Corona news in the ticker: SPD politician proposes amnesty for violations of Corona rules
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For the first time, a commission of experts came together to deal with the pandemic. The state government of Saxony-Anhalt is planning to take out new emergency loans due to Corona. You can find all the latest news in the Corona ticker on FOCUS online.
SPD politician proposes amnesty for violations Corona-Rules
Monday, April 8th, 4:34 a.m.: A year after the end of the last Corona protection requirements, SPD member of the Bundestag Michael Müller suggested a waiver of penalties for violations during the pandemic. “We know from today’s perspective that some measures were not as compelling as we thought at the time,” said the former chairman of the Prime Minister’s Conference to the Berlin “Tagesspiegel” (Monday). “That’s why I think we can also think about an amnesty.”
However, it must be legally comprehensible which procedures are being stopped and why. “We would need clear criteria for this,” added Müller, who, as Governing Mayor of Berlin, also led meetings of the Prime Ministers during the pandemic. Together with the then Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU), the meetings took place, for example, on Corona policy in Germany.
As the newspaper reported, a 21-year-old in Berlin recently received a fine because he was on the street with a total of six people instead of a maximum of five people during lockdown three years ago. “These are curiosities of our constitutional state. In this matter, I rely on the authorities’ common sense and discretion, especially in a case like this,” said Müller about the case.
In general, the SPD politician spoke out in favor of a better approach to dealing with the pandemic. “However, you can’t just paint this time in black. We as a society have also learned a lot during the pandemic,” he said. He refuses to apologize to the population for all politics during the pandemic. “We have to be self-critical and point out mistakes where they were made,” he said. You can also apologize for some of them. “But an apology for the Corona period as a whole would not be appropriate.” A lot of lives have been saved by politics.
The state government of Saxony-Anhalt is planning to take out new emergency loans
Friday, April 5th, 6:43 p.m.: According to a report in the “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung”, the state government is also planning to take out new emergency loans for 2025, citing the corona pandemic. To achieve this, the debt brake should be suspended. Finance Minister Michael Richter (CDU) said that he assumes that the conditions for the use of the Corona special fund will also be met for the following years. Accordingly, he is planning the budget for 2025 and 2026. For new loans, the state parliament would have to declare an emergency at the end of this year for 2025 – as well as for 2024 and 2023.
The leaders of the three government factions may also want to support new loans. “The parliamentary group can imagine a continuation of the Corona special fund when it comes to measures that increase resilience,” said CDU parliamentary group leader Guido Heuer. In return, he expects the government to check where state personnel can be saved.
SPD parliamentary group leader Katja Pähle said that they stood behind Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU), who pointed out “that processing the measures from the Corona special fund is still necessary and sensible”. For the Liberals, Parliamentary Managing Director Guido Kosmehl said: “In the coalition, we have decided together that we will take out new emergency loans in 2025.” However, the government still has to prove how much this is necessary.
Experts review Corona measures – recommendations for the future
3:04 p.m.: Contact restrictions, school closings, compulsory vaccination, wearing a mask: A commission of experts is supposed to retrospectively evaluate the measures to combat the corona pandemic in Saxony-Anhalt and develop recommendations for the future. The 16 experts from science, medicine, business, education and sport met for the first time on Thursday in the State Chancellery in Magdeburg. It’s about what consequences have to be drawn from the pandemic, said Haseloff. Politics should be left outside and the Commission should come to objective results. A first interim report should be available at the end of 2024. The results could also be included in the 2025/26 budget.
The government commission is headed by the lawyer Winfried Kluth. He said the independent expert panel was the right format. “Technically, the pandemic is over. But the probability that similar events will occur again with other causes still exists.”
Kluth announced work in a calm and objective manner, from various scientific perspectives and “practically grounded”. It’s about data analysis, legal analysis, and communication should also be examined. There are practitioners from health authorities and schools as well as from business. Additional experts can be brought in. The central question is what should be kept in place as part of precautionary measures.
At the beginning of the pandemic four years ago, masks, protective gowns and also ventilators had to be procured. Health Minister Petra Grimm-Benne (SPD) emphasized that the digitalization of the public health service was necessary. Care should also be taken into account, as well as compulsory vaccination and the corresponding communication.
With regard to the pandemic, Prime Minister Haseloff said: “We have tried to maintain moderation within the tableau, especially as Saxony-Anhalt.” He wanted to see from the outside how action had been taken within the framework of the possibilities and small leeway.
The health policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, Konstantin Pott, explained: “Unjustified restrictions on individual freedom must be avoided in similar situations in the future. Companies, schools and daycare centers, restaurants and culture must not be closed again without providing proof of health protection.” The FDP hopes that the government commission will provide a clear analysis and recommendations for the future.
The AfD parliamentary group criticized the lack of parliamentary participation. “In its current form, this commission can hardly fulfill its function as government control,” said health policy spokesman Ulrich Siegmund. “As the AfD, we will introduce a parliamentary initiative to the state parliament to correct this farce surrounding the pandemic commission and to ensure the opposition rights and government control. The goal must be to create the greatest possible transparency.”
The parliamentary group leader of the Left, Eva von Angern, warned of a paper tiger and a self-confirming group. It must be critically examined when and who failed during the pandemic. Von Angern sees many open questions and emphasized one principle: “In future pandemics, daycare and school closures must be prevented with all our might!”
80 percent of Saxon schools use it Corona-Catch-up program
Thursday, April 4th, 10:47 a.m.: According to the Ministry of Culture, 80 percent of schools in Saxony use the learning budget provided by the Free State to mitigate the consequences of the corona pandemic. A total of 1,132 schools took advantage of the “Flexible Learning Budget” program launched at the beginning of the 2023/2024 school year, as the ministry announced on Thursday in Dresden.
The budget will continue to be used continuously in the second half of the year. A total of ten million euros per school year is available for the state’s own Corona successor program. Around 6.5 million euros have so far been tied up in service contracts.
After the federally funded program “Catch up after Corona” expired at the end of the 2022/2023 school year, Saxony continued the program with its own resources. This means that all public general education schools and some of the vocational schools should receive a learning budget for additional individual support measures and all-day offers. Independently run schools continue to receive budget funding through funding for all-day programs.
“I am pleased that so many schools are using the flexible learning budget,” said Saxon Education Minister Christian Piwarz (CDU). The money is intended to continue to support students individually and in a differentiated manner beyond the classroom.
According to the Ministry of Culture, there is an “increased demand” for resilience exercises in particular: This involves learning to better deal with stress, pressure and generally difficult situations. Motor skills training, mindfulness training and sporting activities are also offered.
Schools should also have a flexible learning budget available for the coming school year.
You can read older news about the corona pandemic on the next pages.
Corona era: What you should know
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