Controversy over compulsory vaccination
Buschmann takes on Söder: “Laws apply in the rule of law”
Frontal attack on Markus Söder in the vaccination dispute: Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (archive image)
© Kay Nietfeld / DPA
After his rejection of a facility-related vaccination requirement, there is a strong headwind for Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder. The CSU boss is attacked by numerous politicians. Above all Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann.
Federal Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann attacked the Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) head-on in the dispute over compulsory vaccination for employees in clinics and in care. “Laws apply in the rule of law. If the rulers themselves choose which laws they abide by and which they don’t, tyranny is not far away,” tweeted the FDP politician on Wednesday evening. He made a newspaper comment with the headline: “Söder belongs in political quarantine”.
Söder announced on Monday that it would suspend the implementation of the facility-related vaccination requirement, which will come into effect in mid-March. According to the CSU boss, it cannot be implemented in its current form, and the federal government must make improvements. Since then he has faced harsh criticism for this.
Linke accuses Söder of cowardice in the vaccination dispute
Sharp criticism of the Bavarian Prime Minister also came from SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich: “Markus Söder reveals an irresponsible understanding of the state when he wants to disregard laws that he even passed himself,” said Mützenich to the editorial network Germany. “It’s no less bad that important parts of the Union also want to follow him. You’re jeopardizing trust in democratic principles.”
The parliamentary director of the Greens faction, Irene Mihalic, accused Söder of using the corona crisis for party politics. “In this time of need, the CSU boss once again lacks reliability and a sense of responsibility towards the people who are particularly at risk,” she told the RND.
Left faction leader Dietmar Bartsch called Söder’s announcement “politically unacceptable”. “What the Union is doing is harmful to democracy. First enact laws and then cowardly circumvent them,” he told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung. At the same time, however, Bartsch also called for improvements to the regulation. A number of legal questions are still open.