According to MP Claude Wiseler from the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), it is "problematic" that these new measures will only be in effect until 10 January. The impact of the restrictions will most likely only become clear after that date, yet MPs will have to decide before 10 January whether they will be extended or modified.
The President of the Parliamentary Health Commission, Mars di Bartolomeo from the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP), noted that the timing was tight, as it has been over the past months. According to Bartolomeo, the Chamber of Deputies will need to resume its activities as of 4 January in order to "extend, modify, complete, or, if necessary, ease" measures.
The Parliamentary Health Commission met on Tuesday to assess the new Covid-19 restrictions, which are due to come into force on 26 December, during a debate which lasted over three hours.
Discussions focused on the curfew, which will be brought forward to 9 pm, limiting gatherings to four people and recreational walks to two, as well as the management of data on people who will be vaccinated, which may be saved for 20 years before being anonymised.
Wiseler also expressed reservations about a new paragraph which made it mandatory for civil servants, agents, and employees of the State to report to the public prosecutor's office possible offences against isolation and quarantine measures. Normally this obligation applies to felonies, but the described offences are misdemeanours.
Bartolomeo assumes that the Council of State's opinion on the new measures, which will apply from 26 December to 10 January, will be available on Wednesday, so that the new Covid-19 law can be passed on Thursday, before Christmas Eve.
So far, no law has passed through the Chamber of Deputies without being amended, according to the LSAP MP. Legal clarifications or new wording will almost certainly be added. However, it is not expected that any fundamental changes will be made to the measures announced by the government.
Stricter measures to start 26 December, extended curfew and closure of non-essential shops
