Since the audit in the municipality of Dippach in early 2025, responses have shown positive improvements and an overall sense of relief. Every week, the majority of the local council have attended meetings to discuss the problems within the commune together, states Luc Emering of the Democratic Party. “Nothing more concrete has been settled on”, elaborates the first deputy mayor. The second deputy mayor of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), Philippe Meyers, echoed Emering’s words."Nothing has really changed. The foundational issue has not been touched”, the latter emphasises.
After the audit of the mayoral council, the commune intended to look ahead to a brighter future, and even a mediator had been hired. Today, it was said that the mediator was apparently only hired to look over the audit with the staff. “We don’t have one at the moment, but I absolutely think it is something necessary”, adds Philippe Meyers. The underlying issue consists of a disagreement with the mayoral council on where exactly the mission should be started. Luc Emering elaborates: “The problem is rooted within the other two, because they do not know which mediator to hire and what to agree on.”
Sven Schaul, a member of the citizen initiative Commune Dippach, sees the situation clearly as the problem has been identified. “However, that problem does not want to admit that there is a problem”, he interpreted. The mayor should seriously reflect whether she can still hold the position and represent the commune internally and externally.
There have been more and more reports of unhappy colleagues. At the start of May, the local council received a letter accusing the mayor of psychological harassment, yet since the incident the victim has changed jobs. The facts that have been released to RTL.lu date back to 2023, and they mostly criticise the mayor’s childish behaviour. The description of the incident also indicated that the former communal employee and the mayor were friendly colleagues but this ended abruptly in 2023. The written witness report conveys an offended impression. As a consequence, the employee had not been reconsidered for a position in the commune although it had been promised to them.
MPs Luc Emering and Philippe Meyers nonetheless believe an accusation of this extent should be transferred to the public prosecutor’s office. The prosecutor could then decide to launch an investigation if necessary. The two men admitted never to have encountered issues with their former colleague.
The citizen initiative has also addressed another discussion point, namely a vote deciding if the audit should be publicly discussed during a council meeting. “I don’t shut down this discussion and I think it has to be addressed once to be able to talk about it”, LSAP politician Philippe Meyers claims. However, he points out that certain people could be identified, but the document has already been given to the press. Luc Emering underlines his interest in discussing the audit.
The opposition politician Sven Schaul further pointed out that the first 10 points on the agenda are staff-related subjects. Luc Emering countered his statement by putting it into perspective. He remarks that there have been a couple of departures, “but that does not necessarily have anything to do with this whole circus.”
The local council is going to meet on Monday for the first time in three months, and will likely have more than enough to discuss.
