On Monday morning, RTL invited the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (ADR) MP Fred Keup for an interview where he described the introduction of French literacy programmes in schools as a "major threat" to Luxembourg's society.

MP Fred Keup has sharply criticised the direction of Luxembourg’s education policy, claiming this will lead to "an implosion of our school system as we know it", and that Democratic Party (DP) Education Minister Claude Meisch is “francophonising” schools.

According to Keup, nurseries, vocational training, and teacher training are increasingly offered in French. He argues that children should learn together and share the same experiences to support integration. In his view, the proliferation of different schools and French literacy programmes makes that goal harder to achieve.

The MP further accused the minister of “deception”, alleging that the shift toward French is being introduced gradually so it attracts less public attention. Keup also contends that the government is not building enough traditional secondary schools and is instead prioritising international schools. He believes this trend risks diluting Luxembourgish identity over time.

Sceptical on defence sector investment returns 

For Fred Keup, rearmament is the wrong way of dealing with the war in Ukraine. Over the next four years, €5.5 billion is expected to be spent on defence. This is a very large sum that would be better invested elsewhere, according to the chair of the ADR parliamentary group. Keup stated that his party is fundamentally opposed to war and in favour of peace. In his view, the war is being dragged out as a ceasefire could have been achieved from the outset, but this would not have been desired by several Western countries, he believes.

"The Luxembourg army must be operational, but we [the ADR] are against this arms race, which costs a huge amount of money", said the MP. The government's plan is to maximise the return on this defence budget for the benefit of the Luxembourgish economy. This also includes the possibility of setting up arms production in Luxembourg. "I am very sceptical about this", said Fred Keup. Only a tiny fraction of this investment will remain in the Luxembourgish economy.

He claimed that the government will "of course try to sell it that way, but we must be aware that the arms industry is very complex. We are not going to start building modern fighter planes or tanks in Luxembourg. If all goes well, we may be able to integrate a supply chain somewhere, but there will be few other possibilities", according to the ADR representative.

Yes to economic growth, no to population growth

"We need economic growth, but the problem lies in uncontrolled population growth", according to Fred Keup. He continues that digitalisation can be used to grow Luxembourg's economy "without having to bring lots of people to Luxembourg". He believes that "the problem is that our social systems depend on population growth" and he accuses the government of having "turned a blind eye to this in recent years".

When asked whether the ADR can propose any concrete measures in this regard, Fred Keup replied that, at present, the party has "to be responsible and cannot simply change the system. In any case, we must ensure now that we will be able to pay decent pensions in the future, as many young people today lack prospects".

Ultimately, in Fred Keup's view, efforts must now be made to maintain the stability of the system. Without an increase in contributions, Keup does not see how the system can be maintained in the long term.