this starts may 20th on. visited. germany has been praised for its response to the. success. is about to set out the country's next steps in the battle against over $1000.00.

british welcome to the program and get america is set to address the german parliament shortly as the country begins to slowly ease restrictions imposed due to the corner about us and we're going to return the chancellor to begin his speech in parliament at the bundestag the parliament is chief political editor. but in a good morning what can we expect from am going to make that speech today. well i would expect her to once again address m.p.'s but also the public directly to take personal responsibility she's greatly concerned that the initial easing of restrictions here in germany which means that shops can really open up to a certain size and some pupils and students can actually take exams and return to school could lead to an easing of the feeling about what kind of threat they coronavirus is in germany she warns that this crisis isn't over and i would expect

her to prepare the ground for a new normal that would see germany live with the virus rather than be able to beat it any time soon what kind of form could use new normal. that's the big question people are asked to wear masks now and nationwide on public transport that's something individual states decided one has to understand that it's the federal state so in the end decide what concrete measures are taken and. something of a moderator in this process so whatever she believes doesn't immediately translate into policy on the ground. just syringe and he also came up with his team with the covered $900.00 test he already fears that it could be a 2nd wave of infections if this. to. dr rise in those infection rates once again so that's where science policy and policy here in

germany it's safe to say at all levels has very much been driven by the scientific advice but it always takes 2 weeks to learn what effect any action that's taken has had and that includes the easing of restrictions so what policymakers here want to avoid is that they might have to take back some of that they want to provide something of a linear process but here we also heard from health minister against bond yesterday that would be said would be a lot to forgive in the future so there's an awareness here and one has to say and honestly that policymakers believe they are making mistakes right now because they simply don't know what the future holds in terms of corporate 19 in terms of the future perhaps might offer a bit of a glimpse on the special on the point of a 2nd wave of infections are here like considering singapore for example you seen that 2nd wave of infections but just going back to

a point you made earlier about chancellor merkel being a moderate in policymaking at the juncture where policy needs science i wonder how this is going to play out in the future considering that germany has a federal structure and individual states can determine their policies what is the role that johnson america lose playing within this. well she's the one who actually knocks the heads together in the end and holds regional leaders state premiers to calgary and in that sense she can ask them she going to advise she can call on them to do something but what measures taken and we saw it with the face much there are great differences in which shop sizes can open how many pupils are actually returning back to school but one also has to know that the spread of the corona now ladies and gentlemen. also i could believe.

extraordinary very serious time we experience in here and the government and the parliament of the entire country are being tried as they have not been tried since the 2nd world war since the years in which. the german federal republic was emerging image what's on the line is the health and the lives of the people in this country and it's about solidarity and cooperation and germany and all of that i am standing here speaking to you as the chancellor of the german government in recent weeks has concluded measures here which our president. there's nothing that we can orient ourselves on in the past. we have introduced. bills that we have asked you to approve we have freed money that was unimaginable before the pandemic and i would like to thank the german parliament the bundestag

as well as the upper house apartment of interest. for. working as quickly as they have both in consultation and in their approvals. for weeks now we have been living in a pandemic every single one of us has had to change our lives to fit with the new conditions private lives as well as in terms of work. everyone knows what they find particularly difficult and i know that living under corona conditions seems like it's been going on for ages and ages for everyone. no one wants to hear this. but it's the truth we are not in the end phase of the pandemic it is still very much in its inception and we will be living with this virus for a long time to come and the question of how we can prevent this virus at any point overwhelming our health care system taking countless lives with it is

a question that will be the key question for politicians and policymakers in germany and europe for a long time to come i am aware of how hard it is to live with the deprivation that we have to live with both as individuals and as societies this pandemic is hard for democracies because it restricts exactly what our. needs and rights are both needs as parents and as children as adults and as young people and we can only do it if everyone understands why we are restricting our freedoms if everyone. that we are allowed to express criticism and that we listen to each other. say these things freedom of press helps our federal structure helps. but trust in one another helps too and this is something that in recent weeks we have seen in parliament and across the country. in.

