Sahra Wagenknecht alliance calls for committee of inquiry to investigate coronavirus policy

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) wants to make the investigation into the coronavirus pandemic an issue in the Saxon state election campaign. "Study commissions or similar are not enough, we need a robust committee of inquiry," Wagenknecht told the German Press Agency in Dresden. The population has a right to a reappraisal. "Months of daycare and school closures, the treatment of old people's homes, the de facto compulsory vaccination by 2G and the exclusion of dissenters were hardly excusable mistakes for which the Saxon Minister President and the other state leaders are also jointly responsible."

Of course, a committee of inquiry should also summon those responsible, such as Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) and virologist Christian Drosten," said the MP: "A Saxon committee of inquiry could be a model for the urgently needed investigation in the Bundestag."

Wagenknecht is not alone in this demand. The AfD in the Saxon state parliament had already brought such a committee into play during the pandemic and now wants it to work for five years in the coming legislative period. AfD party and parliamentary group leader Jörg Urban recently made this statement. "The main aim of the investigation into vaccination and lockdown policy is to uncover mistakes and possible criminal acts by government politicians." However, the educational work cannot be carried out by the "originators of this policy and by purchased experts". Otherwise, the risk of a cover-up would be great. "The investigation into the wrong coronavirus policy belongs in the hands of people who were in no way involved in the serious encroachments on fundamental rights."

The Saxon FDP had also called for a committee of inquiry. The Free Voters, who have as little representation in the state parliament as the Liberals, also called for a thorough investigation and an apology for the coronavirus policy. At the beginning of the year, Saxony's Health Minister Petra Köpping (SPD) warned against condemning all measures in retrospect. "In part, we have learned the right lessons. We shouldn't talk down everything that was decided during this time," she said. With all the experience gained, we can be better prepared for further pandemics. "But even in a new pandemic, we will again be faced with new questions and problems."

In February 2021 - still in the middle of the pandemic - Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) spoke out in favor of a review of the coronavirus crisis management. At the time, he envisaged an external body such as the Kirchbach Commission. The panel of experts, headed by former Bundeswehr general Hans-Peter von Kirchbach, had examined the processes in the Free State during the Elbe floods of the century in 2002 and 2013 and made recommendations for future flood management.