ADR candidates Tom Weidig and Goulnora Soultanova discuss their top priorities for the city and integration in the capital.
Top 3 priorities
Safe and clean public spaces: “Safety and cleanliness have notably decreased over the last years, but the responsible parties are in denial,” says Tom Weidig, vice-president of the ADR. “We have pushed to give the police and municipal agents more power to fight crime more effectively,” he says, adding that these requests have fallen on deaf ears with the parties in power and accusing them of preventing the public from knowing who commits which kinds of offences.
Stop reducing parking: “We definitely want spaces for pedestrians and cyclists and we love our pedestrian shopping streets,” says Weidig. At the same time, however, the ADR is critical of the continuous disappearance of parking spaces in the capital. “Every new construction site seems to magically swallow up a few parking spaces,” he says, adding that residents, too, are complaining. “Too much is too much. There should be balance.”
Direct democracy: Citizens should be directly involved in local politics, says Weidig. For example, they should have had a say on major infrastructure projects. “The city has spent hundreds of millions on prestige projects without a direct vote or say from its citizens.” For example, an e-voting platform could help residents cast their vote even on smaller issues, such as the naming of infrastructure. Instead of French titled Stade de Luxembourg, the national stadium could have been called De Roude Léiw, if the choice had been left up to football fans, says Weidig.
“The ADR believes in direct democracy. The 2015 referendum showed how very much out of touch the political and opinion-generating class were.” Government proposals to introduce foreigner voting rights, lower the voting age to 16 and limit government mandates to two terms were all shot down by a significant majority of voters.
Integration matters
Propose alternatives: “I joined the ADR after the 2013 elections, because I felt that the ruling coalition only offered a laissez-faire approach towards integration,” says Goulnora Soultanova who came to Luxembourg nearly 30 years ago from Uzbekistan. “Explosive population growth, lack of affordable housing and the abandonment of children to daycare were not even talked about. The ADR is not afraid to address these topics and propose good alternatives.”
Learning Luxembourgish: “We must improve the visibility of Lëtzebuergesch.” Her true integration came through learning the local language, she says, adding that it should not only be up to Luxembourgers to adapt to newcomers. “Respect towards the local culture is close to my heart.”
An alternate version of this article first appeared in the of Delano magazine.