“Let’s refrain from any non-essential social interaction": This was the main message of Gilles Baum, parliamentary group leader of the Democratic Party (DP). Baum’s party, alongside the other two parties of the government coalition, the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (Déi Gréng), will adopt the new restrictions decided in the fight against the pandemic on Wednesday. These measures are expected to be in force until 15 December.
Baum stressed that the Chamber of Deputies had been involved in the development of the measures from the outset. In response to criticism that the measures had no scientific basis, the MP replied with an unambiguous: “Yes, they do!”. All MPs had received a detailed note from the task force, setting out precisely what the current situation was and what needed to be done.
When asked if anyone knew what one or the other measure would bring, the MP dismissed the question and replied that this was like trying to read tea leaves. Baum stated that he could not say what effect the individual measures would have, but he could say that if the country stayed “at a high level” of new infections, the situation could become “very dramatic” for people who had to be hospitalised in intensive care.
The DP-MP said that he was aware that there would never be a Covid-19 law that would be passed unanimously by the Chamber of Deputies and that would please every single member of society. However, Baum stressed, the majority parties had to take responsibility, especially in order to relieve hospitals as much as possible.
Read: Covid Restrictions: No opposition party will support the proposed measures
In response to the recent controversy regarding the Minister for Family Affairs and the Greater Region, Corinne Cahen, sharing a report on Luxembourg by the French TV network TF1 entitled “a country spared from lockdown” on Twitter about ten days ago, Baum stated that the retweet by Cahen was “not at all unfortunate”. Nevertheless, the MP acknowledged that it was perhaps not the best time to advertise. On the other hand, Baum added jokingly that it was a rather rare occurrence that the French spoke positively about Luxembourg and if they did, we should take advantage of it.
