Three-way struggle for power in Luxembourg

Xavier Bettel is one of the EU’s longest serving heads of government, with almost ten years as Prime Minister of Luxembourg.

Now he sits loose when the small grand duchy holds parliamentary elections.

Bettel’s liberal Democratic Party (DP) is only third in opinion polls ahead of Sunday’s election. Even if the current three-party coalition with the Greens and Social Democratic LSAP should continue to have a majority, Bettel thereby risks being forced to step down in favor of his current Deputy Prime Minister, LSAP leader and Health Minister Paulette Lenert.

Former defense and finance minister Luc Frieden also hopes to become prime minister if his Christian Democratic CSV – which tops the opinion polls – can convince one of the governing parties to change coalitions.

Unlike in many other EU countries, migration is not a major issue in Luxembourg, where instead expensive housing prices have been one of the main issues of the election. From an EU perspective, at the same time, the election is not very exciting, as all major parties are strongly pro-EU.

– For the EU, it does not matter much if it is CSV, DP or LSAP that sits at the table, says political scientist Anna-Lena Högenauer to the EU Observer news site.

FACT Long-sitters in the EU

Read more