The criticism of the head of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, does not stop …
“Why Mr Wieler from the RKI suddenly rushes out with a special vote on the day of the Prime Minister’s Conference and two days after the unanimous decision of the Expert Council, to which he himself belongs, without coordinating with the Expert Council, I cannot understand.” That is the criticism by SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich opposite the “Spiegel“.
“With such a babble of voices, we don’t have to be surprised if people are insecure or simply switch off.”
Even with Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Wieler’s solo effort is not well received.
The relationship between the minister and the head of the authority is considered to be crumbling after just two weeks. With Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), the Wieler star is already beyond the zenith.
On Tuesday Lauterbach vented his Wieler anger several times internally. He had to force himself to publicly grant Wieler “the freedom of science”. The minister, it is reported, feels: “Ripped off!”
After this mistake, Wieler has no free shot, says a member of the government to BILD.
The RKI had recommended immediate “maximum contact restrictions” and “maximum infection preventive measures” and with this move angered the federal government.
The problem with that:
► It came two days after the opinion of the new expert council (Wieler is one of them), on which the federal and state governments orientate themselves.
► Wieler had cut the paper straight to the Chancellor’s Corona counter with the Prime Minister. The federal and state governments had already agreed on a draft paper.
► Lauterbach revealed yesterday: “The paper did not reach me before then.” He sees a need for optimization.
Wieler is under pressure
► Wieler struggles with his role. He said to the “Stern”: “With seeing eyes you got into this situation.”
► Germany’s top epidemic fighter likes to play the great playwright: At the end of November, he sat in front of the federal press conference and staged a minute’s silence for the corona dead. At that time, Minister Jens Spahn (41, CDU) looked on in astonishment.
► Behind Spahn’s back, he called the Chancellor several times without authorization. You don’t actually do that twice with impunity.
Even Chancellor Scholz, actually a master of self-control, made it clear to all state leaders at the federal-state summit: NOT THAT! Wieler’s RKI paper was ignored.
Wieler was clueless in front of the press yesterday. On the accusation that he should have known what kind of hype he was going to cause with the paper, he said: “I don’t follow the news so intensively …”
.