CSV members Laurent Zeimet and Martine Deprez will be replaced on the Council of State, following their appointments in the Chamber and government respectively. Bettembourg mayor Zeimet will now serve as an MP in the Chamber of Deputies, after being voted in seventh place on the southern district lists for the CSV.
Deprez, who was nominated to the State Council in 2012 and replaced Georges Schroeder at the time, is a newcomer to the post of health minister. She was widely tipped to take over the Council of State presidency from Christophe Schiltz in 2024; the former maths teacher has now been sworn in as the new Minister for Health and Social Security.
The State Council must now deploy the nomination procedure, in which the government must propose a CSV candidate. It is likely Deprez will be succeeded by another woman, in accordance with the 2017 law which specifies that a third of all 21 members of the council must be female.
Zeimet’s successor will undergo a slightly different procedure, as the vacancy is occupied by the State Council itself, meaning the post may no longer be held by the CSV. By law, the council’s composition must correspond to the proportion of parties in the Chamber of Deputies, which means Zeimet’s post should go to the ADR.
The ADR has just one member in the Council of State, lawyer Nicky Stoffel, who replaced Albert Rodesch in 2018. In 2016, ADR candidate and lawyer Alex Penning was not retained by the government, as the government wanted to nominate a female candidate at the time. Now, Penning could be called up to take Zeimet’s place, after the latter held his seat on the Council for just a single year.
Next April, the presidency will change hands, with Marc Thewes nominated to take over from Christophe Schiltz by the CSV. Patrick Santer also plans to give up his seat on the Council, ending his mandate in early May.
