On Thursday, MPs discussed the recent Covid-19 clusters that were discovered in numerous retirement homes across the country. The debate, which quickly became emotional and even personal, escalated into the deposition of a motion of no confidence by the opposition parties. The motion was rejected by the votes of the three majority parties.
Instead, majority MPs voted to adopt their own motion, which provides for an independent, external investigation into the clusters to be opened.
Initially, the idea to open such an investigation was proposed by MP Michel Wolter from the Christian Social People's Party (CSV). However, majority and opposition were unable to agree on a joint text, leading to two different motions being deposited.
Wolter argued that the failure of the agreement was the fault of the Democratic Party (DP) who wanted to defend its minister by all means. MP Sven Clement from the Pirate Party criticised that the government was de facto involved into its own investigation, while MP David Wagner from the Leftist Party (Déi Lénk) wondered why the investigation was not done internally through a Chamber Commission. Meanwhile, the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (adr) raised the question why the majority parties did not simply support MP Wolter's text, if they also wanted to know how these clusters occurred.
Cahen herself stated that she is in favour of "an independent investigation". She rejected the opposition's accusations that her Ministry had not done its job and went on to list everything that had been done. Cahen explained that in Niedercorn, a number of coronavirus variants had been found, but the details were as of yet unknown.
The Minister also stressed that it had been a conscious decision not to inform the public about these clusters in order to "protect" the homes, residents, staff members, and families and ensure that they could continue their work in peace.
Cahen confirmed that both doses of the Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in all of the country's retirement homes. At the moment, there is still one active cluster, however, namely in a retirement home in Luxembourg City and involving 20 cases. The cluster was discovered three weeks after the residents had received their second doses. According to the Minister, the affected residents show no or only light symptoms. Cahen stated that this case showed that even the vaccination does not grant 100% protection against the virus and thus the protective measures must be held up.
After Cahen's speech, the entire opposition demanded the resignation of the DP Minister, criticising that she had not responded to the opposition's motion and instead merely read from a "justification text" that had been prepared in advance.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Kersch from the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) stated that the government would continue to support its Minister.
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