europe is headed for an economic recession of historic proportions the likes of which it hasn't seen since the great depression the loss of jobs this year will be deep but not even spain italy and greece will take the biggest hits the recession is expected to be the worst in germany since the 2nd world war and businesses have been telling the governments and the chancellor lift the walk down before it's too late tonight's in europe's largest economy that lifting its under way i'm often berlin this is the day. think of it and i think we can say today. that we have the family 1st faith if the pandemic. shops cannot be opened. of course but hunting

restrictions. we come to have a situation with the numbers infections which can show we have the virus reasonably under control i would say this is a balanced decision. also coming up tonight's it was the summer of 1995 construction cranes dominated the berlin skyline a city preparing to be a capital city once again it was then that the artist christo presented berlin a present not to be unwrapped it was astonishing to see that every fold and wrinkle he had painted was exactly what you could see in real life later. it was as though he could envision the whole thing. to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with a decision to reopen the beer gardens and they promise to close them if the coronavirus returns today leaders of all 16 german states along with german

chancellor angela merkel. agreed on far reaching measures to put the economy back in business and to breathe life back into public spaces all stores will reopen this month along with restaurants including beer gardens just in time for the summer weather and after an unprecedented period of no play germany's football bundeswehr games will resume albeit in empty stadiums all these represent some of the bogus steps towards normality that we have seen so far here in europe chancellor merkel said today that the country has succeeded in slowing the spread of the coronavirus however if that changes an emergency brake will be pulled and the lockdown restrictions reimposed. this is what the new normal in germany could look like all the shops are open more people out on the streets wearing face masks. restaurants and beer gardens to reopen as well but there will be regional

variations you should germany's federal division of path. we have seen good progress as far as the number of new infections is concerned that means we can now take further steps. that mean but we have to be careful to keep control. and the emergency response mechanism we have to fight it means i can feel quite confident. it more often would find the. home that means the state premie a's have agreed to adjust their measures on the grounds of the number of new infections if they rise above a certain number tougher restrictions must be reintroduced. we do see the decisions we made today don't just concern the question of how can we ease the restrictions but also how can we continue to ensure public security we know it's difficult finding a balance between public safety and civil liberties it's because if the german

states now have to find that own ways to gradually start sending children back to schools and kindergartens and most german states popular sports will be allowed and 8 of the anticipated abundantly on the german soccer league will we see in the season in mid may. all rights political correspondent linda crean she joins me now good evening to you melinda these are really some of the boldest moves that we have seen in europe in terms of moving back towards some semblance of normality there were 2 important factors here today science and business talk to me about the science the success that germany has seen in slowing the coronavirus. well i think really that good progress that the chancellor mentioned was based on 3 different things a little bit of luck some competence and trust so starting with the luck germany the fibrous essentially hit here

a little bit later than in some other countries such as italy and spain and therefore germany could learn from its neighbors and had a chance to put precautions into place before the virus really began to peak and then some of those who were affected early on were younger and healthier than perhaps those in italy for example and that was because young skiers from punic and from hamburg were infected in austria and they got somewhat less severe cases that might otherwise have been have been the case secondly competence when the government did take action it did so strongly and decisively and it put into question a prayer and place a number of measures that were designed to ensure that health services would be overburdened and the fact is the health services themselves had some reserve capacity that hasn't always been there in other countries including for example the

us germany has more intensive care beds per person than that in the united states or in many other european countries so that's the competent side and then finally trust the fact is that german citizens have been very compliant with the measures that were put into place here perhaps part because those measures were quite a strict as they were in some other places and there has been a very high degree of trust and cooperation between federal and local authorities with some minor exceptions but all in all pretty strong so all of that adds up to a pretty could picture so far so far and you mentioned trust we understand the during today's meeting with state leaders and the german chancellor that tempers flare leaders saying that local businesses have been patient long enough. that's right and that's where the business side comes in so you set science of

