In contrast to the last European elections, large and small parties managed to come to an agreement this time.
Stéphanie Weydert, Co-General Secretary of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), acknowledged the excessive use of posters in the last campaign and highlighted the parties’ commitment to ecological sustainability and road safety by opting to forego the traditional hollow bracket posters on lamp posts this time.
The agreement imposes limits on campaign materials, including a maximum of 120 large posters and 50 wooden posters per party. There will be a maximum of two door-to-door mailings from the submission of the lists on 10 April. Gadgets are also limited to two different items per party and one pen. Notably, edible gadgets without plastic wrapping and existing old stock items are exempt from these limitations.
Similar to the last legislative elections, parties have agreed to a €100,000 budget for advertising across print media, radio, internet, and television, excluding production costs.
The official start of the election campaign is set for 6 May, with parties permitted to display their posters from 4 May onwards.
Dan Biancalana, co-president of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), clarified that while the agreement does not carry legal obligations, it serves as a commitment to uphold specific standards of conduct, with no provisions for sanctions in case of violations.
Meanwhile, the co-president of the Green Party (déi Gréng), Djuna Bernard, stated, “We are pleased that we will not have a battle of resources as we have had in the past.”
In the past, small parties often did not support election campaign agreements. For the Left Party (déi Lénk), for example, the agreements often did not go far enough in terms of limitations, emphasised Carole Thoma. While differences between the means available to the parties remain, “We are satisfied with this agreement,” Thoma said, particularly its provisions to eliminate hollow posters.
Frank Engel of FOKUS also expressed his satisfaction that the parties agreed to stop “this nonsense of hollow bracket posters.” Engel did note, however, that there were overall minimal changes compared to previous agreements.
