Viviane Reding, 71, will retire from the scene on 1 October - one year before the crucial legislative elections for her party.

"Äddi to politics!", Viviane Reding says in a press release on Tuesday. The former vice-president of the European Commission, European Commissioner, MEP, vice-president of the CSV between 1995 and 1999 and Luxembourg MP since 1979, will retire from active political life on 1 October 2022.

One year before the crucial legislative elections for her party, which has failed to return to government both in 2013 and 2018, she will resign from her mandate as an MP. This is a choice that she has accepted and which is intended to be transparent with regard to her loyal voters. The MP also thanks the citizens who have supported her in ten elections since 1979.

For 43 years, I have tried to do my best to make Luxembourg and Europe a better place to live, Reding tells her CSV colleagues on Tuesday.

The political CV of this former journalist for the Luxemburger Wort from Esch-sur-Alzette is impressive. Reding was elected four times at the Chamber of Deputies in 1979, 1984, 1989 and 2018, where she was primarily responsible for social affairs, international issues and digital issues. She was also elected six times to the European Parliament between 1989 and 2014.

At the European Commission, she was successively Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth, Media and Sport between 1999 and 2004; Commissioner for Information Society, Technological Research and Media from 2004 to 2010 and Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship between 2010 and 2014.

Martine Hansen, co-president of the CSV in the Parliament, believes that with the resignation of Reding, a central figure will be missed in Luxembourg and European politics. Even within the CSV group, Reding has always been a collegial and competent leader.

Gratitude was expressed from various party colleagues. Gilles Roth, co-chair of the CVS group, thanked Reding for her political achievements in the interest of Luxembourg and European citizens. Her voice and advice will continue to carry weight in our group in the future, he added.

CSV President Claude Wiseler too, acknowledged her political and personal commitment to the country and its people, and to the Christian-social cause over the years. Her voice will continue to be heard within the party, Wiseler concluded.