Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer meets with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, U.S., June 30, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

BERLIN, Aug 9 (Reuters) – Germany’s defence minister rejected on Monday calls for its soldiers to return to Afghanistan after Taliban insurgents took Kunduz city where German troops were deployed for a decade.

Germany had the second largest military contingent in Afghanistan after the United States, losing more troops in combat in Kunduz than anywhere else since World War Two.

The Taliban overran three provincial capitals including Kunduz at the weekend as it pressed an offensive since foreign troops began a withdrawal. read more

“The reports from Kunduz and from all over Afghanistan are bitter and hurt a lot,” Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said on Twitter.

“Are society and parliament prepared to send the armed forces into a war and remain there with lots of troops for at least a generation? If we are not, then the joint withdrawal with the partners remains the right decision.”

Some within her own conservative party want German troops to participate in an intervention against the Taliban, but Kramp-Karrenbauer said defeating them would require a long and hard campaign.

Since the United States announced plans in April to pull out troops by Sept. 11, and the transatlantic alliance NATO followed suit, violence has escalated as the Taliban seize territory.

Kramp-Karrenbauer blamed former U.S. President Donald Trump for undermining the Afghanistan operation, even though it is his successor Joe Biden implementing the withdrawal policy.

“Trump’s unfortunate deal with the Taliban was the beginning of the end,” she said of an agreement Trump struck with the Islamist militants in 2020 for U.S. troops to leave.

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/germany-rejects-calls-troops-return-afghanistan-2021-08-09/

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Germany inaugurated its first military rabbi in a century on Monday in a ceremony at a Leipzig synagogue attended by the country’s defense minister and the Israeli ambassador.

Rabbi Zsolt Balla was appointed to the role earlier this month, becoming the first Jewish chaplain to the German armed forces since the First World War.

Nearly 100,000 Jews fought for Germany in the conflict between 1914 and 1918.

The subsequent rise of Nazi Germany and its antisemitic policies forced one-time military rabbis including Leo Baeck and Jacob Sonderling to leave the country.

Few of those who remained survived to see the end of the Second World War.

Josef Schuster, the leader of Germany’s Jewish community, told German soldiers that “you probably imagined an old man with a white beard, long temple curls, and a large hat.”

“I can assure you that as a trained industrial engineer he knows of the difficulties when there is a problem in logistics,” Schuster said, adding that as a dad of three children, “he is also used to having to throw all the planning overboard.”

The 42-year-old Hungarian-born Balla remains a community rabbi of Leipzig, as well as the state rabbi of Saxony.

Up to ten military rabbis will be appointed in the coming months, officials said.

Germany’s defense minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said Monday’s appointment strengthened “something which especially in light of Germany’s history means a lot even though it almost sounds banal: normality.

“A normality which recognizes that Jewish life, Jews belong to Germany and that Judaism belongs to the (German army).”

She added: “We all agree: it is the responsibility of every democrat to fight anti-Semitism. And I will say very clearly: this is a highly personal responsibility for each and every one of us, also for myself.”

Source: https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/germanys-first-military-rabbi-in-a-century-begins-work/

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The European Union has approved the participation of NATO members the United States, Canada, and Norway in a project aimed at speeding up the movement of troops and military equipment around Europe.

The May 6 decision marks the first time the EU has opened up an initiative from its Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) pact, which aims to deepen defense ties, to outside partners.

The pact was agreed by EU leaders in December 2017 amid heightened tensions between the West and Moscow over Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.Moscow annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March 2014 and has been backing separatists in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.

The bloc has since earmarked 1.7 billion euros ($2 billion) from its joint budget until 2028 to improve so-called military mobility, something NATO deems as crucial in the event of a conflict with Russia.

Beyond border red tape, the smooth deployment of forces whether by land, sea, or air is also often hindered by ill-adapted infrastructure.

At their first in-person meeting in more than a year in Brussels, the 27 EU defense ministers discussed Russia’s recent military buildup in annexed Crimea and on the Ukrainian border.

“The debate reaffirmed the EU’s position that Russia must de-escalate and reduce tensions,” and that the full implementation of the Minsk agreements aimed at putting an end to the fighting in eastern Ukraine “is key to a lasting political solution,” according to a statement.

The ministers also gave the greenlight for the United States, Canada, and Norway to join the bloc’s military mobility project, led by the Netherlands.

The three countries’ “expertise will contribute to the project and, with it, to improving military mobility within and beyond the EU,” the bloc’s foreign policy chief and meeting chairman, Josep Borrell, said in a statement.

