Minister for Agriculture "often unavailable"

The Bauerenzentral, the largest professional organisation of farmers, vintners and gardeners in the country, bemoans their "sometimes deplorable" treatment by politicians. Communication in particular is very poor, they said.

Countless letters to the ministry and associated services go unanswered. Important questions about the status of agriculture and the challenges of tomorrow remain unresolved, as repeated requests for collaboration are ignored by the ministry, they claim.

Marc Fisch, vice president of the association, cannot accept the Covid pandemic as an excuse and demands more engagement from the minister. He said he is disappointed that their interests are not being represented, when the survival of farmers is one of the responsibilities of the ministry, not just environmental politics.

Christian Wester, the new president of the Bauerenzentral, also thinks the sector's three unions need to work closer together, as otherwise they are making it too easy for politicians to play them against each other. Certainly there was some cooperation, but it could be improved, he said.

"There were fairly deep trenches between the various interest groups. But we have a new and younger team now, which should give us a chance to reduce these differences. We are all just people, some people get on better with one person than another.

"There has been a lot of upheaval, but we have important developments ahead of us, with the impending agrarian reform which will determine things for the next seven years and more."

The environment and climate change are the main issues of the European agrarian reform, with a budget of around 270 million euros between 2023 and 2027.

Within Luxembourg, the influence of the agrarian sector on politics is close to zero, said Christian Wester. While 30 or 40 years ago, farmers still had some influence on elections in the north and east of the country, nowadays they are constantly on the defense within society, he added.