Following talks with her parliamentary group colleagues and party leaders, déi Gréng (Greens) MP and former Environment Minister Joëlle Welfring has decided to step down from her Chamber seat with effect from October 2026, in order to take up a new role as Special Advisor for Climate and Gender Equality Initiatives at the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The decision, Welfring said in a statement on Monday, was not an easy one, and she wanted to sincerely thank everyone who had placed their trust in her at the elections. Those who know her, she added, know that she always carries out her responsibilities with full commitment and great professionalism, and that she intends to fulfil her parliamentary mandate right up to the very last day, with unwavering conviction and dedication.
The Southern MP, who served as Environment Minister for a year and a half in the tripartite coalition and previously as director of the Environment Agency, has represented her party in the Chamber for three years.
Welfring joined the Greens at short notice in 2022, after taking over as Environment Minister following the resignation of Carole Dieschbourg. Dieschbourg herself had stepped down in the wake of the garden shed affair.
On the Green side of the aisle, Josée Lorsché, the third candidate on the Greens' South list and currently first alderman in Bettembourg, is returning to the Chamber. First elected in 2011, the 64-year-old politician also chaired the Green parliamentary group from 2018 to 2023. A teacher by profession, and active in the anti-nuclear movement in the 1980s, Lorsché has been involved with the Greens for more than 40 years
Alongside this reshuffle in the Chamber, a seat held by the Greens on the Council of State is also set to open up. Following the appointment of lawyer Deidre Du Bois as vice-president last week, she is leaving her seat on the Council of State.
It is now up to the government to appoint a new member. The last vacant seat had been held by Max Lehnen of the Democratic Party (DP), who is on track to succeed Georges Kohn on the same body.
More information is available on the Green's official website.
