The Bundestag in Germany has approved a replacement law for the corona measures in the country. However, the law that still lays the legal basis for imposing restrictions expires next Thursday.
The bill is the first to come from the three parties that are in advanced talks about forming a new government. The replacement bill of the centre-left SPD, climate party, the Greens and the liberal FDP misses a number of existing measures and introduces new ones.
With the introduction of the new law, for example, schools, shops, catering establishments and sports facilities can no longer be closed. It will also be possible to make the use of corona passes in workplaces and on public transport mandatory, meaning that access is only possible for people who have been tested, vaccinated or cured.
According to outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU/CSU bloc, the new law is weaker than the current one. Still, the three parties accused the bloc itself of not doing enough when the Christian Democrats themselves were in power.
The CDU/CSU now threatens to block the bill on Friday in the Federal Council, the German Upper House in which the federal states are represented.