Although the price cap on electricity and gas is set to be introduced by the government over the coming months, Spautz said people who still use heating oil and wood to heat their homes would require support and adaptations. In conversation with RTL Luxembourg radio on Monday, the CSV MP said more needed to be done in the social sector.
47% of the state budget will be designated for social measures, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said in his State of the Nation speech earlier this month. But for Spautz, the support isn’t targeted enough.
He told RTL that some 109,000 people live on the poverty line in Luxembourg, and measures such as doubling staff in the social offices would not be sufficient. In addition, a social office in Esch-sur-Alzette would not be the same as one in Capellen, Spautz added. Authorities needed to examine why people are living in poverty and then make adjustments according to the social structure of each municipality, instead of distributing aid uniformly across the country.
Spautz also aimed criticism at what he deemed “gratuity measures”, such as free public transport and free school meals. His primary issue with these measures is that he did not feel they would work for rural areas as well as they do for the south and centre of the country. The government could not solve all problems with free measures, he said.
The CSV continues to demand tax reform and a higher top tax rate of 45 percent. Spautz said all of the CSV had approved the 900 million euro package which the reform would require. In addition, Spautz called for a “shutdown guarantee” to preserve better work-life balance, in which employees could not be reached at all hours, and also encouraged discussion on working hours, where where politics should set the framework.
