Product Code Database
Luc Frieden (; born 16 September 1963) is a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer serving as prime minister of Luxembourg since November 2023. A member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), he held numerous cabinet positions in the Luxembourgish government between 1998 and 2013, notably serving as the minister for the Treasury and Budget during the transition from the Luxembourg franc to the Euro and as minister of Finance during the European debt crisis. Frieden then left politics and was active in the private sector, serving as president of the Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce and Eurochambres, the business federation of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
In early 2023, he was elected to be the lead candidate of the CSV for the general elections in October. He led his party to victory, slightly increasing its vote share and maintaining its 21 seats, while the incumbent Bettel II Government lost its majority due to the decline of The Greens. Consequently, on 9 October 2023, he was appointed by Grand Duke Henri to form a new coalition government, and succeeded Xavier Bettel as prime minister on 17 November where Bettel became the deputy prime minister and minister for Foreign Affairs.
Besides Luxembourgish, he speaks fluent English language, German language, French language and has a good working knowledge of Dutch language, his wife's native language.
In the capacity of Minister for the Treasury and Budget, Frieden was responsible for the successful introduction of the euro as replacement for the Luxembourgish franc. During the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2005, he chaired the European Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). As Minister of Finance he represented his country at the European Council of Ministers of Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) as well as at the Eurogroup and participated in the stabilisation of the Eurozone and the shaping of the European banking union. For 15 years, Frieden served as Governor of the World Bank and acted as chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in 2013.
Frieden has been a partner with the Luxembourgish law firm Elvinger Hoss Prussen since 2016. Between 2019 and 2023, he was also President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. In 2022, he also took over the Presidency of Eurochambres, the business federation of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
He led the Christian Democrats to victory in the election, with 29.21% of the vote and 21 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. As the Bettel II Government lost its majority, Frieden was invited by Grand Duke Henri to form a government on 9 October 2023. He led coalition talks between the CSV and the Democratic Party (DP), and succeeded Xavier Bettel as Prime Minister on 17 November 2023.
On 22 November 2023, Frieden presented his government's program for the parliamentary term in the Chamber of Deputies. The cutting of red tape, digitalisation and modernisation were the three main concepts that stood out throughout Frieden’s speech. His priorities include the massive recruitment of police officers and the development of video surveillance, the adoption of tax reform and an increased role for the private sector in healthcare.
Frieden's first external visit was to Olaf Scholz in Berlin on 8 January 2024, amid violent protests by German farmers. On 16 January 2024, news magazine Politico Europe published an article where Frieden stated his intent to build a better relationship with Viktor Orbán and visit him, despite his opposition to the EU's support for Ukraine. This led to criticism, and Frieden stated he had been wrongly cited.
On 26 February 2024 Frieden travelled to Paris, where Emmanuel Macron was holding an emergency summit over the situation in Ukraine, as they had suffered the loss of Avdiivka. Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala proposed to purchase 500,000 rounds of artillery ammunition for Volodymyr Zelensky's forces.
On 21 March 2024 at the Nuclear Energy Summit 2024 in Brussels, Frieden declared an openness for nuclear power, breaking a largely held national consensus. Luxembourg would not build a nuclear reactor and was still lobbying neighboring countries to close their reactors close to the Grand-Duchy, but he would not dictate other countries how to transition from fossil fuels. Frieden underlined that research of new nuclear technologies is important in his view. This stance was met with a flurry of criticism inside Luxembourg, ranging from environmental NGOs to nearly all parties. It was noted that Serge Wilmes, minister of environment and also member of Frieden's CSV confirmed the anti-nuclear position of Luxembourg on the same day. In the environmental commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Frieden explained his position on 27 March 2024, which was widely viewed as backpedaling from his statements in Brussels and criticized as uncoordinated and arbitrary.
During the election campaign for the general elections in October 2023, LSAP politician Max Leners published an 80 page long pamphlet about Frieden's political past, criticizing deportations of minors under his rule as Minister of Justice, his views on labour laws, working hours and pensions as well as his implication in the tax rulings uncovered by the LuxLeaks revelations.
|-
|-
|
|
