Business owners from the Horesca sector joined forces and voiced their concerns and distress during a protest on Saturday afternoon.
Numerous owners and managers of cafés and restaurants feel they are being 'forgotten'. In order to make their voices heard, a protest was organised via social media platforms. Participants agreed to meet on Place d'Armes in Luxembourg City, at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The organisers of the protest made it clear beforehand that they did not want too many people to show up, and that every participant must wear a face mask and respect social distance.
Stephen Lowe: The Hand That Feeds
Cristina Borges, who owns a café and helped organise the protest, explained that protesters would wear black as a symbol for her sector's problems. The Horesca sector is in mourning because it is dying and people are losing their livelihoods. Everything is coming too late, according to Borges. While subsidies of €3,000 to €4,000 are somewhat helpful, they are not even enough to cover some owners' rent. Borges explained that they could simply no longer just sit at home and hope for a miracle.
Borges also added that the sector was not only disappointed in the government, but also in its own federation. Many café and restaurant owners, she explained, did not feel that the association was on their side.
Recently, both the Horesca federation and the non-profit "Don't forget us" had argued that the aid announced by the government would not be enough.
Minister for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Lex Delles stated that he could understand all of the Horesca sector's concerns but pointed out that Luxembourg was helping the affected businesses.
The Minister especially highlighted the new support of "non-covered costs", which takes a significant amount of costs into account. In addition, businesses can apply for the "relaunch" aid, something which a number of Horesca businesses have not done yet, according to Delles. He called on those concerned to apply for them, stressing that the Luxembourg state was offering a "panoply" of different subsidies. Delles went on to say that he regrets that some people look at other countries, take their measures out of context and then criticise Luxembourg for not doing the same.
The Horesca sector has been closed since late November 2020, having previously been forced to shut for about ten weeks last spring.
