Free, fair, sustainable – the traffic light has big plans. But instead of a new start, “Hart aber fair” with Frank Plasberg is first about Corona again. And about Karl Lauterbach.
Berlin – One had hoped for better for the Advent season. But: The corona pandemic has Germany firmly under control again – and with it the nationwide talk show landscape. Frank Plasberg’s show “Hart aber fair” on ARD is no exception and lets the soon-to-be government partners Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Bettina Stark-Watzinger meet with CDU federal chairman Norbert Röttgen, flanked by virological and journalistic expertise.
The possibilities of a mandatory vaccination and a new lockdown, the risks of the Omikron variant and the personality of Karl Lauterbach are discussed. The fact that the SPD shines with its physical absence, but is always present in the discussion like a ghost, fits perfectly with the disappearing trick of the upcoming chancellor Olaf Scholz since the federal election. Pooh boo!
“Hard but fair” on ARD: Norbert Röttgen is self-critical
Right at the beginning, the editors of “Hart aber fair” once again made it clear to everyone who spent November under a stone in a single play: The situation is serious, very serious. Only around 2,500 of a total of 22,000 intensive care beds are still available nationwide, as few as never since the beginning of the pandemic. The invited politicians agree on cross-party failures in recent weeks and months as the cause: inside relatively quickly and even Norbert Röttgen is halfway self-critical: “We were too late in the old government and now politics, preferably together, must finally go faster and become more appropriate. ”But to hand out a little later:“ Before the traffic light was in power, it signaled that freedom is back. Then she galloped and she can’t get out of galloping and delaying. “
“Hard but fair” on ARD: No more power games – right?
The measures that must now be taken quickly seem to be clear to everyone, at least in theory. “The new government should approach the opposition and the opposition should approach the government,” says Röttgen, while the leader of the Green parliamentary group, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, agrees with “It must stop power games. It is now a matter of sending a big, common signal. And what we have to do is obvious: reduce contacts, nationwide and according to common criteria. At the same time, the crisis team must ensure that a large number of people are vaccinated very quickly so that we do not experience the next one after the current wave. “
And Bettina Stark-Watzinger, the future federal education minister from the FDP, adds: “We have to work to improve vaccination logistics and management.” not the big problem. Politicians have always reacted too late and done too little – ‘too early and too much’, they never dared. In the first half of 2021 the CDU used the Corona policy to host the power struggle between Armin Laschet and Markus Söder and in the second half of the year it was said that Laschet’s election campaign must not be disturbed by too much truth about Corona. “What Röttgen only with knows how to answer a counterattack in the direction of the traffic light coalition and its abolition of the federal emergency brake.
“Hard but fair” on ARD: reactivate the vaccination centers!
The virologist Martin Stürmer then takes care of the scientific questions about the current pandemic situation during Frank Plasberg’s broadcast. When it comes to booster vaccinations, he urgently recommends the immediate and unbureaucratic reactivation of the vaccination centers and, with a brief “That doesn’t work”, is stunned that there is currently a shortage of vaccines again in some regions. He tells all hesitant booster candidates: inside or doubting unvaccinated people that they should definitely get boosted now because the adaptation of the vaccine to new virus variants takes too long – as does the release of the dead vaccine, which some Unvaccinated people would wait.
This is the only way to break the cycle of lockdowns and loosening. Worldwide, eight billion vaccine doses are now inoculated and there are no long-term side effects. He warns of the new and possibly highly contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus: “We don’t yet know how well the vaccine works against you and whether it can bypass the immune system. At the moment there are only isolated cases in Germany. But that can change very quickly. ”This makes it all the more important to reduce all contacts for about three weeks in order to contain Omikron preventively.
“Hard but fair” on ARD: schools open, bars closed
This puts him in line with the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, which also applies to Katrin Göring-Eckardt: “It will be necessary to close down bars and discos and possibly also the gastronomy. If you had rigorously implemented 2G at an early stage, you would have come a long way. ”At this point, however, she gets into trouble with Norbert Röttgen:“ The Leopoldina has expressly criticized the new government’s new measures because they prohibit the state and the federal states from taking measures that were previously possible. “
| Hard but fair (ARD) with Frank Plasberg | The guests of the broadcast on November 29, 2021 |
| Katrin Göring-Eckardt | B’90 / Greens |
| Bettina Stark-Watzinger | FDP |
| Norbert Roettgen | CDU |
| Dr. Martin striker | virologist |
| Bernd Ulrich | journalist |
When Göring-Eckardt then approaches him with “Can you just relax for a moment?”, The discussion slips into the acoustically incomprehensible, until Frank Plasberg, not quite as confident as usual, finally fires off a relieving clip. Afterwards there was again cross-party agreement: daycare centers, schools and retirement homes should definitely be kept open, while full football stadiums are currently not acceptable. The future Federal Minister of Education Bettina Stark-Watzinger emphasizes: “It’s about finding solutions for families, for children, for students and against the psychosocial damage and the loss of education that have occurred.”
“Hard but fair” on ARD: Compulsory vaccination in sight?
A compulsory vaccination is likely to come soon, at least if it is up to most of the “hard but fair” guests. In response to Frank Plasberg’s direct question about this, Göring-Eckardt promptly replies that she envisions a two-stage vaccination requirement: “First in facilities such as old people’s and nursing homes, hospitals, schools and daycare centers. And then there should be a general compulsory vaccination. “About those unwilling to vaccinate, she says:” Nobody will be forced to do so by violent means. But the person has to know that they are doing something that restricts their living space very much. ”Even Stark-Watzinger does not seem to oppose mandatory vaccination at all costs:“ A pandemic must be fought with all means that are constitutionally possible. ” However, she adds: “The FDP is not a warning or a brake, but a realist. We don’t want to promise people anything that cannot be implemented so quickly or that is legally uncertain. “
“Hard but fair” on ARD: love for Lauterbach
Towards the end, the latest edition of “Hart aber fair” (ARD) could also be renamed “Germany is looking for the super health minister”. With a clear winner: Not only in large parts of the population, as a street survey from Neuss suggests, do they want to see Karl Lauterbach on the post. Norbert Röttgen, of all people, becomes most clear: “Competence, credibility, trust, he has all of that. It would be good for politicians if he now takes on a ministerial responsibility. “
To the broadcast
Hard but fair, ARD, from Monday, November 29, 2021, 9 p.m.
The broadcast in the ARD media library
Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Bettina Stark-Watzinger are holding back a little in view of the changes that have not yet been decided by the coalition partner, but suggest that they too could live well with a health minister in Lauterbach: “Nobody in Germany can explain so well, politically and professionally, what’s going on, ”says Göring-Eckardt. Even Stark-Watzinger praises: “He gave the pandemic topic a face, interested people in it, and exposed himself to criticism. He’s a very courageous man. ”And Zeit journalist Bernd Ulrich adds:“ In the last few weeks Lauterbach has been asking: ‘Where is this executive government? Where is Mr Scholz actually? ‘, All Corona arrows drawn towards you. “(Peter Hoch)
