The meeting, which took place last Thursday, was lauded by the government, while Syvicol president Emile Eicher described it as a disappointment:
LINK: Mixed reactions following union meeting with the governmentEicher reiterated his frustration over the lack of cooperation from the government. He emphasised that their main goal was to increase transparency, which had been unsuccessful. While municipalities made significantly less money since the beginning of the pandemic, their expenses have mostly increased.
Eicher elaborated on the substantial differences in financial situations between individual municipalities, noting that while the City of Luxembourg still had over €1,000,000,000 in reserves for instance, other areas would already approach their limits. Naturally, the latter ones will decrease their spending until the government provides more clarity on future benefits. He further noted that both the German and Belgian governments had already put specific compensation mechanisms into place.
The Syvicol president thus argued that municipalities should receive better subsidisations so that they could continue to invest and engender economic growth. He pointed out how expenses had drastically increased over the past 15 years, paired with a significant number of costly environmental policies that needed implementation.
"Although it was clear that the government had understanding for our struggles, we did not feel any real engagement to offer more help", Eicher concluded. "The prime minister seemed more concerned with organising Christmas markets!"
In 2019, Syvicol issued 45 draft laws, out of which only 31 were consulted by the government. Only a handful of government officials had taken the time to consult contact the union about the respective cases, Eicher further noted.
