The doors in the catering industry will remain closed for the time being to reduce the increasing number of corona infections. About sixty catering entrepreneurs felt that they were disproportionately hit by the partial lockdown, but the judge does not agree.
A motivation for the decision will follow within two weeks.
Owner Michael Meeuwisse of the Hague bodega De Posthoorn brought preliminary relief proceedings because he no longer understood anything about the corona policy and wanted to open it as soon as possible.
About sixty owners supported his initiative, including Maarten Hamel of the Brabant restaurant “t Geheim van Bergen. He is disappointed in the verdict. “This is a downer. We would have liked something different, but at least hope that the signal will reach political The Hague. This cannot go on like this. We are not allowed to earn a living, but no help is coming. Support packages are delayed and inadequate. We have consistently followed all the rules, but now it feels like we are being punished. ”
Strict measures
Last Tuesday, the cabinet announced a package of stricter measures to reduce the outbreak of the corona virus. Restaurants, lunchrooms and cafes have to close their doors for a month, but take-out is still possible.
The entrepreneurs feel that the catering industry must take the greatest blows to bring the increasing number of corona infections down. And that while the Outbreak Management Team left room in their advice from last week to keep restaurants open under strict conditions. They also do not think it fair that they should close, while according to them the number of infections related to the catering industry is not that bad.
On Tuesday morning, the State argued in summary proceedings that there is no other option to close the catering industry. The number of contacts and travel movements of people must decrease and the catering industry plays an important role in this. “We are in the middle of the second wave, for the time being it is still swelling instead of weakening,” said the state attorney. There are “definitely” drastic measures, he admitted. “But we are now in an exceptional position.”
Berlin
Last Friday, a judge in Berlin gave eleven restaurants there in summary proceedings. The focus of that case was the imposed closing time of restaurants at 11 p.m. The judge said that the German health authorities of the Robert Koch Institute have shown with their statistics that closure at a certain time does not provide any additional benefit over and above the restrictions already in place, such as hygiene measures or maximum numbers of customers.
