Dutch public supports restaurants' plea to reopen; Court case today

A group of catering entrepreneurs will appear in the court in The Hague on Tuesday, fighting the government's order that they be closed for everything but takeaways during the partial lockdown. About 60 percent of Dutch support the catering sector in this lawsuit, according to a survey among 2,400 Netherlands residents by Hart van Nederland.

77 percent of respondents said that restaurants should be allowed to reopen, provided that they comply with the coronavirus rules. A fifth called that a bad idea and want restaurants to stay closed or the time being. Some 75 percent of respondents said that they are supporting restaurants during the lockdown by ordering take-out meals.

While the catering entrepreneurs can count on public support, the responsible politicians are not on their side when it comes to reopening. During Monday's meeting of the Security Council, the council for the 25 security regions in the Netherlands, Justice Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus and Council chairman Hubert Bruls both said that it is too soon to reopen the catering industry.

"We recognize that many catering establishments, cinemas and entrepreneurs have done their best and have adhered to the rules," Grapperhaus said, according to Hart van Nederland. "But right now we need to reduce group sizes, reduce movements." Reopening restaurants would be counterproductive to that.