"We are living in crazy times,” the Prime Minister told RTL in a bumper New Year’s Day interview, which aired on television on 1 January. Xavier Bettel looked back at the past year, and offered his thoughts on upcoming events in 2023.
It is a time of multiple crises, both at home and globally.
Xavier Bettel hopes that 2023 will be easier than its predecessor, highlighting an absolute need for stability. With ten months to go until the Chamber elections, the PM has promised to stay in Luxembourg in the event he is re-elected as an MP, rather than casting his eye towards a top job at the European level - such as the EU Council presidency, which goes up for grabs in 2024.
“If I am offered the chance to reprise my role as Prime Minister of this country in the next elections, I will absolutely take on my mandate,” Bettel said. “I’ve already been offered Charles Michel’s job, before even Charles Michel was asked. But I said no.”
Pierre Gramegna, who ostensibly left his role as Luxembourg’s finance minister in order to spend more time with his family, recently reversed his decision in order to become the new managing director of the European Stability Mechanism. However, the Prime Minister was keen to stress that Gramegna had been asked to take on the role, and had not proactively campaigned to take over at the ESM.
In terms of the coalition government, the PM said he would be happy if all three governing parties could manage to avoid creating an “election campaign atmosphere” internally. The blue-red-green coalition has a mandate to govern until October at the very least, although depending on the election results there could be a handover period extending beyond that date.
There is certainly much work to do over the coming months, election notwithstanding. For example, the topic of housing in Luxembourg remains a key point of discussion in the Chamber. “I think it’s particularly important to have a paradigm change, and here I’ll accept a mea culpa. I’ve always thought that we need to make sure that people can purchase a home, but here we are in a situation where realistically many people cannot afford to buy a property.”
The LSAP deputy prime minister Paulette Lenert, Bettel’s biggest political competition in the upcoming elections, told RTL at the end of the November that a limited indexation should not be a taboo topic. Bettel said he agrees there should be no such thing as a taboo topic, but did not think that a limited index was obvious just yet. “We’d need a political consensus for that. I know my party was of that opinion, but the unions! The unions asked whether we should discuss the limited index in the last tripartite talks. So I added it to the agenda but then no one joined the talks, not even from the unions. But when we tackle a topic like this, it really needs a general consensus.”
For Bettel, any talk of a reduction of working time is a strict no, notably due to Luxembourg’s relatively small workforce. The Prime Minister emphasised the importance of the Grand Duchy’s ability to maintain its economic attractiveness to foreign employees. “People don’t come to Luxembourg because of the Melusina myth, or to eat Kachkéis, or because the weather is so pleasant here. They come for the right context, and frequently that is for work. As a country we have to remain attractive to an outside workforce, in order to attract the right talent. People come to work here because they can, so they won’t need to pay triple the taxes compared to other countries.”
However, Bettel cannot rule out a potential increase for the top tax rate. In the interview, the premier makes reference to “very unstable times”, particularly considering the current geopolitical situation. Although the Ukraine war dominates headlines, there are other conflicts to consider, such as the situations in Mali, Burkina Faso, Iran or Afghanistan. Bettel said the worst thing that could happen would be if the situation in Ukraine suddenly returned to normal, and people moved on without discussing it further.
The solidarity shown by Luxembourg residents with the people who have to leave their homeland makes Bettel proud, and is a solidarity that he would like to see continue into 2023.
You can watch the full interview in Luxembougish here on rtl.lu.
This interview was filmed in advance and took place prior to the death of former Pope Benedict XVI.
