Martine Deprez emphasised the importance of reworking existing reports to create a comprehensive synthesis of the events that occurred during the Covid pandemic. She made these remarks in an interview with RTL, which focused on the new Covid report published the previous week.
Deprez noted that no concrete statements could be made about the efficacy of the measures implemented during the pandemic. She highlighted the need for a thorough understanding of the international scenario, the effectiveness of past measures, and the clarity of the decisions made:
“If we finalise a law now, we need to know what the international scenario is like, which measures can be put into place, how useful past measures were, and which were more or less critically enlightened.”
Deprez defended the decisions of the previous government, despite having assumed responsibility only after the pandemic. She stated that the prior administration acted based on the information available at the time.
“One never takes a decision to do something wrong,” she said. She acknowledged that hindsight offers a clearer perspective but stressed that it is crucial to draw conclusions from past experiences now.
Regarding the appropriateness of the measures taken, Deprez noted that it is challenging to evaluate which were effective and which were not:
“At that moment, with the elements of the time, it was appropriate. It was discussed in the Chamber, the State Council gave their opinion, the government entertained a task force with the experts. The decisions were made by informed people from all areas. In hindsight, one can always question one’s ways of acting; yet at that moment, there were no other elements accessible to decide upon.”
Deprez also stated that the drafts for the pandemic law proposed by the previous government need to be expanded. She emphasized that merely reacting to a pandemic is insufficient.
Instead, all measures and regulations should be consolidated into a comprehensive public health law.
Watch the report in Luxembourgish:
