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New government sworn in: coalition of the Liberal, Socialist and the Green take office
On December 4th, HRH the Grand-Duke of Luxembourg has sworn in the 15 Ministers and 3 Secretaries of State (Deputy Ministers) of the new government following the October 20th general elections.
The day before, the three coalition parties ‒ Liberal, Socialist, and Green – had approved the government program for the coming 5 years. The new government under Liberal Prime Minister Xavier Bettel (40) includes 7 members each from the Liberal and Socialist parties and 4 members from the Green party. Pierre Gramegna, former Director of the Chamber of Commerce and former Diplomat has taken over as Minister of Finance on the Liberal ticket while Etienne Schneider (Socialist Party) will continue to be in charge of the economy, foreign trade, and energy adding tourism & SMEs, internal security, and defence to his portfolio. The new coalition can count on 32 out of 60 members of Parliament. Former Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, with 18 years at the helm of the government will lead the opposition in Parliament. During his December 10th inaugural declaration before Parliament, new Prime Minister Xavier Bettel declared financial consolidation towards a structurally balanced budget (+0,5% of the GDP), public debt limitation to under 30% of GDP and economic growth through further foreign and national investment government priorities. The new government also pledged to increase the supply of housing in order to reduce pressure on housing costs.
For the first time, the government program specifically mentions China as a strategic partner for the Luxembourg economy, especially in the financial sector. Sources here .