Six members of Parliament, one substitute member of Parliament and four employees are now in isolation with an active infection, RÚV reports. This includes the entire parliamentary party of the Reform party.
At a Parliamentary session this morning, there was only one thing on the agenda: substitute parliamentarians signing their declarations of honour to be instated as members of parliament. Six members are in isolation, one substitute member, and four Parliament employees. Most of the infections are connected to the Reform Party, whose entire parliamentary party, five-strong, will consist of substitute members of parliament, four of which have not taken a seat in Alþingi before.
Speaker of Alþingi Birgir Ármannsson has stated that items on the agenda will be reduced as much as possible due to the situation. Committee meetings will be conducted remotely due to the rise in infections.
Some items can’t be removed from the agenda, such as the government’s budget and spending bill that has to be passed before January 1. A parliamentary session is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon and Birgir expects it to include the second reading of the 2022 budget. The third reading will take place in the week after Christmas.
