German Chancellor Angela Merkel attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, March 31, 2021. REUTERS / Hannibal Hanschke / Pool
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday urged lawmakers to approve new powers that would force her to block the coronavirus and turn off time in areas with high infection rates, saying most Germans are in favor of stricter measures.
“The third wave of the pandemic has our country firmly in the grip,” said Merkel, whose speech in parliament was interrupted by noise from lawmakers from the far-right Alternative for Germany opposition to the blockade.
“Intensive care workers are sending an emergency call one after another. Who are we to ignore their pleas?” Merkel said.
Her government wants parliament to change the Infections Protection Act to allow federal authorities to enforce the restrictions, even if regional leaders oppose them, hoping to ease pressure on intensive care units.
Imposing heels and empowering the federal government to impose them on the 16 German states has also drawn criticism from Merkel’s conservative bloc, which opinion polls suggest will have the worst result ever in the September national election. .
Unlike Britain and France, Germany was reluctant to impose drastic restrictions on movement in a country that would fiercely protect democratic freedoms because of its Nazi and communist past.
Opponents of the blockade staged demonstrations throughout Germany, but especially in the former East, which supports more AfD. The far-right party says the restrictions have failed to stop the pandemic and that it is causing more damage to both the economy and people’s mental health.
Merkel acknowledged in her speech that the new powers are not a bulletproof solution to the pandemic, which she said could only be defeated by vaccinations.
AfD parliamentary leader Alice Weidel said the new measures were an unprecedented attack on basic democratic freedoms.
“The proposed amendments to the Law on Protection against Infections are an alarming document of an authoritarian state,” Weidel said. “This relapse into the authoritarian demon comes from the chancellery and you, Madam Chancellor.”
Merkel looked at her smartphone during most of Weidel’s speech.
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