“It will make EU defense more efficient and contribute to strengthen our security.”

German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer hailed the move as a “quantum leap in concrete cooperation when it comes to ensuring that troops can be deployed in Europe across national borders.”

“Talking about military mobility, making sure that troops can be moved across borders within Europe is a very important issue not only for the European Union but also for NATO,” she added.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who met with the EU ministers, also welcomed the move, and noted that “non-EU allies play an essential role in protecting and defending Europe.”

The United States and its NATO allies have enhanced their presence in the eastern part of the alliance, in part to help reassure Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland that they will be defended in case of any Russian aggression.

Canada is leading a NATO battlegroup stationed in Latvia, and non-EU member Norway is involved, too.

A reminder of the continued tensions in the region came on May 6 when Estonia filed a protest with Moscow a day after a Russian aircraft allegedly violated its airspace for the second time this year.

The military said an IL-96 plane belonging to Russia spent about one minute in Estonian airspace near the Baltic Sea island of Vaindloo in what the Foreign Ministry called “a serious incident.”

The crew did not present a flight plan and failed to maintain radio contact with Estonian Air Navigation Services, the military and officials said.

Moscow said it disputes Tallin’s characterization of the facts.

EU defense ministers also discussed on May 6 a project to set up a 5,000-strong military force that could be deployed quickly to a potential conflict zone. The plan has the backing of 14 member countries, including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP

Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-eu-nato-allies-military-mobility-borrell-stoltenberg/31241378.html

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The post The long goodbye: Who can replace Angela Merkel? first appeared on Garner Ted Armstrong Evangelistic Association.

Negotiations for the agreement took nearly seven years, and there were intense discussions between the EU Commission and top Chinese officials throughout 2020. In the last days of the year, a decision was made to go ahead with the agreement. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, acting as EU term president, and Chinese President Xi reportedly pressed to close the agreement. But there is an important nuance here: the agreement has not been actually been signed yet, as the negotiations took place via video conferencing. And for the agreement to come into force, ratification by all EU member states as well as the consent of the EU Parliament is necessary.

It is clear that this process will be quite painful and there is a good chance that it could fail. In fact, it is even possible to go further and claim that Germany is betting on this possibility.

So why has Germany followed such a path? There are three reasons: First of all, Germany is heavily dependent on its trade with China. It was its trade with China that saved Germany from the global financial crisis in 2008. Moreover, trade with China is still highly significant to Germany today, with trade volumes of around 250 billion dollars. Secondly, Germany and to a large extent France, have been particularly uncomfortable with the European Union being treated as a second-tier power by the United States under the Trump administration.  Brexit has been the last straw in this context. The message given to the United States with the agreement was that Europe is far more important than the United States thought and that the EU cannot be ignored. Finally, with the CAI agreement, China has also been warned about the importance of Europe within the scope of great power competition.

At this point, it is necessary to draw attention to the race between France and Germany in order to become the dominant power in the EU after Brexit. With Brexit, France has become the EU’s sole nuclear power and its most powerful one in terms of conventional forces as well. France’s historical approach to European autonomy is a well-known phenomenon. Trump’s unilateral policies and his refusal to take Europe into account enabled France to draw Germany to its side within the scope of European autonomy. However, with the election of Biden, Germany is expected to return to its traditional approach in the context of transatlantic relations. This has been made clear in speeches by the German Defense Minister, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer. Kramp-Karrenbauer emphasized that an autonomous capacity in military and political matters can strengthen Europe’s hand within the context of existing transatlantic ties with the United States. She also added that Europe could not provide nuclear deterrence without the US nuclear umbrella. The main reason for this approach is to prevent France from taking the helm of the European Union in the absence of the balance provided by the United Kingdom. The struggle of these two powers to gain the leadership of Europe lies at the root of many problems in European history. It was the presence of the United States in the continent after the Second World War that kept these two powers from any conflict. The US presence has been also the most essential factor in Europe’s welfare today. For this reason, the US presence in the continent and the continuation of the transatlantic relationship have been of vital importance for Germany.

Against France’s clear military superiority, Germany has undoubted economic superiority. The economic locomotive of the European Union, so to speak, is Germany. Germany needs China and Asian economies to maintain this superiority. In this context, it does not hesitate to oppose any attempt that will jeopardize its commercial relations with China. In this respect, the attempts of the United States to cut off trade relations with China altogether cannot find any support from Germany. However, Germany also looks for ways to balance the assertive and aggressive attitude of Xi Jinping’s China. For this reason, it wants to use its relationship with the United States as leverage against China as well.

