Restrictions on public life are slowly and steadily being lifted throughout the country. The Horesca sector is already closer to normality than before, but a few limitations stay in place, as for instance the final call for bars and cafés at midnight instead of 1 am.
CSV deputy Laurent Mosar put forward a motion that would allow an extension of opening hours to pre-corona standards, but it was refused by the chamber.
Apart from the financial benefit an additional hour would bring to businesses, the opposition moreover questioned the sense of the limitation. "So far, there has been neither an explanation nor a justification as to why the additional hour is being refused", stated Mosar.
The CSV deputy mainly criticised the proportionality of the regulation, since larger groups of people had been allowed for some time now. Minister of Health Paulette Lenert had to admit that some decisions had not been thought-through enough:
"The idea was simply that longer hours usually lead to situations where physical boundaries are no longer respected. The closure at midnight is moreover supposed to symbolise that we are still not safe from the virus and be a reminder to people. Contact tracing abroad and in Luxembourg have proven that most infection clusters begin at parties, which is also true for our most recent cases."
The minister also made clear that she disapproved of bar owners that serve people who are crowding the nearby streets, this behaviour does not conform to current regulations, yet is often seen in the city.
