EPP stands to gain Council seat after Luxembourg election

The centre-right CSV (EPP) is likely to dethrone liberal Prime Minister Xavier Bettel and lead Luxembourg’s next government after the country shifted to the right following Sunday’s national elections.

Luxembourg’s current “Gambia” coalition – in office since 2013 – lost its parliamentary majority in Sunday’s national elections, according to preliminary results published on Monday morning.

While Bettel’s Liberals (DP) and the Social Democrats (LSAP) made small gains compared to the last elections in 2018, the Greens were the main losers and are set to lose more than half their seats in parliament.

This would mean that the three parties, which currently only have a narrow majority in the Luxembourgish parliament, would not be able to renew their coalition.

Instead, the CSV – the party of former EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker – did not only get the largest vote share but is also the most likely to lead the next government.

While the centre-right party only made marginal gains, the allocation of seats between the remaining parties means there is very little scope for a coalition without the CSV. This is also due to the gains made by far-right ADR, a coalition with which the other parties have ruled out.

After a decade as part of the opposition, “the mood is better than five years ago, this is very clear,” Christophe Hansen, EU lawmaker and general secretary of the CSV, told RTL Luxembourg on Sunday evening.

The CSV’s lead candidate for the office of Prime Minister is Luc Frieden, who promised a “renewal” in Luxembourgish politics during his campaign but is himself a veteran politician and former finance minister.

Meanwhile, the fall of the Gambian coalition is also a blow to Germany’s ‘traffic light’ government, which is made up of the same party families. In recent years, Luxembourg has often acted as a testing ground for its larger neighbour, pioneering policies that Berlin is now pursuing, such as the legalisation of cannabis or a national ban on the herbicide glyphosate.

The two governments have also frequently worked closely together on the European politics stage.

(Julia Dahm| Euractiv.de)