Mir d’Vollek

Heading the list for Mir d’Vollek (“We the People”) are Jean-Marie Jacoby, formerly of the KPL, and Peter Freitag, formerly of the Pirate Party. Both were leading figures in the anti-vax movement during the covid-19 pandemic, responsible for numerous demonstrations and militant actions that got them into trouble with the law. As heads of their party, they campaign for peace, sovereignty and friendship between peoples in Eurasia. “The EU and its institutions,” they say, “are acting in the interests of international financial capital against the interests of the people, and are blindly following the US administration in its anti-Russian crusade.”

For Jacoby, the big issue of the election is peace. “The European Union does not fulfil the aspirations for peace of the people who live there,” he says. “The EU is pursuing geostrategic goals to weaken Russia in the interests of international financial capital, directed mainly through entities domiciled in the United States. To ensure that their investments are successful, the EU provides the material and military bases for the Kyiv regime, which is a fascist regime, one that banned all opposition before 24 February 2022, abolished all freedoms and human rights, and that practices arbitrary arrests and torture. And since the elections have been suspended, it is ridiculous to claim that this country is a democracy.”

According to the candidate, the most urgent thing now is “to stop the Nazi-style anti-Russian propaganda and return to normal trade relations. Cutting ourselves off from low-cost energy resources does not mean becoming independent, but rather becoming dependent on more expensive resources. We are already seeing the first harmful consequences, especially in Germany, with companies closing down and relocating to countries with access to cheap energy, mainly in Asia. The EU’s economic policy is absolutely harmful to its industry, and it’s going to impoverish us enormously.”

The second urgent need, according to Jacoby, is “to put an end to the current climate policy. It’s a stupid policy. It’s a fact that the climate is changing. And it’s also a fact that this is due to the sun, which has released more energy than usual in recent years. Mars is warming up like the Earth. And there is no human activity or cows on Mars. And let’s not forget that warm times have always been more favourable to mankind than ice ages. It’s no fun when there’s ice all the way up to Cologne.”

Convinced that his party’s positions are increasingly echoed by the population, Jacoby is aiming for 2%. He would like to overtake all the “war-mongering” parties. In addition to Jacoby (68) and Freitag (48), the Mir d’Vollek list includes Margarida Brites Nunes (53), Tom Helbach (29), Viviane Bruno (30) and Olivier Caisou-Rousseau (63).

The KPL

The Communist Party of Luxembourg (KPL) is running  (69, journalist) and Alain Herman (42) at the top of its list, along with Dzenana Adrovic (28), Claudine Muno (52), Edoardo Tiberi (54) and Enrique Guerrero (44). In 2019, the KPL won 1.14% of the vote, or 14,323 votes, including 4,850 for Ruckert. As it did five years ago, the KPL wants to see the dissolution of a Europe whose “policies are neither social nor climate-friendly,” a Europe accused of encouraging the rise of far-right parties. “The direct or indirect promotion of these anti-democratic parties corresponds to the interests of the dominant forces,” says the party programme, “because they do not question the fundamental conditions in capitalist countries and because they open the way to new restrictions on fundamental democratic rights.” Europe is accused of encouraging escalation both in Ukraine and in the middle east.

“The KPL is not calling for Luxembourg to withdraw from the EU, but, unlike all the other parties in Luxembourg, the KPL is convinced that it is not possible to turn the EU, through minor or major reforms, into an organisation that serves the interests of working people,” says the programme. The party wants the EU in its current form to be dissolved and “a new structure of regional cooperation created for all the peoples of the European continent and in the interests of all working people.”

Déi Konservativ-d’Fräiheetspartei

Déi Konservativ-d’Fräiheetspartei (“The Conservatives-Freedom Party”) is led by Joe Thein, who founded the party in 2017 after breaking with the ADR. He is joined on the campaign trail by Guy Arend (51), Celeste Bemtgen (53), Armand Klein (60), Patrick Lamech (65) and Patrick Thein (62). Joe Thein is responsible for this all-male list. “This list was validated by a vote of the national committee and party members,” he says, “a party in which women’s voices carry weight. In fact, the vice presidency of the party is held by a woman and we have had many female candidates in previous elections.”

The party positions itself as “a conservative centre-right party with elements of classical liberalism” and wants to use the European elections to “change the political landscape” within the EU. “We are in favour of a Europe of nations. As such, we are campaigning for a comprehensive reform of the EU that puts the homeland, sovereignty, freedom and peace at the heart of public policy. We want a system in which policies are made for the citizen.”

For Joe Thein, the major issues at stake in the election are the war between Russia and Ukraine, climate policy and immigration. On the war in Ukraine, the party is calling for peace and the immediate opening of negotiations. On immigration, he believes that the problem has not been solved with the last mandate--“the humanitarian situation is worse today than when the crisis began”--and calls for “a more restricted and controlled immigration policy.” On climate issues, he calls for “a policy without ideology and for citizens’ money not to be used to finance a policy that is more dogmatic than pragmatic.”

Déi Konservativ-d'Fräiheetspartei hopes to break the 2% barrier. To do so, it is counting on defectors from the ADR and Liberté-Fraihett--the party of , another ADR defector who is not standing as a candidate in this election--to unite the conservatives. In 2019, the party obtained 0.53% of the vote, or 6,652 votes, including 1,957 for Joe Thein.

This article in Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.