General Steve Thull will officially enter retirement on 1 October. On Friday, the defence ministry confirmed Claude Robinet had been chosen as his successor following a selection process which was triggered in October 2025.
Among Robinet’s responsibilities will be the preparation of Luxembourg’s army for the future, in relation to the development of the geopolitical landscape, as well as taking new technologies into consideration, Minister Yuriko Backes announced.
Robinet, 50, is currently chief of the “transformation” department in the army and represents Luxembourg in the Belgian defence. He participated in the KFOR mission in Kosovo in 2002, and also served in the ISAF mission in Afghanistan in 2011-2012.
The army union SPAL reacted positively to the news of Robinet’s appointment, with president Christian Schleck saying he hoped for a fresh start. “We made a fundamental demand for change,” he said. “We can’t keep doing the same thing and hopefully with a new team at the helm we will see this change in time, with a new start in October.”
