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Carsten Breuer officially presented: A general should head the Corona crisis team – politics

Major General Carsten Breuer should, according to the will of the traffic light parties, bring the slow corona vaccinations up to speed before Christmas. Chancellor-designate Olaf Scholz introduced the officer, who had been responsible for administrative assistance to the armed forces in recent years, on Tuesday as his future head of the new crisis team.

In the gray uniform of the army, Breuer, who will be 57 years old on Wednesday, drove to the Chancellery while the federal and state governments held a video conference.

“Up to 30 million first, second and booster vaccinations are to be made possible by Christmas. To this end, the circle of those who are allowed to carry out vaccinations is to be expanded significantly, ”said government spokesman Steffen Seibert after the switch.

“The immediate establishment of a new federal-state crisis team in the Federal Chancellery will strengthen coordination and cooperation in managing the vaccination campaign and in vaccine delivery and distribution. General Carsten Breuer will head this crisis team. “

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When Carsten Breuer takes over the new Corona crisis team, the major general does not have to make a big change in the literal or figurative sense. Breuer could even carry the desk chair comfortably on foot from his previous office in the Julius-Leber-Kaserne in Wedding.

He also takes his area of ​​responsibility with him. Because the 56-year-old, as head of the Bundeswehr Territorial Tasks Command, has so far been responsible for administrative assistance for the armed forces in civil disaster operations.

His troops have been busy since the beginning of the corona pandemic in spring 2020. The Leber-Kaserne receives inquiries from federal states and municipalities who ask the Bundeswehr for help – from vaccination deployment to temporary help in overburdened health offices to safe deep-freeze storage of vaccines from Biontech and Moderna.

Breuer and his people know their way around the federal network of the republic. That makes him a logical choice, as his future staff should work closely with the federal states and, as government spokesman Steffen Seibert explained on Monday, among other things, promote the vaccination campaign.

Italy as a role model

The model that was the inspiration behind the traffic light bar shines through. In Italy, General Francesco Figliuolo achieved legendary status as head of the vaccination campaign.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi appointed the logistician with operational experience in Kosovo and Afghanistan as Covid special commissioner in March. The 60-year-old, who usually appears in full uniform including ribbons and the feathered hat of the mountain troops, cared little about the responsibility of the regions for the health system.

Figliuolo built a network of vaccination centers and distributors, recruited staff wherever he could, and made Italy’s meager vaccination rate rise to 78 percent in the top four in the EU in eight months

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His German colleague will not be able to act in such a shirt-sleeved manner – there is German national pride. But he and those responsible on the civil side already know each other.

Breuer began his career in 1984 with the air defense of the army. Since then he has taken on a variety of command and staff tasks, including at the central Afghanistan command in Kabul.

Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen (CDU) brought him in charge of the Bundeswehr’s new white paper, which has been the basis for the federal government’s security policy since 2016.

A second general has been on Corona for a long time

It is still unclear how Breuer’s job differs from that of a comrade in uniform. General doctor Hans-Ulrich Holtherm was brought in 2020 by Minister of Health Jens Spahn (CDU) as head of a new department for “health protection, health security, sustainability” from the Bundeswehr hospital in Ulm.

The trained tropical medicine specialist Holtherm also heads a crisis team in cooperation with the interior minister. According to a Spahn spokesman, it meets once a week and also provides a daily status report. Spahn’s successor will have to decide whether he will continue to exist – who has not yet been known to anyone except Scholz himself. (with dpa)

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