EU Parliament's Decision on Commission's Blueprint for the Union's Tomorrow
In the ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, a call to amend Germany's Infection Protection Act has gained traction. The proposal aims to grant the federal government more authority in managing the crisis, as the current decentralised, state-led approach has faced challenges in enforcing consistent, timely measures across the country.
The concerns surrounding the state-led approach are numerous. The 16 federal states have varied in how and when they implement restrictions, leading to fragmentation of the national response. The previously used seven-day incidence was criticised for inaccuracies, and even the hospitalisation incidence, introduced later, had issues with reporting delays and underestimation, weakening its efficacy as a real-time indicator for triggering measures.
Moreover, basing measures on hospitalisation data can delay government action, as hospitalisations lag behind infections. This delay reduces the effectiveness in controlling virus spread. Additionally, the federal government’s limited power necessitates consensus with state premiers, which can slow decision-making or water down measures.
These factors have led experts and leaders, including former Chancellor Angela Merkel, to advocate for amending the Infection Protection Act to empower the federal government to set uniform, binding rules without having to rely on the slower, sometimes inconsistent state-level approval. Such reforms aim at a more centralised and efficient pandemic response, enabling rapid, uniform responses based on reliable indicators rather than fragmented state decisions and delayed hospitalisation data.
Jan-Marco Luczak, the parliamentary legal spokesman for the Union faction, has been a vocal advocate for this change. He argues that a "nationwide, targeted reaction to the infection process" would make the measures more understandable and increase their acceptance. Luczak has also criticised the states for not using their scope of action so far in the pandemic and for the minister-presidential conferences' increasing inability to take on a coordinating role and pass harmonized measures throughout Germany.
In conclusion, the push for a change in the law is driven by the need to overcome the inefficiencies and inconsistencies of the federalist state system in pandemic control, ensuring rapid, uniform responses based on reliable indicators rather than fragmented state decisions and delayed hospitalisation data.
Other advocates for policy-and-legislation changes, such as Jan-Marco Luczak, have argued that amending the Infection Protection Act to empower the federal government could lead to a more efficient politics in managing the COVID-19 pandemic. This reform would potentially simplify the general-news narrative, as it would enable rapid, uniform responses based on reliable indicators rather than fragmented state decisions and delayed hospitalisation data.
