Catering industry against Covid testing for access plans

The catering industry is vehemently against the government's plan to only allow access to restaurants and the like to people who were vaccinated against Covid-19 or recently tested negative. Catering workers are tired of having to police people and the cabinet is using the sector to pressure people into getting vaccinated, trade association KHN said to RTL Nieuws.

"As a sector, we still have to deal with restrictions, due to all the uncertainty there is a huge staff shortage and the mountain of debt is enormous. I am really flabbergasted because it is unacceptable that the catering industry has to constantly play police officer," KHN director Rober Willemsen said.

The government also wants to make ticket sales mandatory for catering establishments open after 10:00 p.m., including nightclubs which are currently still closed. The idea is that income from ticket sales will also help prevent the need for another support package for the nightlife industry, according to the broadcaster.

"That is unacceptable," Willemsen said to the broadcaster. "Instead of the government admitting it is wrong, they choose to make the regime for the entire catering industry more difficult."

KHN filed a lawsuit against the government, demanding that the extra restrictions for nightclubs and other nightlife businesses be lifted so that they fall under the same rules as the rest of the catering industry. The case appears in court next week Tuesday.