Berlin It only took a few days to bring Germany to its borders. When the first wave of the pandemic built up, essential things such as protective masks, gloves and disinfectants were suddenly missing. Germany bought these goods primarily from Chinese manufacturers who could no longer keep up with the production. The federal government did not want to get into such a dependency again – everyone swore that at the time – and spent billions of euros to become more independent from China.
“The rapid spread of Omikron in Asia and especially in China harbors the risk that supply chains could be interrupted again,” warns the deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Verena Hubertz to the Handelsblatt. “An important lesson from the pandemic is that we in Europe need to become more independent of international supply chains for products to fight the pandemic.”
In fact, a large part of the most important pandemic goods continue to come from Chinese production, as a Handelsblatt survey of the federal states shows. The vast majority of demand comes from the Far East – or at least it is produced there.
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The reason for this is the applicable procurement guidelines. It is said that they did not allow any preferential treatment for German companies. Sabine Dittmar (SPD), State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health, confirmed this assessment in a letter to the Bundestag on Wednesday.
The guidelines “prohibit it as a matter of principle to refer to a certain origin or a certain origin of the goods to be procured if this favors or excludes certain companies or certain goods,” says the letter, which is available to the Handelsblatt.
“Not price as sole award criterion”
The SPD is therefore calling for procurement law to be reformed and adapted in favor of German manufacturers. For example, “the price should not be used as the sole award criterion,” says SPD parliamentary group leader Detlef Müller. According to public procurement law, other criteria could also be specified, such as social aspects of production. “This is the only way to ensure sustainable security of supply and ensure that European and national producers also work in the long term.”
The Federal Ministry of Economics also sees it that way, but adds on request: “The respective awarding authorities decide how other parameters are defined in the award, such as qualitative, environmental and social aspects.” The health policy spokesman for the Union, Tino Sorge (CDU ): “The lowest unit price is almost never the best criteria. Instead, procurement procedures should also be rewarded if a supplier produces in Germany and under local standards.” The aim must be to reduce dependency and to protect the country against failures.
However, there are also voices in the traffic light government that reject a reform of the procurement practice. “I don’t want to live in a protectionist society,” says FDP health expert Andrew Ullmann. “Therefore, I do not think it is necessary to adjust the procurement guidelines at this point in time.”
In addition, he does not believe that there is an immediate risk of the supply chains collapsing. “We can quickly replace the imported goods with domestic production and have built up an emergency reserve.” Ullmann refers to the mask production supported by the federal government since April 2020, which according to the Federal Ministry of Health could cover around two thirds of the demand. The federal government is also promoting the production of rapid antigen tests. Jasmina Kirchhoff, pharmaceutical expert at the German Economic Institute (IW), thinks little of relying on too much domestic production. This is “costly and time-consuming”.
The federal government promotes the production of rapid antigen tests.
(Photo: imago images/Martin Wagner)
In order to be prepared in the event of a supply chain failure, the federal government has been building up the national reserve for health protection for over a year. For 2022, for example, it is planned to fill the inventories with protective equipment from domestic production. However, the orders have not yet been put out to tender. According to the Ministry of Health, “concepts” are currently being drawn up.
The needs of the health care system and the federal government are to be kept available for one month. In addition, federal states and health facilities are required to build up their own reserves, which many federal states also refer to on request.
In Lower Saxony, the supplies are sufficient for “a few weeks”, as the Ministry of Social Affairs announced, in Thuringia for three months.
The Economics Ministry of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania also announced that many German manufacturers “rely on Asian products for their deliveries”. Thuringia also shares this concern. Two of the three rapid test manufacturers based there do not produce in Germany but in Asia.
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