Yesterday the national parliament resumed its spring session and set a record for the longest debate in its history finishing at a very un-Swiss 12.40 in the morning. The topics being debated were all related to the current situation in the country due to the pandemic and the SVP party had put several motions forward.
One was to „muzzle“ the scientific task force. Arguing that they were speaking too often to the press and causing fear and hysteria amongst the population, the SVP politicians wanted a law to be put in place limiting the communication between the task force and the press. The opponents argued that there cannot be censorship of knowledge. The motion was refused.
The second motion they put forward was to make it a law that the restaurants reopen on March 22nd regardless of the situation. This led to a long debate and it was argued that it would be irresponsible to set a fix date without taking into account the current situation. This motion was refused by a two third majority.
A third motion which was put forward was to allow stores to open on Sundays to make up for all the time they were closed. This motion was only narrowly rejected (94 against, 93 for and 4 abstentions).
Financially another 10 billion francs was approved to come in help to businesses that lost business due to the lockdown and further restrictions.
It was a short night for members of parliament as the debating began again this morning at 8 a.m.
The motion which was past on Sunday with regards to the wearing of face coverings continues to polarise. A suggestion that it should be left up to each canton to decide whether to implement the law was initially rejected and several demonstrations took place in protest of the result.
On Sunday the Glasgow Rangers went on to win the Football Scottish Premiership after the Celtic Glasgow team failed to beat Dundee United. Why is this relevant? Because one of the players of the Glasgow Rangers is called Cedric Iten and he comes from… Lucerne! Hopp Luzern Glasgow Rangers!
