Karl Lauterbach, the German health minister, chose to spend his summer holidays in Italy. A well-documented journey on his social channels, in which the epidemiologist doctor – candidate in the last elections with Olaf Scholz’s SPD – had to deal above all with one problem: the heat. “If things continue like this, these holiday destinations will have no long-term future. Climate change is destroying southern Europe. An era is drawing to a close», wrote Lauterbach on 13 July while he was traveling from Bologna to Tuscany. A few days later, the German minister visits the Basilica of San Francesco in Siena. “Beautiful medieval building, but also a cold room. Churches should be open during heat waves during the day and offer protection,” writes the minister on his Twitter profile. On 18 July Lauterbach was to set out for Rome. A move that he decided to postpone to the following days precisely because of the temperatures above 40 degrees. Once he arrives in the capital, the German minister finally finds a temperature more to his liking. «36 degrees, a little wind. All right », he writes posting a selfie in front of the Trevi Fountain.
Santanchè’s answer
Tourism minister Daniela Santanchè responded to her Italian vacation, ruined by last week’s hot temperatures. “I thank the German Health Minister for choosing Italy as a tourist destination, which has always been the favorite destination of his compatriots for holidays and, of course, we look forward to welcoming him again in the future,” the minister said. Then she replies on the increasingly hotter temperatures, which according to Lauterbach are undermining the future of Italian tourism. «We are aware – replies Santanchè – of the climate change underway, which, I remind you, does not concern only southern Europe but the whole planet, so much so that the strategic plan for tourism places sustainability as one of the central assets and an essential tool for the development and growth of the sector. A strategy that will allow us to make the Italian tourist offer welcoming and sustainable 365 days a year”.
Credits foto: TWITTER | A photo posted by German Health Minister Karl Lauterbach at the Trevi Fountain in Rome