the way citizens were committed to one another the way citizens restricted their needs for one another it is nothing short of remarkable thank you and let me assure you. that i think. i have never made a harder decision than the decisions that i have to make here in terms of restricting people's freedoms i find it very hard if children cannot meet their friends without difficulty and miss this i find it very hard if people can only ever meet one other person apart from their household when they go for walks and always have to adhere to the minimum distancing. and i find it particularly hard when i think of senior citizens or people in nursing homes or

people with disabilities who are in residential homes they are particularly vulnerable and it's much much harder for them not to have visitors than for the rest of us it's really cruel because the nursing care staff who do everything they can. but the thought of people losing their lives without their loved ones near them is very very hard let us never forget these people who are living in isolation these octogenarians none to generics they have built up our lives they are the basis on which we build our process priority thank you. thank you. can all of you via you can you know. they are germany just as we are their children and their grandchildren and we are fighting this virus for them as well but i believe it is

necessary that we continue to maintain these corona restrictions if we are to protect what is at the heart of this country namely the life with the dignity of every individual human being through the discipline of recent weeks we have managed to slow the spread of the virus now that doesn't sound like a lot but it's actually something incredibly valuable we have gained time and this time that we have gained we have used well to strengthen our healthcare system even more than half of all of our efforts in the medical area of the i.c.u. used because it is here that the most severely affected patients are treated we have heard of the terrible reports of intensive care units in other countries that were completely flooded. the fact that it has not yet happened and they claim is that it may not yet happen in the future in germany and i want to thank the

health minister as well as all of the other health ministers on a regional and local level for the successes they have achieved in not overwhelming our health care system thank you. we have expanded the number of ventilation beds that we have with the new legislation we put in place for coverage we have ensured that our hospitals can expand their i.c.u. bed numbers and what we see is that so far a health care system has stood the test every corona patient even in the most severe cases have received the best. possible treatments. and we owe this also to the hard work of the nurses the paramedics the physicians and all of the people who work in the hospitals as hard as they can. to make what we call our health care system thanks to make it what it is. thank

you and we thank them by this applause and i also want to thank the soldiers of the german armed forces who are also helping out in this effort thanks. perhaps a. role that we often don't think about is the public health service nearly $400.00 local departments of health and public health agencies are working here and if we manage to contain this virus properly in the months to come we need to have stronger health departments than we have than we had before the pandemic thank you. and this is why we have decided that these public health agencies need to have more staff so that they can

combat this crucial effort namely tracking all of the contacts of each confirmed case. institute will be put together 105 mobile teams of students the containment scouts as they are called in who can be 600 to anyone who need any agency who needs them we have also looked at the question of personal protective equipment providing heatly anything particularly for medical protective masks has quickly become one of the key efforts that we need to tackle not just for germany but across the globe because without healthy nurses and doctors. i see using ventilation systems do not help anyone. so the there's a very. tense market for these products. across the globe and this is why the german government. although we are not responsible according to

the infection act we have decided that we essentially coordinate with protective medical equipment and i want to thank all of the companies who are helping in this effort thank you and the media the pandemic is teaching us that it is not a good thing if we only import protective equipment from abroad masks that cost a few cents can become a strategic factor in a pandemic germany and the european union are therefore working hard to become more independent from the 3rd countries and this is why we're expanding our protective equipment facilities in germany and europe are at full speed. with what has been helpful for us in this 1st phase of the spread of the virus have been apart from the relatively high number of i.c.u. beds the it's also been the testing capacity and labs all the experts say to us

testing testing testing is the way forward and that way if we test more we'll have a better sense of the pandemic the number of our reported cases we'll be able to test our care professionals more to the level of danger of infection in hospitals which is why we've continuously expanded our testing capacity and will do so moving forward will happen to me but. we can only really as the pandemic with the vaccination at least based on everything we know about the fire so far in a number of countries worldwide researchers are trying to find a vaccination we are funding this is the german government so that. germany of research location plays its role to also offering financial support for vaccination initiatives like simply. developing a new vaccination and ensuring that we have a coded 19 research network in germany we have freed up large amounts of money for

