Lauterbach laughs. The discussion on the cannabis law in the plenary session of the Federal Council is still imminent. But before the first speaker is called on Friday for agenda item six of the 1025th meeting of the Federal Council, the Health Minister can be sure that the federal states will not stop his socio-political prestige project.

It had already become apparent during the informal discussions the evening before that the Greens had done a great job. All CDU-led coalition governments in which they are involved must abstain from voting on the appeal to the mediation committee of the Bundestag and Bundesrat due to a disagreement within the cabinet. This means that the majority of 35 votes for an objection by the Federal Council is a long way off.