The move back to the Chamber of Deputies building will coincide with prime minister Xavier Bettel’s state of the nation address on 12 October. The speech will be followed by two days of debate on 13 and 14 October. It will be Bettel’s eighth state of the nation address. 

The speech is normally held in April or May but was delayed to October last year because of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. The crisis was one of the speech’s  and the post-pandemic world is likely to be high on the premier’s agenda this year.

That Luxembourg is slowly returning to a degree of normality is also reflected in deputies meeting at their usual premises in Luxembourg City, next to the palace. They were forced to abandon the venue in April 2020 for plenary sessions as the space did not allow for social distancing between MPs. 

The CovidCheck system is now allowing members of parliament to return as deputies will have to show a certificate of vaccination, test or recovery. 

Already during a session on 14 September, when parliament voted on new covid-19 laws, the president of the chamber, Fernand Etgen (DP), said he would like parliament move out of the Cercle Cité, where it has been meeting since last year. A final decision is due on Monday, but sources confirm that nothing stands in the way of the planned schedule to move back to Rue du Marché-Aux-Herbes.

This story was first published on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.