© Jeannot Ries
Despite attracting criticism after his appointment as Minister of Culture, the DP's Eric Thill has spent the past few weeks getting accustomed to his role.
RTL accompanied the new minister during a working day.
Since 17 November, Thill's office has moved from the municipality of Schieren, where he served as mayor, to the historic Terres Rouges building in the capital, where he conducts his responsibilities as culture minister and assistant tourism minister.
"It's still unusual," he admits. "Someone who says it's easy, or normal, to go directly from municipal politics to national politics...I think they're wrong."
Thill is no stranger to politics, having been elected to Schieren council in 2017, and later becoming Luxembourg's youngest-ever mayor at the age of 25 in 2019. Although his appointment as culture minister attracted criticism at first, the economics graduate has been opening dialogue with various parties on the ground for the past three weeks, prioritising physical visits and ensuring he is listening to relevant authorities prior to setting a political course.
Following the government council meeting on Wednesday morning, Thill's afternoon was taken up by a visit to Beaufort castle - a site where his ministerial responsibilities for both culture and tourism join hands.
The medieval castle, which attracts up to 42,000 visitors per year, has plenty of further potential. "This is a prime example of how we need to consider what can be done to maximise the value of this site over the coming weeks or months," Thill explained.
Next stop on Thill's list was an appointment at Beaufort ice rink, with representatives from the labour initiative CNDS. The organisation, which offers employment assistance to the disadvantaged, is also responsible for drawing up maps of approximately 5,000 kilometres of hiking trails across Luxembourg.
On to Beaufort campsite, where the minister was able to investigate a new and increasingly-popular form of holiday-making in Luxembourg: cosy, compact "igloos" offering new options for overnight stays in the heart of nature, which recently won a Luxembourg Tourism Award.
Finally, Thill continued to Vianden Castle, Luxembourg's second-most popular tourist attraction, after the Bettembourg theme park. Here, tourism officials from northern Luxembourg met with Thill against a backdrop of colourful photographs exhibited by Raymond Clement. The minister emphasised the need to stand up for Luxembourg's resources of culture and tourism in the government council, saying his goal was to "to explain and defend" the country's heritage.
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