Markus Söder (CSU) will speak for almost an hour. Only once will it come to a standstill, when the lights go out for a few seconds in the plenary hall of the state parliament. Otherwise, the Prime Minister will tell, explain, almost imploring people to be vaccinated. And in between, he will drop these two sentences about the fourth wave of pandemics. “Many did not see the dynamism and speed,” says Söder. Then, actually: “Me neither.”
Much of what Söder says in his government statement has already been heard over the past few days. That Bavaria is facing a “corona drama”, that there is a threat of “complete overload”, even renowned scientists have not seen how quickly the fourth wave is building up. What one had hardly heard from Söder before: That he counts himself among these people. That alone makes this Tuesday in the state parliament special.
Just one day before, Söder had said that it would not do anything to just “justify yourself for the past” and that you now have to “look ahead”. But now he’s standing there, at the lectern, and takes another look back at the criticism that he has recently met again and again, sharper than ever in the Corona crisis: Too late, too carelessly, Söder reacted to the fourth wave . What Söder is now saying in the state parliament is an admission, but also an attempt at a liberation. His message: Politicians must be able to rely on the recommendations of science. It lists quotes from virologists who say that the vehemence of the fourth wave could not have been foreseen. “Most of the time, the recommendations lag behind,” says Söder about vaccination, “that’s the difficulty.” That there were also experts who predicted the dynamics fairly precisely in the summer? He doesn’t say.
Partial lockdown for hotspots
Above all, however, Söder is promoting new, more stringent measures in Bavaria on Tuesday. A quasi-lockdown for unvaccinated people through the 2-G mode everywhere in the Free State, plus stricter rules for all citizens such as a curfew in restaurants, and also a partial lockdown for hotspots with an incidence of over 1000 – the Council of Ministers decided this in the morning , now the state parliament should agree. The measures are decided – but not without a heated debate, not without scolding Söder.
“Five weeks ago everything seemed stable,” says Söder. When the situation worsened, however, the coalition “acted immediately, without delay”. The new measures are balanced and appropriate, but: “Without vaccination there is no freedom,” says the Prime Minister and renews his call for a general vaccination requirement. “2G will be 1G in the long run. But not tested, but vaccinated.” Söder once again explains that the vaccination rate in Bavaria is relatively low with vaccination fatigue, which is “unfortunately traditionally” high in the Free State.
Green parliamentary group leader Katharina Schulze does not want Söder “to get away with it”. Science delivered with precise predictions, the research companies delivered the vaccine that people in health professions delivered anyway, every day. But whoever did not deliver this summer “is this government”. Politicians have also “listened to the loud, screaming minority of those who oppose vaccinations and vulgar freedom ideologues for far too long.” The urgency request by the Greens calls for immediate administrative assistance from the Bundeswehr, including for acute care in hospitals. CSU parliamentary group leader Thomas Kreuzer counters: Soldiers have long been deployed there. The Greens could “only criticize and pat on the bush” without knowing. Nor could he remember the Greens’ demands until autumn to tighten measures.
Brunn complains about “failure” and “irresponsibility”
Florian von Brunn, parliamentary group leader of the SPD, confirms the need for the measures, but also wants to “analyze the previous history”, there is “no blank check”. The ethics council set up by Söder himself warned of the developments in autumn. Söder was “actually busy with other things”, namely “working off Mr. Laschet and throwing clubs between his legs.” Brunn calls this “failure” and “irresponsibility”.
AfD parliamentary group leader Christian Klingen warns that “the forced vaccination will be whipped through”; Even in flu waves in the past, clinics would have complained of being overburdened. Nevertheless, the AfD is also calling for more efforts by the Bundeswehr and a bonus for ex-care workers when they return to work, 1,500 euros tax-free.
FDP parliamentary group leader Martin Hagen begins his speech with a plea for vaccination – and for the debate about mandatory vaccination. Yes, even the FDP “did not expect the fourth wave with such vehemence”. But Hagen also says: If the state government had assessed the situation better, “we would not be in this mess now”. Then he holds up a newspaper clipping from October 10th, which can be seen on it: an advertisement in which Söder congratulates grandmas and grandpas on grandparents’ day. Instead of promoting a “grandparents day you invented yourself”, it would have been better to call on “the grandparents to use this route to boost”.
Both sides accuse each other of failures
The whole afternoon indicates the future exchange of blows between the CSU and the traffic light in the federal government, the three Berlin partners are sitting in Bavaria across from the government bank; and both sides accuse each other of failures throughout the debate. Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU) goes to the parliamentary bench and repeatedly asks the opposition sharp questions, tests SPD man Brunn’s knowledge of the corona, about the number of vaccination centers in Bavaria. Söder said before in the direction of the Greens: “Governing will be difficult, you will experience that. Governing sometimes means suffering.”