Your Weekly RecapWhat you need to know at the end of this week

• The CNS’s financial health was the focus of a Quadripartite.
• Luxembourg’s police called for stricter laws to combat crime.
• Liz Truss, Britain’s PM has resigned.
• EU leaders clashed over the energy crisis.
• The cost of food is up 16% across the EU.
• Drone attacks and Martial Law imposed in Ukraine.

Health Minister Paulette Lenert (LSAP) speaking to RTL after the Quadripartite in Mondorf this week.

© RTL

1. The CNS will have operated at a €55 million loss this year.

• A special Quadripartite took place to review the CNS’s financial difficulties.

• The National Health Fund (CNS) expected to add €7 million in losses this year, a 15% increase from original estimates.

• Minister of Health Paulette Lenert reiterated that the sustainability of the system has to be revised

• A task force has been working on proposing solutions since last spring

• The fund’s reserves will stand at €848 million by year’s end.

The CNS announced that a fully digital reimbursement method should be up and running by next year, after releasing its 2021 report.

A new National Health Observatory has started its work with the aim of collecting, managing and contextualising healthcare-related data.

A recruitement video of the Grand Ducal Police showing two officers.

© Grand Ducal Police

2. The police called for more power and stricter laws this week, bringing to question the safety of Luxembourg’s residents.

• Officers feel overwhelmed and ‘disgusted’ with their workload

• The police syndicate openly challenged politicians to take action.

• The union alluded to recent verdicts of trials against police officers as ‘contributing to a tendency of looking away’.

“People in the government, you have to wake up, this country is no longer an island! What kind of society do we want?”said Pascal Ricquier, president of the SNPGL (Police Syndicate)

Ricquier also addressed the double homicide in Niederkorn, which shocked the country on Monday morning.

The Grand Ducal Police will begin recruiting again next week, and 200 reinforcements are expected to enter the force in May 2023.

Relevant: Luxembourg City Mayor Lydie Polfer said she had been harassed by beggars in the city, and called on the Police to evict beggars “as early as the evening”

More Luxembourg stories below ‘in case you missed it’.

Liz Truss delivered her resignation speech in front of 10 Downing Street.

© AFP

3. Liz Truss resigned after 6 weeks as Prime Minister.

• Her tax plan panicked the markets and her own party turned on her.

• She has resigned as Leader of the Conservatives and will stay on as PM until a new leader is elected, that will happen by Friday next week.

• Only MP’s of her own party will participate in elections to choose the new leader.

• Labour’s Keir Starmer called for a new general election.

• Boris Johnson is expected to run for leadership again.

The timeline of Liz Truss’ time as Prime Minister will be characterised by the loss of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and her U-turn on her promised tax cuts which backfired.

Rishi Sunak who lost out to Ms. Truss in the party leadership campaign over the summer; Penny Mordaunt, and Ben Wallace, are amongst the leading candidates to replace her.

Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the EU leaders Summit. He opposed EU-wide price caps on energy.

© AFP

4. EU leaders met to find common ground on the energy crisis amid skyrocketing inflation.

• The Commission proposed joint purchases by the EU energy giants aiming to command cheaper prices.

• EU leaders clashed over how to tackle energy prices, with Germany opposing price caps.

• They agreed to making joint gas purchases and creating a new gas price benchmark by early 2023.

• Spain’s foreign minister said EU proposals don’t go far enough and warned it could lead to a “breakdown in confidence” in European institutions.

• France, Spain and Portugal agreed to build a gas pipeline from Barcelona to Marseille.

📈 Inflation sent prices skyrocketing in Europe

• Germany’s inflation is running at 10%.

• Prices across the continent for a basic loaf have never been higher.

• Overall, the cost of food jumped by nearly 16% in the EU.

Strikes against rising costs of living held in Paris on Sunday spread across the country this week and increased pressure on Emmanuel Macron’s government, already stuck in Parliament, where opposition parties are refusing to pass his budget.

A police officer fires at a flying drone in Kyiv, Ukraine.

© AFP

5. Russia attacked Ukraine with drones purchased from Iran.

• Russian forces launched Iranian Shahed-136 drones in Kyiv on Monday killing four.

• The EU agreed to new sanctions on Iran for providing drones to Russia.

• Ukraine spoke of a growing threat from Belarus.

• Vladimir Putin declared martial law in occupied regions of Ukraine, as the Ukrainian army advanced.

Ukraine began curbing electricity consumption as it raced to repair infrastructure destroyed by Russian bombing as winter approaches.

The EU and United States both said that Iran supplied the drones that explode on landing and Finland planned to build a fence on its Russian border.

Climate Change

• Environmental groups have warned that the World Cup in Qatar will be far more polluting than advertised.

• In the Arctic, global warming is occurring three or four times faster than elsewhere in the world, and Polar Bears are seeing their feeding period shorten, and their forced fasting last longer.

And in case you missed it

• Patrick Goldschmidt, Alderman of Luxembourg City, presented environmental subsidies that aim to encourage energy efficiency, and support people wishing to relocate to the City, as well as increases of art subsidies.

• High interest rates and government tax reforms on rent and property may backfireaccording to Stugalox boss Joël Schons, who said “never before have so few buildings permits have been issued”.

• € 1.4 million worth of expired Covid-19 vaccine doseswere destroyed since December 2021 in Luxembourg.

• The Union of Post employees aired its grievances this week, saying Post has not adhered to hiring laws.

• An Iranian-organised protest took place before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kirchberg to call for an end of Iran’s repressive regime and the liberation of incarcerated protesters.

Your Weekly Recap is published every Friday at noon. Read earlier versions.

What did you think? What would you like the Weekly Recap to include? Let me know: christos.floros@rtl.lu

Christos Floros covers News and Politics for RTL Today @christosfloros