Ansay announced during a council meeting and later in a written statement that she could no longer work with Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) mayor Marion Zovilé-Braquet, accusing the mayor of being unable to accept criticism and of portraying herself as a victim.
The revelations left Contern’s local politics in limbo. Behind the scenes, however, negotiations have been moving forward and a clearer picture is starting to emerge.
With a situation that has a likening to Samuel Beckett’s famous play “Waiting for Godot”, the LSAP branch in Contern has kept both its current coalition partner CSV and opposition parties Democratic Party (DP) and the Greens (Déi Gréng) waiting. But speculation is mounting that the party could favour a new three-way coalition.
On July 21, representatives of CSV and LSAP met to discuss possible next steps. CSV officials said afterwards that they are waiting for the LSAP to clarify its intentions: either replacing Ansay with another councillor and keeping the current coalition intact, or allowing the coalition to collapse.
The LSAP’s official explanation is that with the summer holiday period, many members are away and more time is needed before making a final decision. Yet reading between the lines suggests that the party is leaning toward a three-way coalition. A meeting has already taken place between LSAP, DP and the Greens, although no details have been disclosed about what was discussed. The three parties are expected to meet again at the beginning of September, which could be the moment when Contern’s future leadership becomes clearer.
The Greens as well as DP have indicated they are open to this potential cooperation, although the Liberals are holding back a little more cautiously.
Even if this does not sound like good news for the CSV at first glance, the party still has some room to manoeuvre. A coalition with the Greens seems unrealistic, since the CSV had already rejected this option two years ago, citing the fragile majority of six out of eleven seats. With DP, however, there still appears to be a small chance.
CSV holds five seats being the largest party, the DP three, the LSAP two, and the Greens one. In the 2023 municipal elections the DP gained a seat at the expense of the Greens. While the CSV and DP had entered into discussions at the time, the talks did not last long. The CSV preferred to continue its coalition with the LSAP, arguing that they were more aligned in terms of content.
The Liberals are unlikely to have forgotten this. What matters even more is that in a three-party coalition, the DP could secure the mayor’s office, something that would be impossible in a coalition with the CSV.
While there are some signs of progress, the future of Contern’s political leadership remains unclear. The next municipal meeting is scheduled for 17 September, yet the CSV is pushing for clarity before then. For now, however, it appears that a definitive coalition agreement may still be a long way off.
In practice, there are only two ways for the current coalition agreement to end. Either enough members of the municipal executive board resign to trigger new elections – an outcome that nobody in Contern seems to want – or the LSAP votes against the municipality’s budget proposal at the end of the year.
The conclusion is that the situation in Contern remains tense, with the hope that unlike Beckett’s play, the wait will not last forever. For now, it is clear that stability will not return to Contern any time soon.
Alongside the political uncertainty, there is also significant discontent among parts of the municipal staff, with serious allegations of mobbing still hanging in the air. How the situation will evolve will only become clear in the weeks ahead.
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