On Friday afternoon, the government announced its intention to relax the Covid-19 measures in place. Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Minister of Health Paulette Lenert pointed out that this is possible despite daily new infections remaining high because the number of patients hospitalised for Covid-19 remains stable.
While practically all politicians welcome the relaxed measures, their opinions are divided on the government’s overall strategy. Yves Cruchten, the head of the parliamentary group of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), stated that the proposed measures “certainly make sense”. By reverting to the measures that were in place prior to the month of December, the government is reacting to the current situation, something which it has done “throughout the pandemic”, according to Cruchten.
The opposition, on the other hand, does not think that the government’s approach is coherent. In fact, MP Sven Clement from the Pirate Party describes the adapted measures as “incoherent” and “illogical”. The 11pm curfew “has never made sense to begin with” and switching from a 2G+ regime to a 3G regime is “illogical”, Clement criticises. The Pirate Party had expected the government to switch to a 3G+ system.
Claude Wiseler, the head of the parliamentary group of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), states that this decision will take away the pressure to get vaccinated. And by abolishing mandatory quarantine for vaccinated people who have been in contact with an infected person, the government is giving up an indicator of the pandemic’s evolution, Wiseler adds.
The government is “losing track of the situation”. However, the CSV MP says, the government is also not delivering the necessary information that would ensure “proper parliamentary work”. For instance, Wiseler points out, there has never been an analysis assessing the effectiveness of the different Covid-19 measures.
MP Nathalie Oberweis from the Left Party (Déi Lénk) also criticises the crisis management of the government. Oberweis wonders what the point is of “summoning the Chamber of Deputies every few weeks to turn everything upside down again”. She also thinks that the government is too often just copying the strategy of other countries.
Meanwhile, MP Jeff Engelen from the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (adr) is “happy” about the relaxed measures but adds that they do not go far enough. The adr calls for the abolition of all Covid-19 measures.