business well the chancellor is a physicist and she has listened to the viral just to the epidemiologists to the experts and she has been repeatedly stress that we are just at the beginning of dealing with this camp demick and that he must be cautious and careful on the other hand we have states perhaps the especially those very populous states that don't have a whole lot of money in their coffers that really want to move ahead with reopening the economy and some of them have essentially moved ahead unilaterally and she has is said to have have complained that in the case of at least one state from the east that she was simply not going to go along with what they had decided in terms of easing of contact restrictions but in the end in what was apparently a somewhat heated video conference there was agreement and they didn't agree on it

way forward that essentially represents a compromise in terms of contract restrictions and other steps as well and really you know this comes as the european union today predicted the worst recession in europe since the great depression is about to take place is germany best prepared for the coming recession and will it be pressured again to help those who are being hit even harder i'm thinking about italy spain in greece. germany is better positioned than a number of other european countries that's what the e.u. said today it looks like the level of recession in countries like spain italy greece will be a couple of percentage points higher than what germany's likely to experience and germany it is the biggest it is the wealthiest economy in europe it is already under pressure in terms of the solidarity that it needs to show to these

hard hit countries there was a lot of discussion about that in last week's video summit 5 of heads of state within the e.u. the ball is now back in the court of the european commission to come up with a plan that will help these hard hit states and that will ensure solidarity but it's going to be a test wrote our chief political correspondent linda gray on that tough road melinda thank you. visiting friends going shopping going out to eat the return to a sense of normality is underway here in germany and that also includes germany's born this league a soccer today german chancellor angela merkel said that the government is giving the green light for the bundesliga season to resume. their number of other areas that we look to. for example retire then we have now you need to lift.

that ban on larger shops to be open but of course there will. also talk that sports immigration and of course. weeks will. resume operations and are to join you know the big table by my colleague chris harrington from b.w. sports so when will they be able to play again word is out brit may 15th is the date that's been communicated to all of the but is that a size the 1st and 2nd division and it's a matter of when you play and you work your work your play and that's what the league has been working with since day one of the break they've been working closely with medical professionals as well as the state plotting their return and then we've actually seen it come to fruition and it's a big day not only for german football but also for european football isn't it yeah i think it is a big day because it does def it is definitely represents

a blueprint of what other major leagues can do. in terms of football ak in this look at the english premier league they don't even have a plan in place he know not only england but also you have spain you have it only as well you know these leagues are obviously going to be pushing and watching closely how germany is going to get back on track in a positive way they're going to revamp everything the venue is going to be turning to qualify medical centers the infrastructure will be in place to make sure that you know they can move forward without a hitch. can you imagine that crystal we're going to be seeing these german bundesliga soccer games and no spectators right no seders that's right no spectators well you know their bread and butter is t.v. revenue but t.v. revenue if they didn't get things done in fact if they don't get things done by the end of june that means several clubs face insolvency you know i've heard numbers as high as 13 teams are facing insolvency right now 300000000 euros they stand to gain if the season concludes so they're pushing for that you know you know but all in

all i think one c.e.o. from the defending champions byron munich call hyde's ruminated basically said this can be a symbol to the rest of the world of how our play and work to get back to some sense of normalcy what does this decision mean for other sports then around the world are they looking to see what the bonus league is going to do it without doubt of course they are but you know a lot of credit to the press conference i did take note of a lot of credit went to the population of germany you know for at harrington all of the social distancing the restrictions in place a lot of times 2nd waves of it of infections you know get out of hand because people do not adhere to those policies you know a lot of credit goes to the people in germany is well but i think all of leagues are going to be watching this because this is a very lucrative league and you know it's the biggest show in town in this country so i think all eyes will be on the bun as they go specifically may 15th may 15th the movie watching to see what those empty stadiums look like too that's going to

be something new for the people watching on t.v. as well chris harrington from sports press thank you ok. well a day after he announced that the white house is looking to phase out its coronavirus task force us president donald trump who apparently has changed his mind in a tweet the u.s. president says the task force will continue on indefinitely with its focus on safety and opening up our country again now he. added that the members on that task force could change so is a task force with a different focus and different members still the same task force that's up for debate for now trump says that dr anthony found he will remain on the team at least for now. with the corona virus crisis is highlighted just how interdependent the world really is

