analysis
Status: 12.01.2022 5:43 p.m.
Compulsory vaccinations, minimum wages, nuclear power or motorway bridges: Scholz stoically parries MPs’ questions in the Bundestag – not every answer is likely to please. But the message from the Chancellor is clear.
The government survey begins with a disruptive maneuver. The AfD MPs hold up signs against the Corona measures. But Olaf Scholz doesn’t get something like that out of the way. He just starts again – with the goal in mind: As Chancellor, he wants to send a signal, one for compulsory vaccination. With the decision not to be vaccinated, you are not only making a decision for yourself, he makes clear, but also for 80 million other people.
It is also a clear message to the AfD MPs in the Bundestag stand above him, who are not allowed to sit down in the plenary hall today because they have not been vaccinated and initially disrupted his speech. And it’s a clear message to those who are still undecided.
Attacks by the Union, why he did not bring a law on a general compulsory vaccination, if it is so important to him, he throws down several times in the following 60 minutes. Wouldn’t he have had the strength to do so? After all, he had promised when a vaccination could come, argues the Union. Scholz only smiles at the accusation of weakness, as well as at the new opposition.
Numbers and Schedules
He once said that if you want leadership, you get it. A sentence that he is now nailed to. This is probably one of the reasons why he wants to show leadership in parliament – he, the Federal Chancellor. Because the opposition does not give him anything, has been verbally driving the traffic light government for days and leaves no opportunity for criticism, especially in the fight against the pandemic. But Scholz had also opened this flank in the past few weeks with promises about vaccination success and schedules in the pandemic. In a crisis that has taught us one thing: namely, to be unpredictable.
Scholz also comes up with new figures for the government survey: he would like to have a million vaccinations per day. He likes to give numbers. But it will be measurable again in the near future.
Compulsory vaccination is disputed
The opposition continues with their allegations: Since Christmas, their questions about the compulsory vaccination have not been answered by him, do nurses have different rights on the subject than everyone else? Scholz stoically repeats again and again that his government has prepared the subject of mandatory vaccinations well, but that it is simply a matter for parliament. And what about him personally? It is for an unbureaucratic, lean solution without large structures. That sounds simple and good from the Chancellor’s mouth. Nevertheless, he stands in front of 736 members of parliament who are still anything but determined how to decide on the subject of mandatory vaccination.
Scholz seems determined
Scholz wants to demonstrate determination – which could sometimes be mistaken for arrogance. He just knows better. And he also knows who he likes to debate with and who doesn’t. So he doesn’t resist a swipe at a member of the Left Party on the subject of minimum wages and mini-jobs. First: It was Scholz’s idea, he was the one – not the Left Party – who pushed through the minimum wage.
When accused that the expansion of mini-jobs led to an expansion of precarious employment, Scholz is vehemently: That is wrong. It is better to read through statistics than a leaflet. Topic finished.
Later we will briefly talk about nuclear power, which Scholz describes as yesterday’s energy. The fact that the EU wants to classify them as sustainable does not take long. He looks ahead: faster planning and approval procedures for clean energy sources are necessary. After all, that is also cheaper.
In the end, Scholz becomes a bridge builder, speaks out in favor of building the ailing bridge on the A 45, and announces that all motorway bridges will be checked. You have to take immediate action to fix what needs to be repaired.