After the CSV, the LSAP, the DP and the Pirate Party, it was the ADR’s turn to present their annual parliamentary report. Over the twelve-month period, the group asked 377 parliamentary questions and organised 38 meetings with work unions and communities.

Fuel prices, energy poverty

MP Fernand Kartheiser prefaced the presentation by addressing the energy crisis and subsequent gas shortage the country might face in the upcoming winter. “People should be able to use their heating without going bankrupt,” Kartheiser stated, calling for a revision of the gas supply restriction imposed on Russia. The shortage, he said, was the EU’s doing.

The ADR also put an emphasis on fuel prices and Luxembourg’s competitivity, saying that it “doesn’t see how it helps the climate whether people get their fuel in Arlon [in Belgium] or Steinfort [the Luxembourg town on the Belgian border]”. The party also welcomed the , as it considers that income from so-called fuel tourism remains important.

A further consequence of the energy crisis, the indexation of wages was also brought up by the party leader. The ADR had been against postponing the index until April 2023, a position it continues to stand by.

Lowering public debt while doing away with taxes

Public finances are also on the ADR’s mind and in its future election programme. “We need the triple A rating, we’re close to the 30% threshold we set, and we cannot go above it,” Kartheiser stated. Though by international rating agency Fitch on 18 July, finance minister Yuriko Backes (DP) had said that expenditure in the second half of 2022, linked to the energy crisis and inflation, , and that caution was key. A position with which the ADR agrees.

Yet, the ADR--which wishes to lower the public debt--doesn’t want to increase the tax burden on residents. It wants to adjust the tax table to inflation, cut taxes on the minimum wage, as well as lower them for widowers and single parents. Instead, to reimburse the public debt (and solve the climate and housing problems), the ADR proposes a review of the grand duchy’s growth strategy and expenditure, even if it means cutting off some services currently offered by the state.

Constitutional referendum, a sore point

The ADR did not hesitate to point at what it considers to be the coalition’s shortcomings, as well as those of the CSV, Luxembourg’s biggest opposition party. A major issue it underlined was that the government had not delivered the that it had promised at the start of the current legislature in 2018.

The lack of a tax reform, which had also been part of the package, was, however, less of an issue for the conservative right-wing party, which considered that it was currently not financially viable to undertake such a task, as the government prepares to face the cost of the Solidaritéitspak.

More seats in national and EU parliament

While it is unlikely for the ADR to become a major parliamentary party in the next elections---the  predicted it would lose 3.7% of its share of the vote--for the next legislative cycle the party wants to “strengthen our presence in the Chamber--and clearly make up a fraction.” Parties must have at least 5 seats in parliament to be considered a fraction. It has also set a target to win a seat in the European parliament elections in 2024.

Addressing a long list of issues, the party also mentioned a reform of the pension system, climate action and the housing crisis, calling for “rational solutions” which it has yet to provide.