LUXEMBOURG (dpa-AFX) – Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel wants to continue his previous policy after the parliamentary elections on October 8th. “I have the motivation and the energy to continue to modernize the country and keep working,” said the liberal beggar of the German Press Agency in Luxembourg. The 50-year-old has been Prime Minister of the Grand Duchy since December 2013. He leads a three-party coalition of Liberals, Social Democrats and Greens.
The lawyer is to be chosen as his party’s top candidate for the autumn elections at a party conference of the Democratic Party in Roodt-sur-Syre on July 8. He’s looking forward to the campaign. “I’m always on the go and I like to get into conversation. I’m a bit addicted to people,” he said.
Towards the end of the current legislative period, he has “a clear conscience: I did the work the way I thought it was right. Now it’s up to the citizens to say whether it was right,” said Bettel, referring to the election.
The Bettel government has implemented important projects from the coalition agreement of 2018: free public transport, a higher minimum wage and the course for cannabis legalization. In addition, the corona crisis had to be overcome and the energy crisis had to be overcome. “If I compare Luxembourg with other countries, then we’re not doing badly,” said Bettel.
For him there are two main topics in the next legislative period: climate and housing policy. “The climate crisis is not tomorrow, it is here today,” he said. But climate policy only works with the citizens. And: “Being climate-friendly shouldn’t be a luxury.”
When it comes to housing policy, he sees a need to catch up. More “affordable” housing is needed in Luxembourg. “I see a lot of young people who can’t move out of their homes because they can’t afford it.”
In the second smallest country in the EU with around 660,000 inhabitants, voting is compulsory: turnout is therefore usually around 90 percent. Bettel moved into parliament in 1999 as a member of parliament. From 2011 to 2013 he was mayor of Luxembourg City./rtt/DP/zb