The Democratic Party held their traditional concluding statements press conference just ahead of the political summer break.
Fraction president Gilles Baum said that the fraction started into the legislative period with great eagerness and willingness to put in a lot of hard work. With the increase of the minimum wage, the implementation of an additional holiday and the shortening of the probation period in public services, a substantial range of targeted goals from the coalition agreement could already be crossed from the list in the first year. The aim had been to continue in this direction, however 2020 has so far been dominated by the Corona crisis, which ultimately impacted parliamentary work as well.
During this period, the DP parliamentary group have nonetheless taken on the responsibility and always been available to react to the developments in the numbers of infections at short notice. In this context, DP fraction president Gilles Baum has used the occasion to point out very clearly that, for the DP, there should be no simple return to ‘how things used to be’. One should pick up on lessons learnt from the crisis and use the chances that have come to light. This should be a priority over the next months: starting with the promotion of telework.
During confinement, the positive outcomes of working from home were noticeable everywhere: the roads were empty, public transport was less crowded, and people had more time for their families and hobbies. This is the path to be pursued.
The sanitary crisis also showed how important it is to support our local businesses and supply chains. Gilles Baum pointed out that “to reduce our dependency on other countries, we should have the courage to think locally”. This doesn’t only apply to our trades and crafts, but equally so to our tourism sector.
Alongside these points, the DP will also continue to fight for more flexible working hours for all employees. Confinement has proven that flexibility at work is affecting workers in a positive way. As such, the DP fraction wants to meet many employees’ requests, and offer them the opportunity to negotiate a working model with their superiors quite quickly.
