German governments will decide Sunday on a new hard lockdown
The number of corona deaths and new infections remains at record levels. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) recently called for a renewed tightening of the corona rules: Stores, schools and daycare centers are to be closed in Germany until January 10 if possible.
While the CDU-led states are in favor of a nationwide uniform tightening of the rules, the SPD-led states and Thuringia are against it. The existing resolutions would already allow regionally tougher lockdowns.
On Wednesday evening, both sides agreed to decide on new corona rules in a circular resolution or a telephone conference on Sunday.
Only two weeks after the last federal-state summit, at which a significant tightening of the corona rules was agreed upon, the state premiers with Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) will finally decide before Christmas on a hard lockdown until January 10.
Business Insider has learned that the federal and state governments agreed on Wednesday evening that a joint preparatory group should draft a draft resolution. This will then be adopted in a so-called circular resolution or a telephone conference on Sunday. In the case of a resolution by circulation, all states will sign the resolution, but will not meet in person or via telephone conference.
Previously, there had been numerous discussions between the countries behind the scenes on Tuesday and Wednesday. The seven SPD-led states as well as Thuringia and Baden-Württemberg had actually rejected a new summit. In their view, necessary regional tightening of the rules in corona hotspots is already possible now, but has not been implemented for too long, especially in the south and in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. In addition, some districts in Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Brandenburg are now well below the critical incidence value of 50 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in one week.
But what can actually come out of the summit? One possible scenario: Even on New Year's Eve, only five people are allowed to meet, with one exception on Christmas from December 23 to 27. Then meetings in tens are also possible. Children under 14 in both cases are excluded. Some countries have already implemented this. From 27 December there will be a hard lockdown until 10 January. Then schools, kindergartens and stores except for supermarkets will be closed. The crux of the matter is the retail trade. The states are demanding significantly more money from the federal government for this measure.
And indeed, they could put some more money on top of that, because a lot of money has not yet been spent on the economic aid that has been generously calculated so far. It is possible, for example, that the November/December aid, in which restaurants receive 75 percent of their turnover from the same month last year when they have to close, could be extended to the retail trade for the period up to January 10. But this is very expensive. Therefore the federal government look for an other instrument, for example grants for fix costs if they have in January 40 percent less turnover regarding November and December.