Urgent government laws will be passed at the Luxembourg City Cercle from next Friday.
For the past 110 years, many major celebrations and important speeches have been made from the Cercle building, including the official visit of French President François Mitterrand in 1992. Now, it will host Luxembourg's MPs once again.
This is not the first time that plenaries have been held inside the historic city centre building: at the end of the 1950s, the plenary sessions of the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community) took place at the Cercle.
It will be the third time since 1860 that the Chamber of Deputies has left its building located on the Marché aux Herbes, with previous moves occurring during the Second World War, and during the renovations which took place between 1997 and 1999.
Now, in order not to interrupt urgent legislative work, while respecting health measures during the coronavirus crisis, MPs will move to the large hall within the Cercle, which has sufficient room to seat 60 MPs and members of the government whilst respecting safety distances.
President of the Chamber of Deputies, Fernand Etgen, said this was the only viable solution to continue parliamentary work. Etgen explained a move to the Kirchberg conference centre would have cost millions, when the Cercle hall, which covers 500 square metres, was offered up by Luxembourg City mayor Lydie Polfer.
The move will require huge efforts by IT and electrician teams to prepare the hall for its new role. Monique Faber of the Chamber's public relations department explained several teams were already on site to ensure the hall was ready as soon as possible.
It is not yet known how long MPs will use the Cercle, but the rooms are at their disposal until the end of July at present.
RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg's report (in Luxembourgish):
