The time has come for the national conventions of the national political parties. After on 16 March, the CSV and had a meeting with their respective members on Saturday 22 March. Around 450 CSV members gathered at the Däichhal in Ettelbruck for their national congress, under the theme: "Great challenges. Great responsibility".
The national and international challenges facing Luxembourg punctuated the discussions and speeches, which focused on the economy and competitiveness, the need to adapt the welfare state and the pensions system, as well as the growing importance of defence spending in an unstable global context.
This gathering was an opportunity for the Christian Socialists, back in power since November 2023, to reaffirm their priorities in the face of national and international issues. The "captain" , appointed head of the list here in Ettelbruck two years ago, set the course with three pillars: European defence, a strong economy and social cohesion.
"Our ship needs a course, indeed, it needs to be steered in a certain direction, it needs to have an objective. So we have an election programme and that election programme needs to be implemented in one way or another. There are obviously things that need to be adapted. In any case, the objective is very clear, and it's up to the country's political leaders to strengthen the economy, strengthen the social sphere and make renewable energies more secure. We have five years to achieve this. We've been working on it for 16 months. I think that 2025 and 2026 will be decisive years in the coalition," said the prime minister at the start of his speech.
More defence, but not at the expense of citizens
He insisted in particular on the need for Europe to "take back ownership" of its defence and no longer depend solely on the United States. "We are not investing in defence because we want to go to war, we are investing in security because we want to ensure that in the future too we can live in peace and freedom, that is the very basis of this spending and it is not the other way around" insisted the "captain".
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The message was clear: there will be no investment in defence at the expense of the public. "In these additional expenditures necessary for defence, we cannot question the tax offloading of citizens. So the tax policy will remain a policy where people will have more purchasing power, businesses will be encouraged to invest, to create good jobs. We are maintaining our tax policy. We will have to find other ways to cover the necessary defence spending."
On a national level, Luc Frieden emphasised the triptych economy, social and sustainable, pillars of the CSV's DNA. He stressed the importance of a competitive economy to support a strong welfare state, which must be adapted to changes in society. "If we have a strong economy, we can also have a strong welfare state. The welfare state needs to be adapted and readapted from time to time. And that's perfectly normal, because society is not static. This is the purpose of the modernisation we have planned in labour law," the head of government stressed.
Fighting poverty, more than ever
On the economic front, it is a question of preparing for the future and not missing the innovation train in order to remain competitive. "We need a modern Luxembourg, which is why we are investing heavily in the digital economy, in the supercomputers that are needed to develop artificial intelligence," he added.
Frieden also spoke of the government's efforts to support people on low incomes and fight poverty. "There is no really good policy, our aim is a policy of the heart and of understanding, a policy that enables us to help people who are genuinely in need. He said: "For example, when we increased the cost-of-living allowance, when we tripled the energy bonus, when we tried to reduce the tax burden on families; to ensure that young people or single-parent families, or people on the minimum wage can feel better. It's not just a programme of action that's presented at a given time, no, no. It's a programme of action that's presented at a given time. From the outset, we have taken into account the existence of these people and we have fought against poverty. It's part of a whole programme, part of the whole CSV policy". According to him this is also how we are combating the phenomenon of the rise of the far right in neighbouring countries.
It was important to be able to raise the pension age to 65. We have no intention of going any further.
Concerning pension reform, he spoke of an "evolution" and not a "revolution" of the system, supporting the consultation process led by the minister for social security, In our election manifesto, we indicated that we wanted to guarantee the long-term funding of our retirement pension system. And that's why it's important to debate it. And so far, that's what I think we've done correctly," he stressed.
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A more concrete action plan is expected in June. He also reiterated the government's ambitions in this area. "Our society is ageing more and more? We had a retirement age of 60, which was extremely low compared with neighbouring countries. So it was important to be able to increase that to 65. We don't intend to go any further than that. In fact, we want to ensure that the contribution base can guarantee this system. That we can, through the effort of solidarity and by pushing back this retirement age, make this good system work, because it is a good system."
Divergence on Sunday working
The fraction leader also spoke at length, just before the prime minister. He expressed his differences with the government's line on certain social issues. In particular, he expressed his reservations about Sunday working.
"The Sunday working project and that of opening hours have been dealt with separately, I would have liked a global package including collective agreements and linking all aspects between the unions and the bosses to ensure that the direction is the right one for everyone. I would have preferred a different approach, but we're still going to move forward by defining avenues so that everyone can find their way around," said the former LCGB representative who is "bottle-fed in trade unionism" as he puts it himself.
Personally, I make no secret of the fact that the subject of Sunday working is not one for me
He stressed the importance of social dialogue. "Personally, I won't hide from you the fact that the subject of Sunday working does not come back to me. In 1989, in this very room, we were talking about this subject! I know that you can't avoid working in certain professions, but I think we have to make sure that we work with the people concerned. What bothers me most is the possibility of generalising Sunday working, as suggested in the opinions of the Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Trades. I think this is a step backwards and I have a problem with it. I think it's a step in the wrong direction", he added. He added: "This dialogue must be relaunched, it is important to have a real social dialogue, this social dialogue is a guarantee of Luxembourg's progress."
This article was originally published in .