Prime Minister's first exchange with the ad hoc group to accompany the measures decided as part of the fight against COVID-19

On 20 April 2020, the Prime Minister, Minister of State, Xavier Bettel and the Minister of Health, Paulette Lenert, had a first informal exchange with the Advisory Council to accompany the measures decided as part of the fight against COVID-19.

The agenda of this first informal exchange included the state of the general situation of the country with regard to COVID-19 from a psycho-social, economic and societal point of view.

The group also discussed the impact of the measures taken by the government to deal with COVID-19 on the population of the Grand Duchy and its cross-border workers, as well as the resulting side effects.

"The greatest challenge we face in this fight against COVID-19 is to find a balance between the health measures necessary in the short term to guarantee the public health of our country and the side effects of these measures which represent a sometimes very heavy burden on the daily lives of our citizens and all those who work in Luxembourg," noted the Prime Minister after the conference call before adding: "This first exchange of the group was very fruitful and we will continue to evaluate all the effects of COVID-19."

As a reminder, the government has set up such a group of experts from different sectors to assess the effects of the measures on a regular basis. The group is composed of the following people:

• Nora Back – President of the Chamber of Employees
• Alexa Ballmann - President of the JHL (Jonk Handwierk)
• Luc Frieden - President of the Chamber of Commerce
• Erny Gillen - Expert in ethics
• Claudia Monti - Ombudsman of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
• Gilbert Pregno - Psychologist and President of the Human Rights Consultative Commission
• René Schlechter - President of the Ombuds Committee for the Rights of the Child (ORK)
• Prof. Claus Vögele - Professor of health psychology at the University of Luxembourg

Press release by the Ministry of State