When all these elements come together, it is an indisputable fact that Germany is in a very delicate position. In fact, the CAI agreement itself is a consequence created by such a balance. Germany forced the conclusion of such an agreement for the sake of not spoiling its relations with China, and it has restored confidence in China. On the other hand, the message was given to the United States, especially to the incoming Biden administration, that Europe is an important power that cannot be ignored. Nobody will be able to blame Germany if the agreement is not implemented due to an EU member state refusing to ratify it. This means that Europe, and Germany, hold some serious leverage against the United States as well as China.

Looking ahead, both great powers will have to play the game by taking Europe into account. In fact, the European Union, and especially Germany, could gain a crucial position in playing a balancing role that will keep the great power rivalry between the US and China from getting out of hand. Hopefully, the result will be a more balanced and stable global order. Such will be one of the most important tasks of the new administrations in the United States and Germany in the coming period.

The views expressed in this article are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect those of Geopoliticalmonitor.com or any institutions with which the authors are associated.

Source: https://www.eurasiareview.com/12012021-eu-china-investment-agreement-casts-europe-as-a-great-power-oped/

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The three men are battling to replace Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as CDU leader | Bernd von Jutrczenka/Getty Images

Friedrich Merz, one of the candidates to become leader of Germany’s Christian Democratic Union, on Monday said the country would have significantly fewer people claiming unemployment benefits if it hadn’t been for mass immigration.

Speaking alongside his fellow candidates Armin Laschet (premier of North Rhine-Westphalia) and Norbert Röttgen (chairman of the Bundestag’s foreign relations committee) during a televised debate, Merz said that “had it not been for the immigration into our social systems in 2015 and 2016, we’d have 1 million unemployment benefit recipients less in Germany today.”

The three men are battling to replace Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer as CDU leader after her surprise decision to step back from the role and relinquish her aspirations of succeeding Angela Merkel as chancellor.

The candidates discussed the coronavirus pandemic and how it is increasing economic and social inequality, with Laschet and Röttgen acknowledging that the pandemic has been hardest on the poorest.

As for the economy after the coronavirus, Merz reiterated his belief that a so-called debt brake should be used to avoid public debt spiraling out of control. Röttgen said the aim should not be to return to how things were before the pandemic, adding: “We need a new beginning, not nostalgia”

Hours before the event kicked off, the CDU’s secretary-general Paul Ziemiak announced that due to the pandemic, the next party conference, which has already been rescheduled twice, will be held online on January 15 and 16. At the conference, party delegates will elect one of the three men as the CDU’s new leader. The winner will become the party’s presumptive candidate for chancellor and, assuming the CDU and its Bavarian sister party hold their top position, Germany’s next chancellor.

“We act responsibly during the current situation as we don’t hold a physical party conference, which is why we are going to be the first party in Germany that conducts an entirely digital conference,” Ziemiak said, adding that there would be a digital vote to determine the new party leader on January 16, followed by a confirmatory mail-in ballot with results announced on January 22.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/cdu-leadership-race-enters-crucial-phase-as-candidates-lock-horns-in-tv-debate/

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Chancellor Angela Merkel is holding talks with regional governors on whether coronavirus lockdown measures introduced last month are enough to turn the tide.

While the daily rise in infection numbers has started to fall, Germany reported its highest single-day death toll since the start of the pandemic on Wednesday, and regions that had been spared the worst of the virus are seeing case numbers surge.

Citing this reality, one state leader vowed to push for stricter measures at the talks with Merkel.

Sources familiar with the talks said Merkel and state leaders could decide on extending restrictions for restaurants and hotels in mid-December.

A partial lockdown that was imposed at the start of November was last week extended into December.

More than 17,000 new cases were reported overnight, and 487 deaths – a new daily record.

Michael Kretschmer, premier of Saxony, the most populous of the eastern German states, said his state would impose lockdown measures strictly given the speed at which the virus was spreading throughout the region.

“There are now restrictions on leaving home in almost the entire state,” he told ZDF public television, adding that hospitals in the region were already seriously overburdened. “We need to act fast.”

In the past, Germany’s many regional and central government bodies have been at odds over how strictly to impose lockdown, since cases were concentrated in the south and west of the country.

