A month ago Kartheiser submitted a parliamentary question addressed to the Prime Minister and Minister of State, querying whether the Grand Duchess is allowed to engage politically, respectively take over the patronage of a political protest. Xavier Bettel provided his response to Kartheiser on Thursday, shedding light on the role and political duty of Grand Duchess Maria Teresa.
The alleged incident Kartheiser was referring to was not specifically named in his question, as the MP simply described it as an event focusing on violence against women and girls that was 'openly hostile towards men'. The MP described the event in this way as it did not focus on men as victims of violence.
In his response, Bettel was clear about the even in question, specifying that Kartheiser was referring to the Orange Week, a United Nations awareness campaign revolving around the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (25 November). Bettel provided some clarifications, namely that the event is not a political protest, but an initiative condemning violence against women. The prime minister pointed out that the phenomenon remains an issue both in other countries, and in Luxembourg. Instead of consisting of a political march, the protest is based on universal and fundamental human rights. Bettel stressed that these rights should be universal in society in the eyes of the government.
The prime minister also provided a general response to the MP, giving clarity on whether the Grand Duchess can be politically engaged in theory. The Minister of State referred back to a June 2012 decree, which highlights that the Grand Duchess holds her title in both a public and private capacity. Following on, the state does not envisage the Grand Duchess temporarily rescinding her title, as the MP queried.
The constitution does not dictate any regulations on the status of the head of state's spouse and their title, but Bettel said customarily, the head of state's spouse holds a policy of political neutrality. As the Grand Duchess's title is bound to the title of her husband, the logical consequence is that she also holds an inviolable status. Therefore, the prime minister wrote, the Grand Duchess cannot be made politically or criminally responsible.
