Tensions have arisen not only between unions and the government but also within Luxembourg’s governing coalition of the CSV and DP, as highlighted by recent disputes over retail opening hours.

An article in the weekly newspaper Lëtzebuerger Land revealed differences between Minister of the Economy Lex Delles (DP) and CSV parliamentary group leader Marc Spautz regarding proposed changes to retail opening hour legislation.

While Lex Delles remains confident that the draft law is ready for implementation, members of the CSV parliamentary group, including Spautz, have expressed reservations and called for modifications.

"This text has been coordinated with the CSV parliamentary group. Of course, every text is discussed in the Chamber's commission, but here, as two parties, we have reached an agreement – not only because it is in the coalition agreement but also because the two parties discussed the text on opening hours in advance", Delles explained.

However, Spautz cast doubt on this assessment, stating: "I have never seen a perfect text in my political career. Very often, texts that were well-intentioned turned out to have implementation issues, requiring further adaptations."

Spautz refrained from making definitive judgments, noting that the full proposal would only be presented by Delles the following day. He suggested that the issue could be better addressed through collective agreements rather than legislation: "The best thing is always to resolve such matters at the negotiation table. And when I say negotiation table, I mean that these rules should be adjusted within collective agreements. That is the first point. These are two different laws – the law on Sunday work and the law on opening hours. They are two separate laws, but they overlap."

Regarding the planned social dialogue round between the government, unions, and employers, Marc Spautz emphasises that the entire social dialogue process needs to be unblocked. For example, topics such as social security and family policy also need to be discussed.