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MPs submitted 1,679 parliamentary questions to the government during the 2019-2020 session, which started in October 2019 and will officially come to an end when prime minister Xavier Bettel (DP) opens the 2020-2021 session on 13 October.

This was up from 1,297 questions submitted during the 2018-2019 session, which began after the 2018 elections.

Lawmakers also asked 190 urgent questions and 33 so-called “enlarged” questions, which are debated during the plenaries rather than being answered in writing by the relevant minister.

The chamber played a significant role during the pandemic, chamber speaker Fernand Etgen said when presenting the numbers on 12 October, adding that “the control by the Chamber of Deputies of the government worked well.”

During the three-month state of emergency between mid-March and mid-June, the government was able to unilaterally take emergency measures to combat the virus crisis. Since then, a simple majority in parliament is needed to enact virus curb legislation.

MPs also spent seven hours on ministerial question time. They met for 60 plenaries in total and 687 committee meetings.