this is the end of the news coming to you live from berlin we'll be going live to the german parliament the bonus tell you in just a moment where chance what i'm going to is about to address lawmakers the speech comes just a day after the government scrapped plans for a strict and call to shutdown over easter. is facing criticism over her handling of the credit virus pandemic and the slope of the vaccination campaign.

and i'm terry martin welcome to the program we are just moments away from an address by chance well i'm going to go to the german parliament the bundestag she'll be talking about her handling of the coronavirus crisis and just ahead of it she'll be talking about what we can expect at the european union level in terms of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic we're looking at pictures live pictures from the bundestag right now that's the bundestag president showing who's about to introduce the chancellor all here in the studio i have with me our political correspondent crane she's here to break that down for us the chancellor speech we're going to be talking about that in just a moment but 1st of all what can we expect today this is an important moment of important juncture for germany and for chancellor i'm going to when she's under incredible political pressure and pressure to deliver in terms of dealing. with the

coronavirus pandemic what it would quote expect of a mill and well yesterday we heard her do something that politicians very rarely do namely say i'm sorry and her apology was repeated in fact by the minister presidents of many of the german federal states all of them essentially taking back a decision that they made on monday after a long marathon meeting to do a hard lockdown over easter so we're going to hear her explaining that apology no doubt once again what i don't think we will hear her do is announce that there will be a vote of no confidence she was under some pressure yesterday from the opposition to declare such a vote she said she will not do so because she has the backing of the entire government behind her nonetheless this is a dynamic process and that is how serious it is that we are in fact seeing the opposition talking about such a vote and then i think i doubt we will also hear her talk about the e.u.

level that scene procurement and how that if it all can be speeded up so as you say tremendous pressure that she is under chancellor who was actually in the parliament already yesterday issuing that apology both to the lawmakers there and to the general public today she's back in the parliament the bundestag has been largely sidelined in the government's management of this crisis is she facing a hostile audience there certainly she has a lot of explaining to do and indeed this is been a matter of discussion for months now the fact that the parliament in many ways is sidelined now german law does in fact put primary responsibility for health policy in the hands of the federal states which is why she has these marathon meetings with the minister presidents of the states nonetheless. if you want to

declare a diff de facto holiday which is essentially what this hard lock down over easter would have done it would have extended the easter break and essentially apparently giving people 2 extra days off work that's something that only parliament can do that requires the passage of the law and that was one of the reasons for the enormous confusion that was provoked by the decision last monday to declare a hard lock down over easter so somehow this nexus between the decision makers in the executive and the parliament house to be worked out more effectively we are seeing a level of confusion at essentially in every branch of government and it's leaving the citizens absolutely overwhelmed and frustrated people are frustrated in this country there is a sense that the government really doesn't have a grip on this crisis the rollout of vaccines has been extremely slow people are people just frustrated what are the specific criticisms that people have in terms

of the way the government has been handling this crisis chaos that you'll still hear them announce that a particular infection rate is now going to be the benchmark for certain kinds of action and then as that infection rate grows closer suddenly there's shilly shally ng or there are staged plans for how to deal with that that leaves people very confused about what rules are in effect in what places then as as you remember 3 weeks ago with such a phased plan there was an announcement that there would be an emergency break as part of that plan if infection numbers began to go into centrally exponential increases once again but it's very very unclear what will be implemented when in what regions there's lots and lots of. back and forth between those

states that have low infection rates as compared with those states that have higher ones and therefore a general lack of clarity and many would say lack of leadership and that is what people are going to be looking for today from the chancellor a clear sense of leadership because again and again we've seen her come out of these marathon meetings with the minister presidents looking deeply frustrated essentially indicating that she hasn't really gotten her way. and i think people are left asking who is running the show here it's rather remarkable when you look at germany one of the richest countries in the world with all of its resources struggling in this crisis also of countries outside of germany are wondering you know what is wrong especially because at the beginning of the crisis it looked like germany preditor pretty good grip on it there was a test and traced policy in place it looked like germany was going to be able to keep its numbers pretty low the 1st wave wasn't so critical but now we're here

we're seeing infections higher than they have than they've been since january the rate of infection people are very concerned about the new variants that are circulating in the country what's different now then from the beginning of the crisis melissa what's one of the things that's different is that if germany had testing and vaccination strategies and logistics that truly worked and there are a number of countries that have succeeded in rolling out effective the hacks in programs and effective testing programs including countries in europe austria for example very successful that sort of letter we're just seeing chancellor merkel approaching the part of the podium we're going to cut straight over to the german chancellor merkel is addressing the people. i was proud of him i'm susan do you know. who do i need don't know if annoyances renewed this notion when

