Maybrit Illner: Lars Klingbeil and Friedrich Merz cuddle on ZDF

Maybrit Illner with the topic “Corona: Politics in Crisis – Political Crisis?”. The show turns into a feeble chat.

Berlin – Political mistakes, the compulsory corona vaccination and the question of how to proceed with the pandemic – the topics of the political talk at Maybrit Illner (ZDF) pretty much corresponded to what you would expect from a current talk show. And although these topics “concern us all existentially”, as the deputy ZDF editor-in-chief Bettina Schausten noted, the program was sluggish.

Corona fatigue is perhaps deeper than ever in the second winter of the pandemic, after all, the end of the measures does not seem in sight, but rather the fifth and even the sixth wave from the fourth wave. “We have to do with this virus for a long time,” swears the new SPD chairman Lars Klingbeil in the last issue of Maybrit Illner, and one has to be prepared for it.

“May I read something?” Asked the Franco-German publicist and Green politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit at one point on the ZDF broadcast. A poem by Kurt Tucholsky, written 93 years ago on the vaccination debate. “Maybe later,” answers Bettina Schausten, who temporarily took over the moderation job from Maybrit Illner. Cohn-Bendit stopped reading aloud. The curious incidental incident is symptomatic of current Corona Talks: The lines do not come from Tucholsky, but are circulating on the Internet as an action by the satirical magazine “Titanic”. As the pandemic progresses, it is not always possible to clearly distinguish between reality and its satirical view.

Maybrit Illner (ZDF): Tired pandemic talk

The fact that Maybrit Illner’s show was powerless was possibly due to the lack of clinch between Lars Klingbeil and Friedrich Merz, who at best touched each other lightly. Seen from the audience to the left of Illner sat Merz, to the right Klingbeil. Merz is running for the third time for the CDU chairmanship and represented the new role of the CDU as opposition party, the former SPD general secretary Klingbeil has recently been co-chairman of his party, which leads the government in the traffic light coalition. But instead of getting heated in the competition of ideas, Merz and Klingbeil remained tame. “We have the election campaign behind us,” said Merz at one point. Yes, that’s right.

When it came to errors in the Corona policy, Bettina Schausten criticized Maybrit Illner on ZDF for the fact that politics had sent “wrong signals” in the summer, such as the closure of vaccination centers. But: “All learners remain in this pandemic.” Later on in the program, the ZDF journalist added that she did not want to see the same mistake twice.

There was a little bit of debate on ZDF when it came to the economic challenges posed by the pandemic. “We are fighting the pandemic by strengthening our country economically,” said Lars Klingbeil, rather vaguely, that one must “grow out of the crisis”. As so often, Friedrich Merz pleaded for quick investments: “The problem in this country is not a lack of money, but that investments do not get on the road quickly enough.” Merz sees the fact that funds in the budget planned for climate protection are now allocated to Corona “A certain acrobatics”, but no reason for a dispute.

Maybrit Illner (ZDF): Corona vaccination compulsory – but how?

There was agreement on the question that a general corona vaccination requirement is justified. “I have often spoken out against compulsory vaccination,” said Lars Klingbeil at Illner on ZDF, “from today’s perspective I have to admit that it was a mistake”. In parliament, Klingbeil wanted to vote for compulsory vaccination in order to avert future waves.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit poured wine into the water. In France, the introduction was a “huge problem” with 350,000 people on the street. The “few idiots from Saxony” are nothing against it. You have to install a vaccination register in order to enforce the obligation. “Suddenly we discover evil,” Cohn-Bendit dramatized his view of the unvaccinated. More factually, Friedrich Merz expressed concerns. “I have some reservations about mandatory vaccinations,” said Merz. On the one hand it is a “very strong encroachment on freedom”, on the other hand the unsolved question arises: “How do we actually regulate the execution?”

Maybrit Illner (ZDF): In the end it gets satirical

The people who recently protested against compulsory vaccinations in many cities are introduced to Illner on ZDF with a darkly highlighted clip. After mentioning that doubters from the middle of society also express displeasure, the panel discussion focuses on the extreme margins of the protests. A torch mob has nothing to do with Corona, Lars Klingbeil clarified: “These are right-wing agitators who want to disintegrate this state.” Bettina Schausten agreed: “You have to send a very tough, clear signal.”

In general, Friedrich Merz complains about a “certain delimitation in the way we talk to each other.” More respect for the opinion of others is necessary again. At least at today’s Illner Talk, the wish was fulfilled, after all, by and large, the same point of view was taken. In the end, the future remains uncertain – and Schausten finds words that could very well be in the “Titanic”: “Germany has set a good example in the world.” (Christian Horn)