MORE FREEDOM FOR VACCINATED PEOPLE OR RESTRICTIONS FOR ALL?

YouTube premiere "From Kreisky's living room"

ELISABETH SCHARANG IN CONVERSATION WITH ULRIKE GUÉROT

MORE FREEDOM FOR VACCINATED PEOPLE OR RESTRICTIONS FOR ALL?
On the new freedom in a post-corona society and solidarity in times of „vaccination privileges“

In 2019, we did not yet know that our lives and individual freedom in Europe would face closed borders and exit restrictions due to a global pandemic. We are currently discussing the introduction of a digital European vaccination passport, which would lift the restrictions on fundamental rights for people who have been vaccinated. However, there is as yet no consensus in the individual EU member states as to the exact impact the proof will have on citizens„ freedom of movement. According to fundamental rights, however, every person has the same rights. Privileges and special rights are therefore excluded - at least in theory. The French writer Bernard-Henri Lévy writes in his essay “Ce virus qui rend fou„ that the “contrat social„ (social contract) is being replaced by a “contrat vital„ (health contract): instead of ceding part of their individual interests in favour of the common good, citizens are exchanging their freedom for an “anti-virus guarantee" - and thus accepting the transition from a welfare state to a surveillance state. How quickly will we be prepared to abandon this social contract?

Ulrike Guérot, Professor of European Politics and Democracy Research at Danube University Krems, founder of the European Democracy Lab (EDL) in Berlin
Elisabeth Scharang, freelance filmmaker, screenwriter and journalist in Vienna