While Merkel has always been in favour of stricter lockdowns, many of the regional premiers who have the final say in Germany’s federal system were opposed. This is beginning to change.

Other than a few, mainly northern districts, the entire country is well above the rate of 50 new infections per 100,000 population per week that the government says is the fastest the virus can spread without overwhelming track and trace systems.

Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said more soldiers could be sent to join the 10,000 already working with public health authorities, where they are helping with efforts to track infections.

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The next leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will be decided in mid-January, the party announced on Saturday.

The three candidates — Friedrich Merz, Armin Laschet and Norbert Röttgen — agreed to the date for the party congress, CDU general secretary Paul Ziemiak announced on Twitter. It was originally scheduled for December 4 but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Unity in the CDU is important for Germany, particularly in such difficult times,” Ziemiak said. He said the candidates hoped to be able to hold the meeting in person, but that it may take place digitally.

More details will be decided on December 14.

Friedrich Merz: Longstanding Merkel critic

The ex-leader of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the Bundestag withdrew from frontline politics in 2009. He made a comeback in 2018 when he joined the CDU leadership race, losing narrowly to AKK. Merz recently quit his post as chairman at BlackRock, the world’s largest investment management firm, to “help the conservative party renew itself.” He appeals to the CDU’s conservative members.

Jens Spahn: Young contender backs Laschet

The 40-year-old surprised political onlookers on February 25, when he stood beside Laschet to support the state premier’s candidacy announcement. Spahn, who is openly gay, is popular in the CDU’s conservative wing. “It is about the future of the country and the future of our party,” Spahn said on his decision to back Laschet.

Armin Laschet: Affable state premier

Laschet, a journalist and former European Parliament member, has headed Germany’s most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2017. The liberal-conservative is a Merkel supporter — and backed her in the 2015 refugee crisis. Another “Pizza Connection” member, he is known for being able to work with both the FDP and Greens, which may be the most likely coalition setup in the next government.

Norbert Röttgen: Potential Greens ally

Röttgen served as environment minister under Merkel from 2009-2012. He now heads the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee. He designed Germany’s energy transition plan and is seen as someone who could work with the Greens, the party polling second. He was also part of the “Pizza Connection,” a group of CDU and Greens MPs that held meetings in the ’90s and early 2000s.

Author: Rina Goldenberg

2021 elections without Merkel

Merkel led the party from 2000 to 2018, and has led the country as chancellor since 2005. She has announced her intention not to seek a fifth term as chancellor.

Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer took over party leadership in 2018 and had been presented as Merkel’s successor as chancellor candidate. However, she bowed out in February after failing to secure public confidence, leading to the new round of leadership selection.

The next party leader would have a strong chance of being picked to run for chancellor, although that is not automatic.

Germany must hold its next federal election by October 24, 2021.

Popularity boost amid pandemic

The CDU is polling well after its relatively successful handling of the pandemic. However, infection rates are soaring and voters are bracing for a second partial lockdown and a difficult winter.

Former businessman and conservative Merz, 64, is polling better than both Laschet, 59 — who is premier of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and more liberal — and Röttgen, 55, a foreign policy expert. But the party elite favor Laschet.

The CDU is the largest party in the Bundestag and leads Germany in a coalition with its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD).

Merz has accused “parts of the party establishment” of acting to prevent him from becoming leader.  Politics Podcast: Merkel’s Last Dance

The open accusations are unusual for the traditionally disciplined party, prompting current chairwoman Kramp-Karrenbauer to urge the candidates not to engage in “discussions that damage the CDU as a whole,” in comments to Der Spiegel news magazine.

After Saturday’s announcement, Merz said on Twitter that he “very much” welcomed the agreement: “It is a good compromise that we have agreed on today.

Laschet also declared on Twitter that the CDU needs “clarity for the next year.”

“Our joint proposal serves this purpose,” he added.

Röttgen too said he was very pleased “that we have come to a good solution for the federal party congress together.”

Olaf Scholz

Plumbing new depths with each election, the SPD decided to run a realist rather than a radical as their top candidate in 2021. Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, a former mayor of Hamburg, is seen as dry and technocratic. Many in his party say the 62-year-old is unlikely to energize party activists and win their hearts.

Markus Söder

Bavaria’s 53-year-old state premier from the CDU’s more conservative Bavarian sister party, the CSU, has profited in opinion polls from his tough line in the fight against the coronavirus. “Bavaria is strong. Bavaria will grow. Bavaria is solid. Bavaria is safe. Here the world is still in order, and it will stay that way,” the former journalist said at the beginning of his tenure in 2018.

