“Statec’s current forecasts suggest that more than one index tranche could fall within the next 12 to 13 months,” Prime Minister Luc Frieden said on Wednesday, as the government formally launched its energy tripartite process over fears of a renewed inflation and supply shock linked to the conflict involving Iran.
Speaking after bilateral consultations with trade unions and employer representatives at the Ministry of State, Frieden said the government had convened the talks because of uncertainty surrounding energy prices, inflation and possible disruption to supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.
The coalition agreement already provides for tripartite discussions if multiple index tranches are expected within a 12-month period, Frieden said.
“That is why the tripartite is taking place at the right moment,” he said.
The government held separate meetings on Wednesday with the private-sector unions OGBL and LCGB, employer representatives and the public-sector union CGFP ahead of the first full tripartite session on 12 May.
Government seeks narrow energy focus
Frieden said the 12 May meeting would focus on presentations from Statec and energy experts, while substantive negotiations with the social partners are expected to begin on 2 June.
The prime minister described the tripartite as a “crisis-management instrument” intended to produce joint solutions between the government and social partners.
According to Frieden, employer representatives and the CGFP favour a tightly focused agenda centred on the energy crisis and its economic consequences.
The OGBL-LCGB union alliance, however, said it wanted discussions to extend beyond energy prices alone.
Unions widen demands
In a written response after the meeting, a spokesperson for the OGBL union said OGBL and LCGB were “speaking with one voice”.
The two unions said the tripartite agenda should include purchasing power, the minimum wage, collective agreements, job retention, housing affordability and guarantees for the public healthcare system.
The healthcare dimension has become increasingly sensitive as the government simultaneously faces tensions over the financing of the health insurance system and negotiations between the CNS and the Association of Doctors and Dentists.
A separate quadripartite meeting on health and maternity insurance also took place on Wednesday in Dudelange.
CGFP attacks delays
Although government sources described the scheduling overlap between the two processes as coincidental, the parallel meetings highlighted the number of politically sensitive social and budgetary files now unfolding simultaneously for the government.
The CGFP argued that the tripartite should have been convened earlier and criticised the timetable, which foresees an initial factual session on 12 May followed by substantive negotiations only in June.
The public-sector union warned against what it described as delaying tactics at a time when households were already facing rising fuel, heating and food prices.
The CGFP also defended Luxembourg’s wage-indexation mechanism as a central pillar of social stability and rejected any discussion of weakening or restructuring the system.
At the same time, the union backed a narrowly focused tripartite agenda centred specifically on the energy crisis and its consequences.
No measures yet
Frieden indicated that the government was not yet ready to announce concrete support measures for households or businesses.
“Nobody knows how this crisis will evolve,” the prime minister said, arguing that the government first needed clearer information on possible scenarios affecting both energy prices and supply.
If current Statec projections hold, salaries would increase through an index tranche on 1 June, he said.
