimes I'm almost desperate"
Click here for the current daily quiz
Today's starting question: What was the name of the right-wing extremist terrorist cell that Beate Zschäpe belonged to?
Winners of the day…
... are the members of the Federal Election Committee - because they too finally have the day off. Yesterday, on Good Friday, in contrast to the vast majority, they still had to work because the committee had to decide on the nominations for the European elections in a public meeting. In the end, the committee approved 35 parties and associations. Because the CSU only runs in Bavaria and the CDU in all other federal states, only 34 will be on the ballot paper. Including the party for conventional medical rejuvenation research. On that note: happy holidays.
Churches and parties criticize the compulsory meeting of the Federal Election Committee on Good Friday
The latest reports from the night
Pope cancels participation in Good Friday procession again:
Pope Francis has all sorts of duties to fulfill at Easter. But now he is again refraining from taking part in the Stations of the Cross in the Colosseum in Rome.
Fewer births than ever before - Italy's population continues to shrink:
the birth rate in Italy has been falling steadily since 2013. A new negative record will also be recorded this year. The number of people who are at least centenarians, however, is reaching a historic high.
Netanyahu gives the green light for new ceasefire talks:
A new round of negotiations "in the next few days in Doha and Cairo," according to the Israeli side, will be about a ceasefire and the release of more hostages.
I would particularly like to recommend this story to you today:
Among winemakers:
flavors of quince bread, smoked fish and lily of the valley... In the Hessian Eberbach Monastery, top winemakers from all over the world come together to taste decades-old grape varieties. Our reporter Jonathan Stock tasted 100 Rieslings in one day - and asked himself: Do I taste the same as them?
I wish you a good start to the day.
Yours Christoph Hickmann, head of the SPIEGEL capital office