Armin Laschet

Armin Laschet, a staunch supporter of Angela Merkel, heads Germany’s most populous state. Staunch conservatives routinely underestimated the jovial 58-year-old, famous for his belief in integration and compromise. But recently, his liberal non-interventionist instincts have led to him eating his words more than once during the coronavirus crisis.

Jens Spahn

Health Minister Jens Spahn, the Christian Democrats’ rising star, has benefitted from the publicity he gained during the coronavirus pandemic. Openly gay, married, still only 40, with unusually strong English skills, Spahn is a more modern Catholic CDU politician than one could have imagined even a few years ago.

Robert Habeck

50-year-old Robert Habeck, an enthused and passionate speaker, can match the tone and energy of the climate movement in a way many German politicians cannot. But like so many with the gift of the gab, his speeches tend to meander off-topic. Habeck has a Ph.D. in philosophy and was a novelist and children’s author before entering politics almost 20 years ago.

Annalena Baerbock

At not yet 40, Annalena Baerbock has been a Green Party co-chair since 2018. A jurist with a degree in public international law from the London School of Economics, her supporters see her as a safe pair of hands with a better grasp of detail than Habeck. Her opponents point to her lack of governing or ministerial experience and her occasional gaffes in interviews.

Author: Mark Hallam, Rina Goldenberg

aw/nm (dpa, AFP, Reuters, AP)

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/germany-angela-merkels-party-to-decide-her-successor-in-january/a-55461472 

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Germany has had a lot of nasty geopolitical surprises in recent years. But the worst by far — what strategy wonks call a black swan — wasn’t Russian aggression on Europe’s doorstep, China’s quest for global dominance or Turkey stoking conflict in the eastern Mediterranean. It was the election of Donald Trump as US president. Consequently, the nation is mesmerized by the possibility of his re-election on November 3.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, a dedicated transatlanticist, never established the kind of rapport with Mr Trump that she’d had with his predecessors George W Bush and Barack Obama. Mr Trump is the first postwar US president not to have made a state visit to Germany in his first term. But Berlin’s troubles with Washington go beyond the two leaders and extend across the political aisle. On many points of contention, there is near-bipartisan agreement.

Trade protectionists have Germany’s surpluses in their sight. Middle East hawks are upset that Berlin (locking arms with Paris and London) wants to preserve the Iran nuclear agreement. China hawks accuse Ms Merkel of being soft on Beijing. Russia hands are upset at Germany’s reluctance to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project. The defence community is deeply underwhelmed that the country spends no more than 1.5 per cent of its gross domestic product on defence.

Of course, a second term for Mr Trump would have a wholly different impact on US-German relations than would a Joe Biden presidency. It is conceivable that a victorious Mr Trump would push hard to end US wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and take American troops out of Europe. He might even hope to make an ally of Russia against China. It would almost certainly be the end of Nato.

Mr Biden cherishes the transatlantic alliance and appreciates the EU’s economic and regulatory heft. Yet bogged down by a multitude of domestic challenges, his administration would have to focus urgently on China’s rise. The burden of regional security — from north Africa via the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East all the way to the Caucasus, Ukraine and Belarus — will fall to Europe.

In either election outcome, the simple truth is that the onus is on Europe’s most powerful country to turn itself into the continent’s security anchor. Germany is unprepared for this, says Norbert Röttgen, chair of the Bundestag foreign affairs committee.

Still, there is a new sense of urgency in Berlin. In the summer, Germany backed a massive debt-financed recovery programme for the pandemic-stricken EU. It has supported new sanctions against senior Kremlin figures after the assassination attempt on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. And while Ms Merkel still appears unwilling to suspend Nord Stream 2, for the first time she has refused to rule it out. The legislature is considering a law that would effectively ban the Chinese telecoms provider Huawei from Germany’s 5G network.

As for the US, German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer gave a forceful speech last week in which she said Germany would have to become a “strategic giver” and play a stronger role in the security of Europe’s neighbourhood. Foreign minister Heiko Maas followed with an op-ed warning that the “profiteers of our differences sit in Beijing and Moscow, but also in Tehran and Pyongyang”. Both emphasised the need to co-operate on confronting Chinese assertiveness — but the fear of being dragged into a confrontation by the US is palpable.

Berlin’s dilemma is that it badly wants to reserve the right to agree to disagree with Washington, regardless of who is the next president. But it is a long way from being able to afford to.