you start a small. so are. you. doctor are going to. yes. to get that you had then you go through here k d a colleague's the pacific. the mel european council in the mansion always dance with the economic situation in europe and it will do so again this year but it's just us with the council meeting beginning last march when europe was on the brink of a global pandemic. of a momentum of which was totally on parallel to dissipate it certainly had scope means that again this year we're having a virtual meeting and exciting and shows and the pandemic has not they have a come a long chalk all over europe case numbers are rising i would like to have a video to look at what is going on and on

a brain country so whenever we discuss the situation in germany because it actually shows that we're not dealing with a specifically german often. on a country we have very similar developments all of our rights so in the whole of europe numbers are rising rapidly more than half a 1000000 people in the european union have lost their lives. and the economic you know is. more like to remind you not that far back in history as we've just heard 14 years ago 25 march 20 years 7 in 10 under the german president saying we imagine in the old armory of billing and sign a declaration leading up to the lisbon treaty and i got time. we committed it as the member countries of the european union with the being united states to all our good fortune and i think the pandemic has shown once again how good it is we

have this european union. looking up when you protectionist tendencies in the situation all over the world i think that makes clearly i my view that. the german presidency meetings we provided the grand word for what is so very important joint european action. it's got is unless offered you've got to ask nothing is. very important for the economic situation the european recovery and resilience funding our air. is something which is unparalleled in history and by establishing it the member countries have prepared the ground for a digital climate friendly much more resilient. growth for europe and if you say that today in the german parliament we're looking at the very important decision on ratifying the only resources decision and let me say once again this

r f is a unique a one off and temporary 2. as an instrument i consider rick to be irreplaceable when it comes to jointly combating the pandemic and so i can only ask for your support for this decision. defining the dark meat that comes in these days we only this emerging with a commission about the last aspect of our national. recovery and resilience program which we are going to pass before the end of april and as a 2nd important. matter we need to deal with combating the pandemic itself where we've made major progress in your road european research as have managed to develop vaccines against cope with in record time and we know that despite all that still needs to be done millions of citizens particularly seniors can now be protected against

a serious. infection. mr ritchie and mr shine the 2 founders of buy on track have just been receiving the order of merit of that republic of germany and that gives us great pleasure because germany has contributed in a major way to the development of the spanking. about industry and it's about the disappointing of my idea because it wasn't right to decide to do the joint inquiry in lies about. being union we see there are some lies differences in there just as usual and that huge debate about this but was going to happen i don't believe some behind the vaccine others did not i cannot imagine it because it would shake the very foundations of the union and i think we have laid the groundwork in order to make sure that this greatest challenge for the european union can lead successfully overcome and yet there's still a lot to be done and it's also true isn't that the pandemic has definitely showed

us where we need to analyze without blinking just where we are weak and this is something which we'll be discussing at the european council meeting we're going to focus on digitization bickley relationship with turkey and of course come back to the pandemic we know europe in a crisis can either. be staying as it is nor become rigid we need to accept what is happening at the fund is important but we have recognised that even germany has weaknesses in a joint letter has been sent with the prime ministers of denmark finland and a stone here and we have appealed urgently to the commission. a letter which many countries are joint and in this letter we ask for europe. implementing a new digital identity it's about the speed with which that can be done not just

whether it should be and when i'm talking about digital sovereignty that doesn't mean we are going to do. everything on our own but it means that europe as part of a globalized world acting in a free room based market needs to really extend its capacities and its potential together with partners and we need to look at where do we need to improve where are we doing well in ready where are they dependencies not carry risks with them and where should we set up our own european bodies and instruments in order to have greater resilience the vaccines are a case in point but so structure has often change and i think that now we need to develop proposals that really utilize all the potential that we have in the single market and we need to do this with a view to how we understand it a humane economic system where people are the focus so you need to be european gentle economy with a sense of responsibility where we want to make our own. emphasis clear and the

commission is expected to provide suggestions for a digital identity and for drawing up a legal framework for ai as well as for online platforms. in this respect we assume that your global initiatives will be taken maybe by the european union because digital platforms cannot just be regulated in europe and this is where you where. ladies and gentlemen as a 2nd item on the agenda we are looking at the relationship between europe and turkey and the situation in the eastern mediterranean and just looking outside the door of your we seeing the ukraine we are seeing north africa it shows us how many conflict areas are around us and we know at the same time that crisp eritrea and. the european union needs to have good relations with its neighbors particularly those just outside our borders and this applies particularly to that's obama turkey

