A day after the national election, RTL invited three newly elected faces to the studio to discuss their future prospects in the Chamber of Deputies: Liz Braz, youngest MP for the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) at age 27, Joëlle Welfring, Environment Minister yet first-time candidate for The Greens, and Dr Gérard Schockmel, infectious disease expert and prominent pandemic pundit for the Democratic Party (DP).
Braz is not only the youngest LSAP MP, but the youngest person in the Chamber overall. The politician from the southern constituency now looks poised to start her new career from the opposition benches as the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) has announced their intention to start coalition negotiations with the Democratic Party (DP).
Braz argued that the opposition bench will certainly be a formative experience and a way of learning how everything works behind the scenes. She underlined her commitment to tackling issues pertinent to younger generations:
“It is clearly housing at the moment, this affects everyone. It is digitalisation, an omnipresent issue as we are in the midst of that transition, we lack a clear strategy on how to deal with artificial intelligence, so we have to act quickly, and then of course climate.”
The climate issue is also important for Joëlle Welfring, who, after being director of the environment administration, took on the role of Environment Minister in May 2022 when the Greens’ Carole Dieschbourg stepped down from that role. Welfring now remains one of only four Greens politicians in the Chamber and believes her party’s legacy under threat:
“Looking at what some parties are saying, the policies they have in their manifestos, and the messages sent during the election campaign, one can easily become concerned for the future, which I am, particularly in terms of climate and labour protection. These are two crises that really need to be taken seriously and that will not solve themselves.”
Finally, infectious disease expert Dr Gérard Schockmel is looking at a first spell in the Chamber of Deputies. However, should the CSV and the DP end up forming a coalition, he might skip that job altogether and straight away take on a ministerial role:
“It is indeed the case that many people, including those who voted for me, would like to see me as the Health Minister. And I would of course love to take on such a task responsibly, with humility and effort, that is very clear. I’ve mentioned before that I have a vision for how a healthcare system should be organized, drawn from my experiences abroad.”
However, whether or not Dr Schockmel will indeed end up becoming health minister will have to be decided in the coalition talks between CSV and DP.
