First Exchange with Advisory Council on COVID-19 Support Measures "Fruitful", says Luxembourg PM

On Monday 20 April 2020, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and Minister of Health, Paulette Lenert, had their first informal exchange with the advisory council to support the measures decided in the framework of the fight against COVID-19 (coronavirus).

On the agenda of this first informal exchange was the state of the general situation of the country concerning the COVID-19 crisis, 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 coronavirus among the population of the Grand Duchy and its cross-border workers, as well as their consequences.

The Prime Minister commented after the conference call: “The biggest challenge we face in this fight against COVID-19 is to find a balance between the short-term health measures needed 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 life of our citizens and all those who work in Luxembourg". He added: "This first exchange of the group was very fruitful and we will continue to weigh all the effects of COVID-19".

The government has set up such a group of experts from different sectors in order to regularly assess the effects of the measures. The group is made up of the following people: Nora Back, President of the Chambre des salariés; Alexa Ballmann, President of JHL (Jonk Handwierk); Luc Frieden, President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce; Erny Gillen, ethics expert; Claudia Monti, Mediator of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (Ombudswoman); Gilbert Pregno, psychologist and President of the Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CCDH); René Schlechter, President of the Ombuds Committee for Children's Rights (ORK); Prof. Claus Vögele, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Luxembourg.