New guidelines for working in the plenary sessions were recommended by the Speaker’s council on Thursday March 19. These guidelines are precautionary in order to ensure the working conditions of the Parliament during the COVID-19 outbreak.

These guidelines included that members should always speak from their seat in the sessions. The ministers’ box was rearranged to provide more space.

Parliamentary groups were recommended to choose those MPs participating in the question hours on Thursdays, so that only a quarter of MPs would attend in person. Others could follow the discussion from outside the hall.

For all other debates in the plenary sessions the recommendation was that when not holding a vote, only those awaiting for their turn to speak would attend in person. The roll call was extended to begin 15 minutes before each session to avoid crowding in the plenary hall.

Information on other measures in the Parliament here.