Poll shows public support for Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives slumping to its lowest in more than a year ahead of a national election in SeptemberGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel. Picture: GETTY IMAGES/CLEMENS BILAN
The measure would have meant all stores, including essential ones, closing for an extra day. It was criticised, with businesses lamenting more shutdowns and medical experts saying the new measures were not tough enough to prevent the exponential spread of more infectious variants of the virus. “No plan, no clue, no courage,” ran a headline in the online edition of the mass-selling Bild daily above a picture of Merkel and two state leaders.The HDE association of retailers welcomed Merkel's announcement on Wednesday, saying that closing stores for an extra day ahead of Easter would have led to logistical problems and prompted shoppers to rush to stock up earlier.
“We have to make sure that such a mistake won't be repeated, we have to prepare such decisions well and in a better way in the future,” he said on Wednesday. The CDU suffered defeats in two state elections in March, hit by public frustration over the slow vaccine rollout and the extended lockdown measures, as well as a scandal over the procurement of face masks.
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