where we have. multifaceted relationships and mr burrell the. commissioner in charge has proposed and submitted a report which really looks interesting as many facets are 1st of all it's a good piece of news and after the rather provocative activities in the eastern mediterranean with cyprus and so on they have now been some positive signals emanating from turkey turkey has even started a dialogue with greece again and the 5 plus one discussions run by the united nations concerning the future cyprus these are also being. and the council meeting we decided that should there be a relaxation of tension with turkey we would offer more far reaching cooperation with this cause now at this meeting just how we. move on with this i could tell you from the start the discussions be easy but i do hope that we will have a result on. this not just the nato partners and an ally they are immediate

neighbors and the 2nd most populous country in the external borders of the european union and therefore enjoys a great strategic importance in germany when having particularly close relationships with turkey because for generations now many people in germany out of turkish descent but equally we need to look at the domestic political situation in turkey we do expect turkey to comply with the rule of law which is not always the case even human rights are frequently not respected and the is done by convention of the council of europe. or rather the signal that turkey left this convention is a very regrettable signal we would have liked to see turkey stay. out i think it's the riots. to continue being without words when it comes to turkey doesn't help either so we want to concentrate on

having high level discussions restart. between turkey and the e.u. we do have joint interest and a special challenge of migration is one of my that this is something which can only be resolved jointly with. the almost 5 years to the day agreed an agreement was reached with turkey about migration and this will be the foundation for future cooperation and i know that there is a lot of criticism about the declaration is signed then but still this is a lot of good has also been achieved we have managed to effectively combat the dreadful business of the facilitators the people smugglers the number of people. arriving in greece has come down and so has the number of people dying in the jail in the sea. sick so many 60000 syrian refugee children are attending school in turkey more than 40000000 of them have been visiting doctors more than a. 1000000 people have received additional support for their living

expenses it's important to point out that e.u. funds go through projects and organizations on the spot and truly benefit those in need but we are monitoring how the money is spent and i think in the sense of compassion far fellow being myself that is well spent money and it also serves our mutual interests and where i come i think as of today 3600000 syrian refugees have been taken in by turkey that approximates to the number of people living in berlin and so it's important to emphasize that turkey should be given great appreciation for its efforts and that is why i want to make sure that we breathe new life in the new turkey declaration and to continue working with it. and before i come to an end i would like to come to the 3rd major chapter which kicks is also very busy that is how europe deals with the pandemic when it comes to the

next steps in the development of a digital. a green certificate we're going to talk about that it's going to be sealed before the summer and hopefully this will be able to document whether somebody has been tested or vaccinated and then come on the european commission as well started working on technical implementation options just as many nation states like germany have done as well it's not an easy job for all these member countries it will take us busy for quite some weeks because we'll have to look very closely if we see such a certificate which rights will be part of it to take nickel implementation is a more easy thing but the legal issues are more tricky ladies and gentlemen we were discussing all over europe we are dependent on that particularly. touches on vaccine production. quite above the inventory. in place now we set up a commission nationally and internationally by the way we want to make sure that in

the future we will have sufficient vaccine that we can order within the european union because currently the vaccine supply problem is on the question of not enough being or that the question is rather how much can be used in europe because we're seeing that british manufacturing sites are manufacturing for the u.k. the u.s. doesn't export and this is why we have to rely on making sure that we can produce in europe and we have to assume that this virus and its various mutations may well keep us busy for a long time so that's a question that will be more important even beyond this one year. there's another issue which is why it's so important to produce more than we need in the way of vaccines you know because that's like since for the whole world if you can manage to do that we'll have huge problems time and again. from from other countries we have to take care of vaccine production here that we don't often have those this also means that here tell me have a lot of hard work today when you had

a good today. the number of cases of people infected with the virus according to the r.k. i know it was 4118 new cases today it's 22675 the incidence rate was 35 and 35 new deaths today the incidence is 113.3 and there are 228 you deaths. more than 75000 people have already died of. germany and when we are reviewing this year there was a hard lock down at the beginning of the pandemic. and then in retrospect or some other almost too easy then more stages following one upon the other in the autumn and partial shutdowns closures and then the reduction of the incidence rate and now we have to say we have. reached the 3rd wave and exponential growth again