this so that researchers and physicians that all university hospitals come and work to tackle this problem we will need many clinical trials. and we will need antibody trials as well and we are well positioned to do this but science is never a national science service to humanity at large and this is why it's a matter of course that. with all of the medications and antibody tests that we. managed to discover must be made and that's nations must made affordable for the entire world and made available for the entire world to be in fact i virus that can spread to nearly every country can only be pushed back and contained if we all join forces across the globe international cooperation against the virus is very important for the german government we coordinate with the european union and as part of the g 7 and the g 20 decision to support the

$77.00 poorest countries in the world by stopping all payments of interest and debt payments eases the burden on these countries but in the support they need to be even more done for the german government cooperation with the countries of africa has always been a focus in the colonna crisis we need to step up their support and not just to africa thank god not just in africa but often there the world health organization the w h o's work is very important for the german government let me say that the w. h. o. is. crucial partner and we support it fully thank you for filling its mandate thank. you ladies and gentlemen if we look at the latest figures of the robert costa institute here the indicators suggest that we are going in the right direction for example we

are slowing the infections. which every day we have more people who have an average than new confirmed cases this isn't success in an interim level but because these figures trigger hope i feel the need to say that this is a very fragile interim results it's very much thin ice in fact the finished of all i use the situation is deceptive and we have not yet passed the peak because in combat in the virus we always have to bear in mind that today's numbers reflect the infection occurrences of 10 to 12 days ago so the figures of new confirmed cases today doesn't tell us how we're going to be in one or 2 weeks if we have far more contacts that we have to learn how to really relax in corona restrictions

colleagues i want to use this opportunity to explain a little bit more detail what concerns me most at the moment it's not actually political decisions are always part of a way not process could be placed on. the information that we have available at the time and this is true when it comes to contacting the corona pandemic which will massively impact on the wellbeing of the people in this country and in this weighing up process which no one. in the national government or in the federal states takes lightly i know this when it comes to combat in the coronavirus it's my conviction that if at the start of this time to make we have. and discipline then we will be able more quickly to unfold our public life our social life our economic life our political life and this is if we do not get lulled into

a false sense of security by figures that look encouraging thank. you if we are disciplined in the beginning we will ensure that the health care system and our social lives and our economic lives will they will be able to improve the virus will still be there but if we concentrate and focus in the beginning we will be able to prevent switching from one shutdown to another without having to isolate groups of society from everyone else and without having. catastrophic situations in our hospitals the way we've seen in other countries so the more consistent we are. living with these restrictions reducing the reproduction factor the more we will benefit in the future because then we will be able to track every infection change and to contain the virus

and these convictions are what drive what i'm saying here let me tell you i support the agreements that we made last wednesday on the national and. regional level but the way they've been implemented is causing me some worries thank you because it seems that it's gone too far in some ways when it comes to loosening restrictions when i say that that doesn't mean that i'm questioning the sovereignity of our federal states they are responsible for many areas of life and of course when it comes to the infection protection act as. well i do not question this in any way our federal structure is strong don't get me wrong here. this is why i'm spelling it out at the same time i feel i must admonish everyone not to trust in the principle of hope if we are not convinced of this and this is why when

i say work with the state premiers and in this room as well let me say let us not risk a relapse by losing what we have gained by being too casual thanks so much it would be a terrible shame if. our hope punishes those letters remain alert and careful in the next phase of the pandemic this is something we are in for the long haul we mustn't lose our energy before we reach the end and of course that means we cannot return to our life that we had before the pandemic our everyday lives will be different even if the original tracing models can behave as they are planned and be strict about hygiene and distancing and contract restrictions will. remain important and this is true around opening day

