Health minister Paulette Lenert (LSAP) requested the chamber’s opinion in a letter on 21 December. While the chamber of trades welcomes the government’s measures to combat the pandemic it regrets the “unnecessarily short timeframe” provided to businesses that will have to implement them.

“It is difficult to understand why this new set of measures proposed in the context of the fight against covid-19 was not included in the amending law of 16 December 2021 in order to give the consultative bodies the time they need to review the texts submitted and to fulfil their institutional role in a satisfactory manner,” states the chamber of trades in its official opinion.

The government is responsible of ensuring adequate testing and vaccination capacities during the festive period, according to the chamber, which also states that vaccination and testing centres must be as accessible as possible.

The government’s decision not to resort to the most restrictive means, in other words a full lockdown, was positively welcomed by the chamber of trades. It points out that the amendments to the Horeca sector in the bill also apply to the artisanal food and events sectors. However, the chamber considers that a re-evaluation of the list of beneficiaries of government aid is necessary. Notably, with regards to the beauty sector which albeit indirectly, has been negatively impacted by the pandemic.