many people are asking rightly was it all for nothing when you continue. i understand these moderate questions that many people have parents with children or kids that go. childcare people who own bars and restaurants even management companies sports clubs and so many where. i can give you an answer with my photos conviction i know the situation now is very different from that of last year even though over christmas we experienced a dark banished and main. throw back to old days sap was not something we could have predicted when we decided on restrictions in november december that was the british mutation of mediation of the old original virus has now become very prominent so basically we're living in a new kind of pandemic now and the effect of the original shutdown i mean if we had

the old virus. all over germany we'd be thin. clearly below 50 when it comes to the incidence rate but sadly this is not the case because we have this new mutation which is more aggressive more infectious and also by a very long troy lethal so the factor has gone. above one and we have again reached a phase of exponential growth so what can we do one other tubes do we have available in order to react in a way my 1st. together with the premise of the german states and so march we decided on the. lifting of restrictions which which i thought not so for. regionalization aspect and it shows very clearly which regions can be gradually open or not and looking at some other states like guys aren't all slaves were called stein and learned that i used the opportunity is that they have there are 6 districts sense that they hold stand which are below 35 incidents was well below

1540 fall below 100 and the rest above. say we're going home to the world one size fits all rule here that would contradict our principle eye opening we now have testing options much simpler tests are available than the p.c.r. test which is what we had one year ago with antigen tests fast track tests and self test and a place exists that allowed you know. this is why we decided on a test tragedy which rests on 3 pillars one the citizenship test centers which exist more or less all over germany that let me take this opportunity of telling you we are a federal state new york mayor. council there. is not allowed to do what they're doing and to be going north drippin they can all do whatever is right we as the federal government enabling our enabling here to

make sure that every citizen can be. test it at least once a week so i request all citizens and this moment and time to use this opportunity when you're meeting people a time when you have met somebody be tested it's important and it's free of charge available to every single one and i've been reported that the organizational set up is really examine the schools and childcare. just ticks deliberation with the lender in germany the federal states will set up and test hospitals and we've decided that all the states have said yes we do have sufficient tests are that for the month of march and i prefer schools and try again but i actually discussed it with a dentist of health again i said make sure you get enough market share for self tests should any new situation iraq that somebody says oh i need more than i originally thought but i can tell you also there are 40000 schools and thousands of

childcare facilities and the federal government starting in berlin can prepare the testing infrastructure that's why we have a federal set up if somebody asked us to help we're happy to do this is the german armed forces have been doing a lot we are happy to help but we can't all be all feeling that the 3rd point 3rd pillar the other. thing at work that we know that. that's one of the areas where a lot of infections occur and that's when together with business we decided on a. regulatory approach but i'm going to get the end of march then we'll start with a new one a train system with a warrant statistical review and unless the majority of german business i'm not talking about 65 percent or 70 percent we're talking of 90 percent of. all need to offer tests for their workers and employees and if not we will have a regulatory approach through osha. on the 30th of april the covenant i decide on

that. in the week following easter we're going to have a status review and that's when we decide whether or not to do this it's not yet let me really the best here's some offer when i use on this people actually use it if i find from schools and childcare that only 30 percent of available that units are actually used it doesn't help because testing is the one bridge we can go across until we have an effect from the nation and this is what every citizen can actually contribute using the option of testing because the more tests we do the less restrictions we're going to solicit reaganite in order to go back to the emphasis of regionalization one other much that we've decided is that model projects can now be run in other words local authorities can decide to run a particular model and the various german states the lender have made a proposal what to do these are models we will review them analyze them in fact but

my idea is the following as long as infection numbers are in moralize. even if they're round $100.00 i'm talking about the incidence rate. with a lot of testing you can still achieve a lot and once you get a lot more of this really really steep exponential growth. more restrictions will have to be put and so the. more the numbers go up the more we have to do it so we cannot do without our strips and so part from this emergency break so we do some ideas on we've also said very clearly additional measures can always be taken. and there is a lot of difference in the political to what people and i consider to be useful or not as much of the diversity of an adult system it doesn't matter what matters is being effected like down here going to in france work you can reduce contacts further or you can buy an abandoned virgin bag with various types of restrictions

on the contacts with other people but there are some areas when i can't do anything . anymore and that's when the health care system in the burden they have consistently is another factor and i've been discussing this all the time they're calling it's always looking up because it's number one even if the older people this in years are very very high risk group aren't quite as much at risk because there are limited and immunized but ultimately we have to look at how many of our i.c.u. beds are busy or are being used more than if we're seeing that before easter we got with our measures for the easter lockdown the only people to welcome what we proposed when the i.c.u. specialists that tells you how where you there are wanted about the situation because we're not going to see the very old people going into the i.c.u. this is just restates it's going to the people.