The German politician Sigmar Gabriel came to Luxembourg for a conference at the Pierre Werner Institute, taking place at Neumunster Abbey on Monday evening alongside Luxembourg's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean Asselborn.
Gabriel, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice-Chancellor of Germany, highlighted that traditional parties emphasising European values are preaching to the choir.
Instead, he explained that parties must try a different method when it comes to trying to convince Eurosceptics of the value of Europe.
Put bluntly, he explained that politicians must stress that individuals countries would go under faced with the behemoth USA and China in a scenario without Europe.
Gabriel highlighted the same message he puts forth in his book, Zeitenwende in der Weltpolitik, which is that the European Union must work to make itself independent of the USA in terms of politics, the economy, and the military.
Gabriel answered questions at the conference. Once question mentioned that LSAP politicians participated in a peace march on Saturday.
The question was whether marching for peace and working on military arming were compatible. Gabried explained he did not quite understand the question, stating that balancing these two points makes up the exact policy of socialists: on the one hand, military strength, and on the other, an offer to discuss peace and a detente. As a result, he found the participation in the peace march appropriate and not a contradiction for socialists.
Luxembourg's socialist party has struggled recently, losing seats in the 2018 elections. Their German counterparts have also had difficulties gaining ground amongst the electorate.
In Gabriel's opinion, social democrats and progressive politicians must return to the distribution question again. He agreed that economic prosperity is important and should be the goal of social democrats, but they must also endeavour to see this prosperity distributed fairly throughout society. He elaborated that too many people work hard, but feel that they have nothing to show for their work.
One of the attendees of the conference noted that both Gabriel and Asselborn had neglected to discuss climate change in the hour of the conference.
The German politician remarked in response that the risk of war is more acute that climate change, but conceded that more must be done to protect the climate. However, he highlighted that this should not be down at the expense of struggling households.
