Bundestag decides on Afghanistan, flood costs, corona measures – politics


The Bundestag will hold an extraordinary session this Wednesday. In the middle of the summer break and a few weeks before the general election, the most important issues of the past months will be dealt with on a single day. An overview.

Most members of the Bundestag are likely to agree to the Bundeswehr mission in Kabul: people waiting at the airport in the Afghan capital.

(Photo: Wakil Kohsar / AFP)

Afghanistan

The day of the meeting will begin with the Federal Government’s assessment of Afghanistan: a look at a 20-year mission that is currently ending with a dramatic evacuation operation. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) will issue a government statement on the latest events; afterwards, this is not a difficult prognosis, a great many MPs, including the government factions, will express themselves quite critically. For the ministers responsible, this is likely to be quite uncomfortable.

In addition to the debate, the Bundestag must also decide on the mandate for the evacuation operation by the Bundeswehr – in retrospect. That is unusual, after all, the Bundeswehr is a “parliamentary army”. But something like that is not impossible. If there is imminent danger, a government can take the decision to deploy soldiers in advance, as happened last Wednesday in the cabinet. According to the mandate, the mission is “to protect the life and limb of German citizens and those personnel of the international community for whom Germany has a special responsibility”. This also applies to “particularly vulnerable representatives of Afghan civil society”.

Most parliamentary groups will find it difficult to speak out against the deployment – after all, the action is intended to iron out the mistakes of the past few months in dire straits. Nonetheless, it could be interesting to see how many dissenters there are – and from which political groups. The left has already made it easy for itself and called for abstention.

Storm in Rhineland-Palatinate

“Reconstruction aid 2021”: To finance the reconstruction after the devastating floods in July, a fund is to be provided with 30 billion euros.

(Photo: Boris Roessler / dpa)

Flood relief

The second catastrophe on the Bundestag agenda is the devastating flood in parts of western Germany. The decision is to set up the special fund “Development Aid 2021”, plus a few other changes in the law. The federal government plans to provide the fund with up to 30 billion euros. The federal states participate in the financing “by adjusting the vertical distribution of sales tax revenue” – from this year until 2050 they will receive a smaller share of sales tax revenue than usual, while the federal government will receive a larger share. In addition, the obligation to file for bankruptcy in a timely manner will be suspended for flood-damaged companies. And: The Telecommunications Act is to be changed in such a way that, in the event of danger, all cell phone users who are in the relevant region can be warned in the future.

Coronavirus - Munich

Already the fourth extension: A corresponding decision by the Bundestag would enable the corona rules to continue to apply.

(Photo: Sven Hoppe / dpa)

Epidemic situation

The third item on the agenda for the special session is the “Determination of the persistence of the epidemic situation of national concern”. It would be the fourth extension after Parliament first determined an epidemic situation on March 25, 2020 due to the corona pandemic. The resolution would initially apply for a further three months.

The reason for the extension is that the federal and state governments would otherwise no longer be able to apply Paragraph 28a of the Infection Protection Act. However, all the restrictions on public life that the state has so far relied on to combat pandemics are described there. “There is a connection between the epidemic situation and paragraph 28a,” says Michael Brenner, constitutional lawyer at the University of Jena. From his point of view, the alternative would be to rewrite paragraph 28a so that it would no longer be linked to the determination of an epidemic situation. The Greens bring a corresponding motion to the Bundestag on Wednesday: Measures such as distance requirements, mask requirements or access restrictions should also be possible after the end of the epidemic situation, at least for six months.

The prerequisites for being able to determine an epidemic situation are regulated in Section 5 of the Act. But they are “somewhat vague,” says Brenner, and they are rather soft criteria that can be interpreted. With the number of infections currently rising, he sees politics on solid ground. “If, on the other hand, one were to abolish all options for action, legislators and administration would be left empty-handed when the occupancy of the intensive care units goes up again.”

The FDP rejects an extension of the epidemic situation. “The progress in vaccination and the changes in the pandemic make it possible for the government to return its special powers to the German Bundestag,” says parliamentary group leader Christian Lindner. “The health emergency of the epidemic situation of national scope must therefore be ended.” The SPD parliamentary group, on the other hand, is ready to extend it, according to its First Parliamentary Managing Director, Carsten Schneider. In the Union parliamentary group, criticism of the procedure was initially heard, because the health system is currently no longer as heavily burdened as it was before the vaccination campaign. The top of the Union faction now defended the extension. “This Wednesday we will decide to continue the epidemic situation in order to give the countries the flexibility to react appropriately to the renewed increase in infections with the coronavirus,” said parliamentary group vice-president Thorsten Frei (CDU) Süddeutsche Zeitung. It is about “that the countries get through the autumn well and can impose proportionate measures, if the fourth wave requires it”. At the same time, however, “thanks to the vaccinations, one is in a fundamentally new situation: Instead of the incidence of new infections, we will mainly also consider hospitalization due to corona diseases in the future.” The hospitalization is said to have “significantly greater significance for the question of the burden on the health system”. The discontinuation of the previous incidence as the measure of all things should, according to reports, also be a topic in the Bundestag on Wednesday. The first reading should take place on Wednesday; The innovation could be finally decided on September 7th.

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