The challenges faced by the construction industry have triggered a response from the government, which is expected to officially declare the sector “in crisis” in the coming days. Minister of Labour Georges Mischo and Minister of the Economy Lex Delles confirmed this development in an interview with RTL on Wednesday.
Fayot, currently an MP for the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP), took to the social network X (formerly Twitter) to criticise the government’s approach. According to him, providing short-time working to the construction sector amounts to giving an unrestricted financial support to an industry that is “not uniformly” in crisis and that enjoyed “continuous growth for decades.”
The former Minister of the Economy argues that the crisis in the sector is rooted in supply prices that remain too high to meet demand, weakened by inflation and high interest rates. Fayot contends that a market correction, specifically a downward adjustment, is imperative.
Expressing concern about potential distortion of competition between companies, Fayot asserts that the government, through the short-time working scheme, is essentially underwriting the profit margins of property developers and builders at the taxpayers’ expense. He criticises the Democratic Party (DP) and the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), accusing them of acting in favour of their respective clients.
Fayot adds that, in his view, the lack of a comprehensive plan to maintain jobs makes abuses inevitable. He highlights his consistent opposition, along with former Minister of Labour Georges Engel, to the implementation of short-time working in the construction sector.
Emergency measures: Construction sector officially in state of crisis as of 1 February
