Dr. Gianni Buquicchio:

First I would like to comment on earlier questions concerning the advice of scientists. They are indispensable because politicians and members of the Government are not specialists, but political decisions belong to the Government and the Parliament. The scientists are there only to advise, not to take decisions. The Deputy is right to stress related problems concerning mental health and education, etc. These are really serious problems which have not yet been solved. Next month we will see the impact of these exigencies on the education of students. Schools and universities in many countries were closed and students lost almost a full year of real education. Teleworking was available but it is not the same as real participation in the life of a school.

The Deputy asked about levels of response and proportionality. There are three important tests. The first is necessity, that is, the measures must be necessary. The second test is proportionality. Measures must be proportionate to the challenges and problems. The last test, which is very important, is temporariness. The measures must not last for a long time. They must be temporary. Whether a measure is proportionate depends on the knowledge at the time the measure is taken.

A question about limits to the movement of people was raised earlier. I refer to paragraph 1 of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which allows for limits to the movement of people with the legitimate aim of preventing the spread of infectious disease. These are the points I wished to add to our discussion.