According to information obtained by our colleagues at RTL.lu, it is unlikely that the state council will decide whether to relax health measures during its meeting on Wednesday. Another state council meeting is scheduled for Friday.
Sources from within the majority parties, however, hint that the government may consider dropping the curfew for the hospitality sector.
The positions on Covid-19 restrictions of the individual parties will be determined during meetings of their respective parliamentary groups. The number of hospitalised individuals in comparison to the number of new infections theoretically opens up a path to less restrictive measures. During the announcement of the current Covid-19 measures on 22 December, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel stressed that the government intended to keep two options open: Introducing more restrictive measures, if the situation deteriorated, and relaxing certain measures, if the situation changed for the better.
“There’s a lot of speculation at the moment”, MP Sven Clement from the Pirate Party stated. Clement explained that he had spoken to three different people and had received three different responses. The Pirate Party MP thinks that the government is still debating how to amend health measures, adding that, ultimately, it will “probably come down to how much pressure the individual parties can exert”.
Speaking to our colleagues from RTL.lu, the head of the parliamentary group of the Democratic Party (DP), Gilles Baum, stated that he wants to await the results of his party’s meeting on the matter first. When asked about his personal stance, Baum said that he is in favour of letting the current law expire first before implementing any changes. The current Covid-19 law is valid until 28 February, which would thus be after the carnival holidays.
Meanwhile, Josée Lorsché, the head of the parliamentary group of the Green Party (Déi Gréng), acknowledged that society is “unable to bear the current situation” but could also not provide any insight on how the government may proceed.
It appears that there is some tension between the governing parties at the moment. Particularly when it comes to the issue of the 2G vs 2G+ regimes.
Only recently, the government decided to prepare a draft bill for a time-limited vaccine mandate for residents aged 50 or older.
If, for instance, the government were to decide that a 3G regime would be enough to access restaurants or bars, there is a risk of introducing incoherent policies. However, according to our colleagues from RTL.lu, there appears to be a general wish for more relaxed measures among the majority of government officials.
