Xavier Bettel (DP) has made no secret of this. From the beginning of the crisis, the prime minister ordered everything he could get ordered: masks, gel, respirators.

According to Eurostat statistics, Luxembourg ordered €76m worth of masks in the first half of the year. This is far below Germany's €4.4bn, France's €3.43bn or Italy's €1.75bn, but the Grand Duchy holds the record in Europe on spending per capita.

Where Europeans have ordered an average of €33 worth of masks per person, Luxembourg is in the lead with €121, ahead of Belgium and Germany (€53).

China, where the coronavirus originated, is the big winner of these European imports with 92.3% of market share, compared to 62.3% last year in the first half of the year, ahead of Vietnam (1.9%) and Hong Kong (1.2%).

The market has exploded because of covid-19 and has grown from €800m in the first half of last year to €14bn for the first six months of 2020.

This article was originally published in French on Paperjam.lu