a new global initiative called one shared world it is launching today with the goal of creating a movement that aims to find global solutions to global issues the initiative hopes to influence government leaders to work together and has drawn up a declaration of inter dependence which you can sign up to on line thomas jefferson he wrote the us declaration of independence the thomas jefferson of the declaration of interdependence you could say joins me right now i'm happy to welcome jamie metzl he is founder of one shared world james good to have you on the day i've been reading through your resume here council of foreign relations council of the u.s. senate committee on foreign relations an advisor at the department of the state i mean you've served us presidents on issues such as iraq and kosovo international global multilateral and that also describes one shared world doesn't.

it really does and i've also worked for the united nations right now i'm an expert advisor on human genome editing to the world health organization but even if i was the greatest nationalist in the world even if i thought that everyone should just look out for themselves the way that we all need to do it is by recognizing how interdependent we are and that we cannot survive if we don't look out for each other and if this virus is teaching us anything it's that walls don't work the way we protect ourselves is by protecting all humans and up to now the voice of our collective humanity just hasn't been at the table we have our countries they come and negotiate with each other and our government representatives are doing what we asked them to do which is represent the national interest but nobody's looking out for our collective interests and that's what we're trying to do to create a social movement and a political force doing just that is one shared world an idea that

a ruse because governments have failed maybe not failed their voters but maybe failed humanity. absolutely our governments have failed us that's what this pandemic is it was totally preventable it was preventable had china or the united states or others didn't did it better done a better job front that would have prevented if if we collectively had created a world health organization that had the resources and the mandate to do the job we all needed to do need it to do that could have prevented this crisis this is an entirely avoidable crisis and the core issue isn't just the coronavirus or deadly pathogens it's that we aren't organized to solve any of the major existential shared challenges we face in until we do that we're just going to keep jumping out of the frying pan into the fire and that's what this movement is about where you say we're not organized to do to deal with these global problems but isn't that

what the united nations was created to do would you say that the you when in the world health organization have they failed us as well. they have but it's not their fault i mean i love the u.n. as i said before i used to work for the u.n. i do some work now with the w.h.o. these are incredible organizations staffed by some amazing people working their hearts out but the problem is we have a world essentially controlled by states the international organizations are created funded and largely controlled by states and that's the issue is that we don't have the w.h.o. that we need i guess if you ask everybody at the w.h.o. do they have the tools they need to do their job they would say no we're not giving them those tools and the reason we're not is that there isn't a collective voice of all of us demanding that actions be taken to protect us and

whether that is having a real way of responding and preventing pathogenic outbreaks or addressing issues like climate change ecosystem destruction mass hunger which produces refugee flows weapons of mass destruction all of those things and want to set make another point about the creation of these wonderful institutions like the united nations in the old days in 1941 and at the heart of the crises that we've faced then we had great leaders like f.d.r. like winston churchill who had a vision for what the world could be and how it could be different in most parts of the world we don't have those leaders now and so what we need to do is to divide up that job among all of us and we have these incredible tools and you called me the thomas jefferson of the declaration of interdependence in the lead in but really what we have done is we have hundreds of people from $35.00 countries who have come

together to collectively draft this document and so we really need to come together in a new way and it's maybe seem in. possibly crazy but the whole idea of the modern nation state that's not that old it's $648.00 treaty of westphalia and then 1905 the end of the 2nd world war is the beginning of all of these really wonderful international organizations including the un and the e.u. and other things that over the years were created and now 2020 in many ways it's the end of the post-war period and we're going to build something new and the question is what will be the foundations of that new thing and we are fighting to make sure that the new structure represents everybody well jimmy i like what you're saying but for at least for the time being we're stuck with the nation states and that means leaders such as donald trump have a lot of power and a lot of authority under president trump you know as well as i do that the u.s.

