On Monday morning, the Dippach council cancelled the budget vote just two hours before it was due to take place. In a statement, the council secretary wrote that the aldermen had decided several points were still up for discussion. This was later confirmed by Mayor Manon Bei-Roller, although she added that she had already gathered a majority for the budget that had been presented previously.
“There are several different points to still discuss and it’s important for everyone to know what’s going on, so everyone can contribute to the discussion”, she explained to RTL.
The budget vote has now been postponed to 12 January 2026.
But Luc Emering, local MP of the Democratic Party (DP), views the situation differently. “The majority has a lot to still discuss but they are human in nature”, the first alderman said. It would not be possible to vote for the budget until this happened, he said, adding that the DP felt it was up to the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) to initiate talks with the party responsible for issues within the council. But this had not happened, he added, further noting that the budget itself was not the issue.
Sven Schaul of the Dippach citizens’ initiative, in opposition, said he felt the reason behind the short-notice postponement was the fact there are tensions within the council itself. Since last year, the atmosphere has not improved, and the council members are still at odds with one another, despite claiming the opposite in public, he said.
In addition, second alderman Philippe Meyers is currently at the heart of a controversy surrounding the financial structure of a charity, which is being used to pay municipal bills, without the necessary transparency. Meyers is also chairman of the charity board and both the mayor and first alderman are members of the charity.
Schaul is also questioning why the whole council meeting, not just the budget debate, had been cancelled. “We’ve never had a session cancelled on the morning of”, he said. He added that he hopes the majority vote against the budget in January, which could then lead to new elections.
