Germany is to deploy the Bundeswehr to help combat coronavirus, amid an epidemic that could put civilian authorities under unprecedented strain and severely disrupt the eurozone’s largest economy.
In an interview, German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauersaid the army would be used to help treat the sick, resolve transport bottlenecks and provide essential support to police and local authorities as infection rates climb.
“We have called on all reservists, especially those with medical experience, to register with us,” she told the Financial Times. “We are providing healthcare professionals wherever they are needed.
“If we have transport problems, because so many truck drivers are held up at the borders and are no longer available, the Bundeswehr has vehicles and drivers who can take on the work to supply the population.”
Her comments reflect growing concerns in Berlin about the havoc that coronavirus could wreak on Germany’s normally smooth-running bureaucracy, essential services and industrial supply chains. There are fears that infection rates could soon climb to the alarming levels seen in Italy and Spain.
Fears about the impact on trade intensified after Poland’s decision to close its borders led to huge traffic jams in eastern Germany on Tuesday, with truck drivers facing queues of 40km or more. The worry in Berlin is that the transport disruption could lead to supply bottlenecks for food and other essential items.
If policemen are infected with corona, the Bundeswehr will be able to step in to regulate traffic, or to protect buildings or other sites, if neededAnnegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, German defence minister
Yet the armed forces themselves are not immune to Covid-19-related problems. Last week, the inspector of the German army, Alfons Mais, went into quarantine at home after coming into contact with someone infected with the virus, while one of the armed forces’ main leadership academies was closed.
The use of the Bundeswehr on the home front is highly contentious in Germany, a legacy of the country’s dark 20th century history. Germany’s constitution puts strict limits on any domestic deployments by the armed forces.
But Eberhard Zorn, the Bundeswehr’s inspector-general, sought to dampen fears that the armed forces would significantly increase their presence on the streets of German cities. “No one needs to fear that the Bundeswehr will be breaking up corona parties or monitoring curfews,” he said.
Germany is not the only country that is using its army to help deal with the crisis. On the same day he said that France was at “war” and ordered a sweeping lockdown of the country, President Emmanuel Macron announced that the French armed forces would set up a field hospital for 30 patients in the eastern region of Alsace, home to one of the largest clusters of corona infection.
The French defence ministry also announced on Wednesday that a specially equipped Air Force A330 would evacuate six coronavirus patients in intensive care from an overcrowded hospital in Mulhouse to two army hospitals in the south of the country for treatment.
In Italy, too, the military establishment is mobilising to help tackle the country’s coronavirus crisis. A plant run by the defence ministry in Naples is producing 100,000 face masks a day, while a military pharmaceutical plant in Florence is churning out 2,000 litres of disinfectant a day. Italy has deployed army technicians to help the country’s only manufacturer of ventilators, Siare Engineering, ramp up production.
In Germany and other western countries, the virus has forced governments to consider interventions which only a few days ago would have been inconceivable. On Tuesday, the foreign ministry said it would be chartering Lufthansa planes to repatriate tens of thousands of German tourists stranded by the coronavirus outbreak in the Philippines, Morocco, Egypt and elsewhere.
Source: ft.com
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