has retreated from its role as the global leader in many areas now that can change if a new president is elected in november what do you do however if trump is reelected . so 1st let me say i don't think that we should aspire to a world with no nation states there's a lot of things that countries and national governments actually do very well so in no way are we trying to abolish them but we are wanting to encourage them to augment them to inspire them to do the jobs that we need them to do and one of the reasons why people in the around the world pay such close attention to american politics is that what happens here really matters for other countries in germany germany is what it is because america won the war and america played the leading role in helping germany reconstitute reconstitute itself into the incredible

democracy that it is today but america unfortunately in this regard has lost its way and so there are many of us here in the united states who say who are saying that we need to do different things differently here but we the humans of planet earth we need to come together to say collectively what do we stand for and how do we build the world that we want and that's what our movement is really all about jimmy we've got about 45 seconds before i want to ask you you know that president trump and steve bannon and former advisor they represent the thinking that the nation state is the highest good if you will when we're talking about this organization if he is really a reelected isn't that going to be a national indorsement of it thinking and or do you going to do then with your idea if you have reelected strong. so it's exactly right and this is a year hate to bring in so many historical analogies but i know how well educated

your viewers are this is a year like 1900 there's new technology there's an old world it's in many ways collapsing and the struggle is on to define the terms of this next world and everybody is organizing and certainly the forces of nationalism are intolerance are organizing and we represent the forces of hope of people coming together around our common humanity well we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us tonight and we look forward to talking with you again so i mean that's with one shared world jamie thank you thank you. well the pandemic has also forced the u.s. artists christo to postpone a project to ramp the arc de triomphe in paris in fabric until next year in the meantime people here in berlin can enjoy a retrospective of the installations that he completed with his late wife sean

claude in the german capital the exhibition is time to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the duo's wrapped rice talk. 1905 it looked like a u.f.o. had landed in the middle of berlin christo and his partner john claude had finally made their vision. a reality the summer began with these idyllic surreal scenes a 1000000 visitors to the once and future site of the german parliament and. it had an elegance and an opulent it radiated with magnetic power that simply drew you in . 95 was the 1st time we met with crystal. it was astonishing to see that every fold and wrinkle he had painted was exactly what you could see in real life later. it was as though he could envision the whole thing. ingrid and thomas your home saw the rapt. they also followed christos

other installations for decades forging a friendship with him in the process a new exhibit at the populaire shows their collection in honor of the 25th anniversary of christos project. it did so much good for germany and germany granted them permission with such tolerance and generosity a parliamentary building isn't just any structure. it also shows the beginning of crystal's career when all that was available for him to wrap up with old newspapers or performers of the 1960 s. it also shows his mammoth projects that the couple struggled for decades to realize such as the gates in new york's central park or the famous poet bridge in paris their undertakings were always wildly eccentric. christos last spectacular project was floating peers at lake italy in 2016. this was an installation

that allowed people to literally walk on water. the artist sent this video message for the exhibitions opening. i'm very happy that all that is now and for the 25 and the rest of that i thank you very much and i hope the vision. krista turns 85 in june but despite the death of his partner john claud in 2009 he hasn't lost any of his creative spirit this fall he had planned to rap the uk to paris a long held wish but the pandemic has forced him to put that project on hold for a year. the summer of 95 is almost gone the conversation continues online to find us on twitter either of you give you news or you can follow me at for golf t.v. and remember whatever happens between now and tomorrow is another day i will see that never got.

above. the survivor the nazis the persecution and the holocaust. on jewish friends in berlin. she remained very close to her rescuers all her life the german resistance memorial center in berlin commemorates these unsung heroes and their courageous and

gauged fucking man sunk east europe. next on d w. i . am not proud they will not succeed in defining the subtle not succeed in taking the people off the streets because we are tired of this dictatorship. taking the stand global news that matters. made some minds. can cover your concept discomfort with. after 100 years the ideals of the bombs more relevant today than they were.

visionaries reshapes. people understood design as a way of shaping society. about half man does cross on her. with ideas that are our future sounds a part of our. world 3 part documentary stories may. tell you. hello and welcome to focus on europe the corona crisis is still taking its toll on lives and businesses across the continent the tourism industry has been especially hard hit. empty beaches empty restaurants empty airports no planes are

bringing in holiday visitors even the world famous lens.