"I would tell those who have signed that petition that school must prepare kids for real life"

The Caritas situation

"What happened at Caritas is very serious," Meisch commented. "And we still don't know exactly what happened, and if we keep sending funds, we can't be sure where this money is going." The minister was of course referring to the 61 million-euro embezzlement of funds revealed by Caritas director Marc Crochet this week, which has since resulted in a criminal investigation. The government has halted all subsidies to Caritas until further notice.
Meisch said the government's first priority would be to continue the activities with Caritas as they are essential to so many. "People should not have to suffer due to poor management and criminal activity," he said. The state cannot take responsibility for the 61 million euros, he added, and said the criminal activity must be uncovered and punished accordingly, whether it was internal or external.

The minister acknowledged the government's loss of confidence in Caritas' governance and financial management, and said the charity had to resolve the situation before they could move forward. "We are operating under the assumption that little public money has gone missing," he said. "The board of directors is responsible for taking the necessary steps to restore confidence and continue charitable activities.

The Ministry of Education will maintain concrete cooperation with Caritas in order to support unaccompanied minor refugees, i.e. those who arrive in Luxembourg without parents. The Ministry clearly indicated that it works with hundreds of other non-profit organisations without issues, and this is a special case.

End of unlimited funds for the Science Center

For two years, the Science Center has come under fire for management issues related to its director Nicolas Didier. Didier is the chairman of the Center's board of directors and also heads up the private company GGM11, whose only client is the Center.

The Ministry initiated an audit to verify whether three invoices totalling 1.9 million euros were due, and Meisch has since confirmed that the audit, which concluded the invoices were not due, has been passed on to the public prosecutor's office. He says the state will not pay the invoice.

"The responsibility lies primarily with the board of directors," the minister stated. "It is not up to me to interfere in the management of a non-profit organisation". He added that the board of directors and Didier had given themselves a lot of time to respond to requests made a year ago. "It is clear that the agreement has expired and that there will be no new public funding if all the conditions are not implemented," Meisch concluded.

When will this be the case? As it stands, Meisch has no clear answer. The government wants to install two members on the board of directors and clearly states that Didier cannot remain chairman and director. "At most we can limit funding, which we have done," Meisch said. But they are waiting for the board of directors to respond, which is happening at the expense of employees and visitors to the Center.

"The only chance the Science Center has is to be able to start from scratch, without Nicolas Didier", Meisch said.

Petition to ban LGBTQ+ themes from schools

A petition which seeks to ban LGBTQ+ themes from the school curriculum has passed the necessary signature threshold to qualify for a Chamber debate, gathering the required signatures in just 3 days.  As of Thursday morning, 6,600 people had signed it.

Meisch said this was "not the vision" that he and the Ministry of Education have for Luxembourg's schools.

"School must prepare pupils for real life and society," he stated. These issues cannot be avoided and must be "addressed in a way that is appropriate to students' ages."

The minister said he intended to clearly explain his position to the petitioners when they appear in the Chamber. He added that this example showed that, despite many achievements, there is still progress to be made, and things always need to be re-explained.