During the press briefing following Thursday's Government Council meeting, PM Luc Frieden addressed several national and international issues, including the recent disruptions to postal services.
The recent disruptions affecting Luxembourg’s postal services are being taken very seriously, PM Luc Frieden stated during a press briefing following the Government Council meeting. He acknowledged that a number of things had clearly failed to function properly.
Frieden also addressed the LU-Alert system, noting that it was important to examine why some people received the emergency messages significantly later than others. He stressed that lessons from these events must be integrated into a broader national resilience strategy. For example, questions should be raised about why it is currently not possible to switch mobile network operators during an outage, and efforts must be made to ensure that all emergency alerts are written in a way that is easily understood by the general public.
As to whether anyone had been harmed as a result of the disruptions, Frieden said he had no such information at this stage, and overall, it was still too early to draw any firm conclusions.
Additional measures announced
The Government Council also approved a measure to cover part of national grid fees, in an effort to stabilise energy prices in the medium term. In addition, a Space Campus will be established at Kockelscheuer, which will include the headquarters of the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA). Seven companies have already expressed interest in developing their activities on site, according to Frieden.
A new national strategy for automated and autonomous driving was also adopted. The government emphasised the importance of having a suitable legal framework in place, especially to clarify civil liability. The corresponding legislation is expected to be ready within six to ten months.
On international affairs, the government made an urgent appeal for humanitarian aid to be allowed into the Gaza Strip, stressing that international law was being violated. It called for serious efforts to achieve a stable peace and to move quickly toward a two-state solution.
Negotiations with the United States over customs tariffs were described by the Prime Minister as extremely difficult. Luxembourg supports all steps taken at the EU level to either eliminate these tariffs entirely or keep them as low as possible, according to Frieden.
The government also gave the green light to a €100 million capital increase in its joint venture with SES, LuxGovSat. This funding will enable the purchase of a second communications satellite, which can be used for military purposes. The investment is considered part of Luxembourg’s ongoing national defence effort.
Finally, the government approved a deep, technology-neutral reform of the country’s media regulation. Frieden explained that the updated legal framework will assign the same responsibilities to all media outlets, regardless of the platform they use to publish news. At the same time, the remit of the media supervisory authority has been expanded. Previously, the Luxembourg Independent Authority for Audiovisual Media (ALIA) was only responsible for radio and television. Under the new framework, it will oversee all media formats.