Constanze Stelzenmüller

Senior Fellow – Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe

Source: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2020/10/26/germany-needs-to-step-up-to-europes-defense/

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In Germany, the number of Coronavirus cases has not been rising this rapidly since the crisis began. On Wednesday night, there were 12,327 infected persons, 3,000 more than a day before.

The increase of Coronavirus cases in Germany was alarming on Wednesday when the number of infected persons suddenly jumped to over 12,000. Twenty-four hours before, it had been at around 9,000. This means the number rose substantially in one day, in spite of all the measures the federal government in Berlin and the federal states have taken so far. At 13:25 hrs. CET, the total number was 13,000.

Mixed Picture in Berlin

On Wednesday evening, Chancellor Angela Merkel asked the nation to follow the rules and to keep their distance in a partially emotional address to the nation. She said it was up to “us”, meaning the Germans, how the country would get through the crisis. (See separate article Merkel on Corona Crisis: ‘Adhere to the Rules’.)

Angela Merkel gave a partially emotional speech on Wednesday.

Berlin, the German capital which is also a city-state, was a mixed picture after the latest measures kicked in on Wednesday. Since most shops are now closed and because many employees of thousands of companies work from home, the two city centers Berlin has were virtually empty in the morning. Only a few Berliners used the city’s public transport at that point.

Berlin Parks Populated

On the other hand, hundreds populated Berlin’s parks and did not seem to care about keeping their distance at all. At Hasenheide, a large park in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, young people sat together with guitars and other instruments. They played the same improvised ‘song’ over and over for an hour. There was no distance between them, meaning the danger of infection was high.

At Hasenheide Park, people gathered in groups on Wednesday afternoon. Photo: Imanuel Marcus

The same applied to countless other groups of people who embraced, held hands, talked face to face and did not follow any of the rules virologists and politicians had asked everyone to adhere to. The behavior by some Berliners in Görlitzer Park and similar places almost seemed to be a statement against those who were trying to save them and the rest of the nation from the dangerous diseases the Coronavirus can cause.

Other federal states, including Bavaria, had similar issues. On Thursday morning, Bavaria’s First Minister Markus Söder said in Munich if people’s behavior was not going to change voluntarily, a state-wide curfew needed to be declared.

Aldi Staffer has ‘Bronchitis’

At an ‘Aldi’ supermarket in Berlin, a very kind staffer kept on filling shelves this morning. While engaging in small talk with customers, he said he had some kind of “bronchitis” and was sucking on fresh garlic toes because of that condition. The man who meets thousands of people per day at his work place has “bronchitis” during these warm spring days? That is where things might get dangerous.

Berlin’s city center was empty on Wednesday morning. Photo: Imanuel Marcus

The Federal Republic of Germany is fighting the Coronavirus, along with the rest of the world. Health Minister Jens Spahn managed to purchase 10 million protective masks which many hospitals in the country have run out of. Spahn announced they would be distributed now.

First Curfew in Germany

In spite of the virus, secondary school students in the province of Hesse will be writing their Abitur (U.S.: high school diploma, Britain: A-levels) exams today. The health authorities insisted the students should keep a safe distance while doing so and the exam groups needed to be as small as possible. Whether those measures will help is a question nobody could really answer.

In some German regions, where the number of infected persons rises a lot faster than the already high nationwide average, those in charge are beginning to take the next step. In the town of Mitterteich, the authorities imposed a curfew, the first one in Germany. Other counties and towns where the number of Coronavirus cases has tripled within a short time frame, might follow soon.

ILA Air Show Cancelled

But Health Minister Jens Spahn said the German authorities should not engage in an “outdoing contest” regarding restrictions in everyday life. He favored a moderate approach, Spahn stated in a television interview. According to him, Germany is not planning to impose curfews on its residents, at least for now.

On Thursday afternoon, Germany’s Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer said in Berlin, the Bundeswehr, Germany’s armed forces, were in the process of calling in reserves in order to be able to help in the Coronavirus crisis. She stated her ministry had already received 50 applications for administrative assistance from all parts of Germany. For instance, the military will be involved in setting up a hospital exclusively for Coronavirus patients at Berlin’s fairground.

In the meantime, the ILA Air Show, a trade fair for the aerospace and defense industries, was canceled. It was supposed to take place in Berlin in May.

Source: https://berlinspectator.com/2020/03/19/coronavirus-in-germany-number-of-infected-rises-by-25-percent-in-one-day-1/

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