“Esch is not crime city”, said Esch mayor Christian Weis, from the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) on Tuesday morning on RTL Radio in response to the fatal dispute between two men at the end of March. He stressed that this tragic incident should not be taken as a reflection of the city as a whole.
At the same time, he acknowledged that Esch, as a dense urban centre with around 70,000 people on its territory each day, a lively nightlife, strong public transport links, and proximity to the French border, naturally faces different challenges from a quieter residential municipality.
Although police statistics show an upward trend in recorded offences, Weis said the increase was not dramatic. When it comes to more serious crimes, he described the development as relatively stable, adding that violent robberies and drug-related offences had in fact declined.
He also noted that the real security situation and people’s sense of security are not always the same, which is why the city is trying to work on both.
One issue raised recently concerns drug users leaving dangerous items near schools, including syringes. Weis described one recent case involving a child who found a syringe near a school as deeply regrettable, while clarifying that it had been found outside the school grounds rather than in the yard itself.
Even so, he said the municipality wanted to step up protection for children.
He explained that security patrols already pass through schoolyards, but that these checks would now be intensified. Cameras are also due to be installed in selected areas of certain schoolyards, he said. In addition, he stressed that hygiene checks carried out by caretakers and specialist teams will be stepped up.
Weis insisted that it was important to keep caretakers in schools so they could continue to monitor what happens there, including outside school hours.
Weis also spoke positively about the local police unit that has been operating in Esch since July 2024. Since its introduction, he said, the city has had much closer contact with the police leadership, with meetings taking place every two weeks.
These regular exchanges, he explained, provide updates on recent incidents as well as upcoming events and how best to prepare for them. He also said residents appreciated the visible presence of local officers, particularly in the town centre and in Belval, where they serve as a direct point of contact.
Weis said he did not believe the unit needed to be massively expanded, but stressed that officers should remain visible and active on the ground.
Beyond security, Esch also wants to take new steps in citizen participation. In cooperation with the international research and action institute DemocracyNext, the city is organising a citizens’ assembly.
Weis said the idea came from the observation that the elected municipal council, while fully legitimate, does not reflect the city’s demographic make-up particularly well, especially given that it was elected by less than a third of Esch’s population.
To address this, 40 residents were selected by stratified random draw to broadly match the population in terms of gender, age, profession, and neighbourhood. They were chosen from more than 550 people who volunteered after 10,000 invitations were sent out.
Their task will be to draw up recommendations for the city, and Weis said that ideally the assembly could become a more permanent structure, providing feedback on local policy beyond this first exercise.
He acknowledged, however, that the project’s success would depend largely on how politicians respond to those recommendations. Still, he said he expected the proposals to be of real quality, as participants would go through an intensive eight-week process and receive guidance from experts, including on issues such as budgets and legislation.
That, he argued, should lead to more thought-through and grounded proposals than a simple collection of ideas. He said the mayoral council had committed itself to taking the outcome seriously if the city wanted the initiative to continue.
On the political front, Weis also commented on upcoming changes within Esch’s mayoral council.
André Zwally of the CSV, Pim Knaff of the Democratic Party (DP), and Meris Šehović of The Greens (déi gréng) are all set to step down from their posts, although Weis declined to say exactly when this would happen, arguing that it was up to the parties and individuals concerned to make that public themselves.
He insisted, however, that these departures would not come at the expense of continuity.
For him as mayor, he said, such changes would not alter much. He explained that the coalition’s three partners, namely the CSV, DP, and The Greens, work together well, fairly, and collegially, and are guided by a solid coalition agreement. Whoever holds office, he argued, has a duty to help implement that programme.
Addressing the issue of tax evasion with regard to alderman Pim Knaff, Weis did not engage with that line of attack, simply saying that, from his point of view, Knaff was doing solid, hands-on work as an alderman, and that this was what mattered to him.
Weis also touched briefly on Luxembourg Pride, saying Esch had been very proud to host the event for years and remained proud of its status as the country’s only “Rainbow City”. But he welcomed the fact that Pride would now alternate between Esch and Luxembourg City, arguing that every city should be proud to host such an event and that sharing it would strengthen the broader cause.
As for his own future, Christian Weis said he would gladly remain mayor of Esch beyond 2029. But, he added, politics is a team sport, and such decisions would ultimately be taken later, together with his party and team, ahead of the next local elections.