care and schools this federal state practically looking at how they can open the schools and are preparing for this and we will need an awful lot of imagination from everyone involved and i want to thank everyone who's working towards this town i know that there's an awful lot of people working to make this happen safely. about one point. now i talked about germany. being tried as it has not been tried since the federal republic of germany began and this is true for our economy as well we will only really see the true impact by the end of the year and when. the economy will recover again none of this can be predicted seriously because this depends on how well we combat the virus the pandemic. has. hit us at a time when we have sound balanced budgets years of careful policy making which

put us in a good position for this and we need to ensure that we protect the workers we've had millions of applications for various different aid funds and millions of people have already received financial support here we were able to pass these laws quickly with a lot of support our parliamentary democracy is strong it is robust and it is very quick in a crisis yesterday again in a coalition meeting we. concluded other agreements as well and you will be informed about these but all of our successes can only really work if we are successful within europe as well now you've often heard me say here that germany can only thrive if europe thrives. and today this is more true than ever before and i mean it very seriously.

so how does this work in practical terms we have more than 200 patients from france and germany and italy we've treated and i say use we have sent medical equipment to italy and spain and i have helped repatriate thousands of stranded europeans together with our own citizens and i want to say thank you here to all of the staff and the german foreign ministry you can imagine how many germans are outside of germany at any given time but we are also able to help many other europeans get home. and thank you. and we worked together to. combat the massive collapse of the economy here and we've put up programs of 500000000000 euros to help. our business communities and. other finance ministers new e.u. have agreed on this and now it's about making this 500000000 available and the

german parliament will have to parse certain. agreements on this and i hope by the 1st of june this money will be there because it's money for small and medium. sized enterprises and it's also about short time compensation for member states who may not have the money to pay for time or compensation to some of the workers there but something that will really help now some are calling for both our partners but also part of the german political discussion because in the face of this crisis to have joint debt. and this is something that we're discussing we'll be discussing this afternoon at the european council meeting imagine the political will were there for a joint that's. if this is true then all national parliaments and the european

union and the germany just talk as well would have to decide to change the e.u. treaty such that some of the budget rights be devolved to a european level and could be scrutinized democratically there this would take a lot of time it would be very laborious and to be you know one who could be helped immediately because the point is we need rapid help we need a rapid response to people suffering in the crisis and european council meeting today we will also be looking at how in europe in a time of very strict rules and regulations how can we act quickly because of course we need to have tools to combat. the consequences of the crisis in all of the member states and in this context i think it is important that the european commission now and in the weeks to come continuously looks at how the various different sectors of the economy are impacted on by the crisis in different parts

of europe and what need for action there is this is true for the immediate support of the european economy a european economic stimulation program in the next 2 years could support the economy across europe and we will work towards this in our consultation today it won't be about. looking at what sort of scope we're after or what sort of details we're after but one thing is clear we need to be willing in the spirit of solidarity over a period of time a limited period of time to have much higher payments possible to the european budget because all of the member states in the european union need to recover from this blow. when you want and economic stimulus program of this kind right from the word go has to be conceived of bearing in mind the e.u. budget because the common in the budget has been the tool of some solidarity based financing of common tasks facing us and the european union has been 3 years i will

be pushing for the european council to look at fundamental questions to know where do we need to work more closely together on a european level where does the european union need for their skills what strategic capabilities do we need to have or maintain. europe not just in terms of financial policy digital policy in the single market we could take this european union for there but also in terms of the rule of law european security defense policy climate policy and migration and all of these levels of europeans are their territory as mr president colleagues. here in germany the commitment to a unified europe is part. of who we are as a country this isn't just empty words we throw our lot in with the other european states and facing this incredible challenge of the pandemic is the

time for you to prove there's this pandemic affects everyone but it doesn't affect everyone equally if we're not careful some will use it to defy divide society europe would not the earth if it does not act like europe europe would not be europe if it doesn't stand there being there for one another in times of dire need that no one can is to blame for in this crisis we need to show who we are and who we want to be as you saw at the end of my speech i want to refer again to this sense of cohesion cooperation and.