© Marc Hoscheid
Local politics should be better tied into national politics and decision-making should be brought closer to the local level, whenever the situation calls for it, according to Putscheid's mayor Fabienne Sinnes-Huberty.
If you ask people in Luxembourg City or in the Grand Duchy's South where exactly the municipality of Putscheid is located, many would say that they did not even know that there a municipality with that name exists. Putscheid is also perhaps often confused with Pintsch, a village in the municipality of Kiischpelt.
So a reminder for where the municipality of Putscheid is actually located: Putscheid sits between Parc-Hosingen, Tandel and Vianden, i.e. in the northeast of the country. Anyone that has visited Putscheid may describe the landscape as slightly reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings movies with its hills, valleys and streams. In its 27 square kilometres, just under 1,200 reside in its 11 villages and smaller lieu-dits.
Since the municipal elections of 2023, Fabienne Sinnes-Huberty has been serving as the mayor of of this rural municipality. It was her second election as a candidate. In her first elections in 2017, she impressively came in third place even as a Bäigeprafften (an incomer) who is a native of Lorentzweiler.
She became the second alderwoman in the municipal council. Six years later, she was elected mayor with a nine-vote lead over the former mayor Roger Zanter. She reportedly took advice from all sides and was not very enthusiastic at first because she was afraid. However, Roger Zanter himself, among others, advised her to accept the position. In fact, it was Zanter that had motivated her to get involved in local politics in 2017.
She placed particular emphasis on choosing her councillors in such a way that they complement each other as a team and can divide the work, with her as mayor being able to focus primarily on social issues.
Teamwork is also important for the municipal staff, as there are currently three civil servants and nine people working in the technical service at the municipality. Fabienne Sinnes-Huberty is self-employed, running a bookstore in Marnach with a friend, and as the mayor of a small municipality she has 15 hours of political leave per week. Is that enough?
The Putscheid municipal council consists of nine people, seven men and two women, but Fabienne Sinnes-Huberty does not feel that she has had to assert herself differently as a woman or that she has been treated any differently. She does not hold a party card and sees valuable points put forward by many parties. Although she has been approached by several, no party has managed to convince her enough to join their cause.
As for the municipality of Putscheid, jobs are rare, especially in industry. The Société Électrique de l'Our, or SEO for short, is headquartered in Stolzembourg and therefore within the municipality of Putscheid, but this does not necessarily mean that the money flows into the area.
Often, people who work at SEO have, or have had, their place of employment declared as being in Luxembourg City, which means that part of the business tax goes, or has gone, to the City of Luxembourg and not to Putscheid. Overall, the municipality struggles to create similar jobs.
To address a lack of jobs, there are plans for a new industral zone to be developed in cooperation with the neighbouring municipalities of Bourscheid and Tandel.
Another economic prospect, where jobs could perhaps be created more easily, is that of tourism.
The copper mine in Stolzembourg, which is managed by the local tourist information office, is currently the biggest touristic magnet there, in addition to the Stolzembourg castle and a number of hiking and cycling trails.
On top of this, there is a great deal of memorial work to honour the events of the Second World War, in which local historian Marcel Scheidweiler plays an important role. But whether there are more or fewer jobs, Putscheid is by no means a sleeping municipality: there are a number of clubs, including three youth clubs, that bring life to the local community.
In the past, several innovative projects have been implemented, such as a village heated by wood chips, and street lights that only switch on when needed. A site is also currently being developed from which people will be able to observe the stars.
The Mayor would like to see local politicians in the Chamber of Deputies, even if she sometimes wonders how some people might manage the double burden.
Regarding the N7 motorway, the mayor of Putscheid would prefer an expansion to four lanes rather than just the planned securitisation.
Putscheid's finances, she claims, are still good compared to many other municipalities, but next year will be tough and will likely force the municipality to take out a loan. The municipality has several projects in the works that they would like to see through within the current legislative period.
Above all, the village renewal of Weller will be costly, and this will further limit the municipality's financial scope.
Could there be a possibility of a merger?
Putscheid and the neighbouring municipality of Parc-Hosingen already work together in the Intercommunal Union for Education, Education, Sport and Leisure, or SISPOLO for short. SISPOLO was founded in 1984 by the then municipalities of Hosingen and Hoscheid, with Consthum and Putscheid joining in 1990.
In 2012, Consthum, Hoscheid and Hosingen merged to form the municipality of Parc-Hosingen. Originally, a merger of the four SISPOLO municipalities was tabled, but Putscheid's local politicians decided against it.
And since that opinion has not fundamentally changed to this day, Putscheid will be celebrating its 200th anniversary next May. Whether there will be a 300th anniversary is yet to be seen.
