The LSAP has hit out at the Prime Minister's selection of CSV MEP Christophe Hansen as Luxembourg's EU Commissioner, citing a "flagrant lack of respect" towards Nicolas Schmit, the lead candidate for the Party of European Socialists.

Schmit's initial response to the news of Hansen's appointment was "no comment", but his party, the LSAP, later followed it up with an accusatory press release on Friday afternoon.

The Luxembourg socialist party expressed its concern at Christophe Hansen's nomination for the post of EU Commissioner by Luc Frieden, and claimed the decision could "place Luxembourg in a delicate situation at European level". Without explicitly stating so, the LSAP had hoped to see Schmit, the incumbent commissioner, re-elected to the post, primarily due to his "vast experience and respect of his peers for his political actions", as well as the success of his electoral campaign.

The LSAP also criticised the Prime Minister's "authoritarian" decision in selecting Hansen, claiming his persistence in nominating his candidate for the role could "compromise the fragile political balance in Europe".

They went on to accuse Frieden of putting his "partisan interests ahead of the country he governs, ignoring the guarantee of a strategic position for the Luxembourg representative within the European Commission." The party also said that the fragile balance which permitted Ursula von der Leyen to assume a second term as Commission President should also provide for a "strategic position" for the candidate leading the European socialist and socio-democratic parties in the last EU elections, namely Nicolas Schmit.

Breaking an "unspoken rule"

The LSAP also accused Luc Frieden of breaking the unspoken rule of nominating lead candidates from majority political groups to strategic positions within the Commission. As a result, it wrote that the nomination of Hansen constituted a "flagrant lack of respect towards Schmit, the Party of European Socialists, and the LSAP, which saw voting gains of 10% in the last EU elections and almost equalled the CSV, which only increased gains by 1.8%."

"By ignoring the agreement between political groups at European levels and breaking the rule concerning lead candidates, [Frieden] risks compromising the future European Commission and thus endangers Luxembourg's position at European level," the LSAP continued.

Frieden also did not follow von der Leyen's request to propose a male and female candidate "unless the nominee is a sitting European Commissioner." For the LSAP, this demonstrates a further lack of respect towards von der Leyen. "This shows Frieden's authoritarian style and his lack of consideration for equal treatment between the sexes ", the party concluded.