“Kurs op muer. Ee Muer fir Jiddereen.” “Setting course for a tomorrow for all.” It was under this title that finance minister (CSV) presented on Wednesday 9 October. “New impetus, recovery and confidence combined with tax relief, solidarity with the most disadvantaged, an ambitious investment programme, greater efficiency and security--these are the main themes of this budget,” he explained.

At the end of this presentation of the most important bill of the year--which lasted just over an hour--MPs were able to give their initial comments on a text of almost 680 pages. In the words of (LSAP), “we have obviously not yet been able to read [it], but in the context of the various parliamentary committees, we will certainly have the opportunity to dig deeper into the revenue that will be generated to offset the expenditure announced in particular. The announcement effect in the presentation of the budget is one thing, but we need to look at the necessary revenue.”

A budget of “continuity” for the majority

“As regards the recovery, it is not taking place, contrary to what we have heard today, whether in a European or national context, and growth is still at half-mast,” analysed the LSAP MP.

For (déi Lénk), “it’s a lot of bluster, because on the one hand the finance minister has listed a whole number of investments, which are quite banal investments, in railways, schools, etc. These are things that in any case need to be done in 90% of cases, or have already been started by previous governments, so I think this government should be a little modest.”

The déi Lénk MP criticised the CSV-DP government for “passing itself off as a social government by saying that it is going to de-tax the minimum wage. That may sound social, but in Luxembourg the minimum wage is about €300 too low, so what we need to do is increase it, but the government doesn’t want to do that, because it’s a pro-business government. So what’s going on? To make life easier for people on the minimum wage, we’re going to lighten their tax burden, which isn’t that high anyway, and in reality this won’t make their lives any better, but we’re exempting employers from paying these employees properly. So it’s us, the community, who, through tax exemption, are actually paying what the employers should be paying, and to pass this off as a social measure is just grandstanding,” he insists.

“All a big show,” says the ADR

For his part, MP and fractional leader (DP) is defending the budget presented by the governing coalition. “It’s a budget in line with what the government has done over the last ten years. We have done a lot and continue to do a lot for small pockets, by increasing Revis for example. And Gilles Roth has said that public debt must and should remain below 30% of GDP, which is very important for our party, unlike our former coalition partners [LSAP and déi Gréng, editor’s note].”

, fractional leader of the CSV, for his part “welcomes” the budget presented. It’s the first time that revenue has risen faster than expenditure,” he said. “The figures presented yesterday [Tuesday, editor’s note] to the finance committee for the first nine months of the year show that we’re heading in the right direction. It’s also a responsible policy for the younger generations, who have good prospects for their future.”

Among the other reactions from the opposition, (ADR) felt that “it was all a big show. The finance minister manages to say that everything is fine in the best of all possible worlds, whereas we have a lot of problems in the country, and the budget does not show how we are going to solve them.”

For his part, (Piratepartei) analyses that “a lot of announcements have already been made in the past, and I don’t know exactly how this budget is going to perform, especially with announcements of several billion euros over four years. We know from past experience that governments very often announce gigantic envelopes over four years, and then don’t use them. So I get the impression that they’re creating a nest egg for the years to come, so they can fund projects they haven’t even thought of yet.”

This article was originally published in .