We don’t know which talk shows Karl Lauterbach found for spontaneous outbursts of opinion last night or this morning, but until then his purposeful optimism was valid: “I assume that we will decide on compulsory vaccination on Thursday.”
The compromise of only considering the over-60s is “a good suggestion”. The problem: In today’s Bundestag vote (without the usual parliamentary group guidelines), the Minister of Health looks like a table tennis player who has packed a badminton racket.
Karl Lauterbach, the SPD’s “one trick pony”, could experience a new debacle, shortly after he cashed in again on Tuesday evening in the ZDF discussion group “Markus Lanz” a corona regulation that had only been found with the federal states 48 hours earlier. Now it should again be obligatory and not voluntary for infected people to remain isolated at home for the first few days.
Party colleague Andreas Bovenschulte, mayor of Bremen, speaks of a “first-class communicative failure”. “Impossible, you can’t do politics like that,” said Bavaria’s Health Minister Klaus Holetschek (CSU). At the Conference of Health Ministers (GMK) on April 11, he wants to talk “about further action and basic cooperation” – without Lauterbach! “A trusting cooperation between the federal and state governments cannot succeed in this way,” he writes according to “Bild” of the GMK boss Petra Grimm-Benne from Saxony-Anhalt.
The criticized man says in his penitent shirt: “That was a mistake for which I am also personally responsible.”
Others may think of farewell, but not Karl Lauterbach.
Anyone who wants to know how crooked the debates on sanctions against Russia are should follow a calculation by EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. According to this, since the beginning of the war, the European Union has paid the Vladimir-Putin system of violence 35 billion euros for energy supplies, with the most generous contribution from the Germans. Only one billion was left for the defense of Ukraine.
“We need fewer rounds of applause and more help,” said Borrell in the European Parliament. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who is traveling to Kyiv in the next few days, is also dealing with an oil freeze after the announced coal embargo against Russia and with Estonia’s proposal to only pay gas payments to a trust account.
The US is more aggressive: They are imposing sanctions on the oligarch bank Alfa and the largest Russian financial institution, Sberbank. The adult children of Putin and those of his lying admiral Sergei Lavrov are also on the sanctions list.
Referring to the harsh US sanctions, rich friends of the currently cash-strapped oligarch Roman Abramovich are apparently refusing to lend him money. The nominal multi-billionaire therefore needs around one million dollars to pay the crews of his yachts and the workers on his villa construction in Tel Aviv. Saying goodbye to power is even harder than saying goodbye to money.
(Photo: REUTERS)
The times when Finland was “neutral” in world conflicts ended when it joined the EU in 1995, explains Green Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. In the Handelsblatt interview he says about…
- …a coal and oil boycott against Russia: “We are willing to do this, even if it naturally puts a strain on our energy supply. We have to pay that price. But of course we can see that a gas embargo is a major problem for Germany, Austria, Italy and others. Europe must not shoot itself in the foot.”
- …a confiscation of oligarch funds: “We must oblige Russia to pay for the necessary reconstruction. Such funds can be used for this purpose.”
- …a NATO membership of Finland: “The war in Ukraine has permanently changed the attitude of the Finns towards NATO. We had previously assumed that Russia would behave rationally. Now we see that when in doubt, it takes a very high risk. This is completely new. 60 percent of Finns are now in favor of NATO membership.”
Incidentally, Finland has not only confiscated 21 Russian yachts, but also alleged oligarchic art worth $42 million. The paintings, sculptures and antiques were on their way to Russia through the Baltic Sea.
There are Easter marches (rather “out”), Easter messages (eternal), Easter peace (Angela Merkel’s mistake) and now an “Easter package” (brand new). This is what Economics Minister Robert Habeck calls his 600-page bill for the accelerated energy transition. By 2035, almost all of the electricity will come from the sun and wind. It is this initiative that one would have wished for before the cat-buckling of Qatar. “What we are doing is making it easier to interpret the law,” says Habeck.
Renewable energy is now defined as “overriding public interest” and a service to public safety. That makes objections against it difficult. In a large report, we show how the demand for photovoltaics and wind power is already increasing in view of the high gas and oil prices. Industry sales rose by 30 percent to 8.9 billion euros in 2021. New stickers will probably appear soon: “Green electricity is feasible, Mr. Neighbor!”
Hamburg’s top data protection officer, Thomas Fuchs, could use some good news in the exhausting confrontation with the US internet giants. He recently announced one: The search engine monopoly Google is equipping its cookie banners with a “reject all” button at Fuchs’ request, initially in France and soon in Germany. There would be a “written commitment” from Google.
Many users are annoyed by cookie banners, but usually have to go deep into selection mechanisms to reject them. Data protection advocate Fuchs also wants to convince Facebook of the “reject everything” strategy. At the same time, it gets through that Google is banning apps that use hidden software to access important data.
(Photo: Bertelsmann / Sebastian Pfütze)
And then there is Carsten Coesfeld, 34, who could revive an old tradition in the Bertelsmann family media group. A good 40 years after the departure of the patron Reinhard Mohn from the CEO position, his grandson could one day end up in this position. At least that seems to be the ambition of the partner Liz Mohn, who vigorously promotes the talented offspring from the family of the first wife of her husband, who died in 2009.
Coesfeld, who worked at Goldman Sachs prior to his Bertelsmann career, will become head of Bertelsmann Investments on June 1. And he moves into the extended management circle of the “Group Management Committee” (GMC). His younger brother Thomas Coesfeld, CFO of the Bertelsmann Music Group, is also assigned to the “board of directors” potential in Gütersloh.
Conclusion: In such family cases, the Old Testament saying applies: “Blood is thicker than water.”
I wish you a happy, successful day.
It greets you cordially
Her
Hans Jürgen Jakobs