Legalization of cannabis, management of the Covid-19 epidemic, flexibility of work … The Germans want change with the new coalition

A page turns in Germany, Wednesday December 8: Chancellor Angela Merkel hands over, after sixteen years in power. To succeed him, an unprecedented coalition between the Social Democrats (SPD), the Greens and the Liberals (FDP) was formed. Thus, the social democrat Olaf Scholz was officially elected Wednesday by the Bundestag, the German parliament. And many Germans want this political stage to be marked by the seal of change.

The government will in fact not experience a state of grace because the “new” Germany will, in the short term, be that of the vaccination obligation, promised by Olaf Scholz and which should apply from February or March. Indeed, several regions of the country have faced an outbreak of the Covid 19 epidemic since the start of the fifth wave. This is particularly the case in Bavaria, where opponents of this measure regularly demonstrate.

For example, met in Munich during a demonstration of opponents of the vaccine obligation against Covid 19, a woman holds up a sign with a very clear antivax message. “It means that my body is my body and that no one has the right to inject anything into it! “, explains this woman in her fifties who wished to remain anonymous.

“My body does not belong to the government. It was made by God and not by our chancellor.”

An anonymous protester

to franceinfo

It does not exclude radical measures in the face of compulsory vaccination. “I might be leaving the country, I don’t know. What can I do?”

Obviously, the speech is very different in one of the hospitals in the city. Here, two-thirds of patients infected with Covid-19 and placed in intensive care are not vaccinated. “I really don’t understand anti-vaccines. Why don’t they show this solidarity, to protect each other?”, asks Gerhard Schneider, the chief medical officer. “It’s not a personal decision because if you take that risk and get infected you are likely going to infect eight to ten people.”, he explains. This opposition to vaccination is not easily managed by staff members. “It is sometimes difficult to motivate the team to cure them, but we are here to save them.“The vaccine obligation will come into force too late to counter the current wave.

The other current issue for Germany is the economy and work. The FDP liberals, members of the new coalition, have pushed to put the nation of “flexibility” in the labor market on the government’s agenda. It is still unclear but it is essential according to Albert Duin. “We need a totally flexible weekly working time “, assures this 68-year-old entrepreneur. He runs a firm which manufactures transformers and is headquartered in Munich.

“If an employee wants to work twelve hours a day, three days in a row, then he will have four days off. It has to be allowed!”

Albert Duin

to franceinfo

This FDP elected member of the Bavarian parliament also asks for more flexibility for “extras”, these people recruited at the last minute to manage a temporary increase in activity. “Today, you have to make a request two days in advance. It’s totally absurd!”, he plague. However, Olaf Scholz’s priority in terms of work is rather to increase the minimum hourly wage. It will thus go from 9.60 to 12 euros. Germany, Europe’s largest economy, must also modernize: less bureaucracy, forms and faxes, more new technologies, this is Albert Duin’s wish.

In energy matters, Germany plans to say goodbye to coal. Something to rejoice in Etienne Denk, 21 years old. “It is one of our greatest successes of recent years “, welcomes this student and environmental activist, who strikes every Friday as part of the Fridays for Future movement, launched by the Swedish Gretha Thunberg. The new coalition wants to accelerate the exit from coal and advance it “ideally” to 2030 instead of 2038. “For two or three years we have been asking for an exit from coal in 2030. We have really lobbied and now there is a relatively formal framework. We will ensure its implementation “, promises Etienne Denk.

Germany will also disconnect its last nuclear power plants at the end of 2022. At the same time, the objective is therefore to massively develop renewable energies. “NOTWe are now afraid that politicians will burn gas instead of coal when it is also bad “, thus worries the student, according to whom “solar and wind power are sufficient “.

The coalition has also worked on societal issues, such as the, a pledge that makes a lot of noise. “We’ve been waiting for this for thirty years! “, welcomes Patrick, a seller of CBD, cannabis deprived of psychotropic substances. “But we have to assume that they don’t do this to please us: money is the driving force”, nuance this 48-year-old man. Indeed, the sale will be authorized in approved stores, reserved for adults. “On sees this in other countries: it works and it generates taxes. It will be the same here. “

While waiting for the details of this measure, he talks about his desires. “I would like them to allow us to create clubs or coffee shops, that is to say establishments that go beyond simple direct sales, but we have no information at the moment.”

The global project led by the new Chancellor Olaf Scholz does not stop there: the right to vote at 16, construction of 400,000 new homes per year, including 100,000 with public funds … The coalition contract is – in total – 177 pages. He thus traces the road to follow for this new Germany.