© Bérengère Beffort / RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg
The 57-year old member of the European parliament Claude Turmes is also the new Greens candidate for the northern constituency. Tilly Metz will take Turmes' seat as an MEP.
It was the press conference no one wanted to have.
With these words, party president Christian Kmiotek opened the conference on Tuesday. Kmiotek stated that it would be incredibly hard to ever replace former state secretary of the environment Camille Gira, who tragically and unexpectedly passed away on 16 May.
However - despite the tragedy, the party would have to continue its work the party president said on Tuesday morning.
© Pit Everling / RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg
The Greens informed the press about their decision to make Claude Turmes, who is currently a member of the European parliament, the new secretary of state. His name was proposed to the party congress on Monday.
After almost 20 years as an MEP, Turmes will be returning to Luxembourg to step into Camille Gira's footsteps. Claude Turmes will come back to Luxembourg on 1 June and move back into his home town of Diekirch.
Claude Turmes sees it as his personal responsibility to continue the valuable work Camille Gira did as secretary of state. He will be taking on all the files and dossiers Gira was working on.
With the upcoming election in October, there might not be a lot of time left for Claude Turmes in his new government position, but he is determined to commit fully to the task in hand and try to implement a few of his own ideas along the way.
The election commission has also confirmed that Claude Turmes will be the new leading candidate for the northern constituency, along with Françoise Folmer.
Tilly Metz replaces Turmes in the European parliament
Tilly Metz will take on Turmes' current position as an MEP in Brussels. Metz herself, currently a member of the Luxembourg City municipal council, will be replaced by Christa Brömmel.
The congress of the Greens party will be taking place on 5 June, where candidate Turmes will need a 3/5 majority.
It is expected that Turmes will be sworn in to his new government position on National Day on 23 June.
Paying homage to Camille Gira
According to RTL information, the government will be officially paying homage to the late secretary of state Camille Gira on Saturday morning.
In memory of the exceptionally committed politician of the Greens party, a linden tree will be planted in his honour in the government district.
