Déi Gréng’s candidate for mayor François Benoy (r.) with Italian resident Stefania Filice-Lorenzen who is also running for the party Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne

Déi Gréng’s candidate for mayor François Benoy (r.) with Italian resident Stefania Filice-Lorenzen who is also running for the party Photo: Romain Gamba/Maison Moderne

It’s all in the name, with déi Gréng putting a greener city at the top of its agenda, including making mobility more sustainable and efficient, and creating more space for citizens to enjoy a better quality of life and participate in the city.

Déi Gréng’s candidates François Benoy and Stefania Filice-Lorenzen discuss their top priorities for the city and integration in the capital.

Top 3 priorities

Improving quality of life: “We’ll create more space for pedestrians and children, better mobility and more terraces,” says François Benoy, the Green party’s candidate for mayor in the capital. It’s only part of the plan to improve the quality of life in the city centre but also the neighbourhoods around it. “With more greenery and trees, we’ll increase biodiversity and prevent heat in the summer months. This will help to create a green and attractive city.”

Sustainable, efficient mobility: “The city must allow everyone to travel safely in everyday life, be it on the way to work, to school or to go shopping.” After the successful arrival of the tram, “we now want to extend this vision of sustainable and efficient mobility.” That includes further extending the tram, an interconnected network of safe cycling paths and making car-sharing and e-mobility more attractive.

A climate-neutral city: “In order to face the climate crisis, we want Luxembourg City to become climate-neutral in the next 10 to 20 years,” says Benoy. Updated building regulations, support for energy cooperatives and more solar panels will “help citizens move away from fossil fuels.” The party wants to invest into the energy efficiency of public buildings and switch the municipality’s fleet to electric cars.

“We’ll also implement a zero-waste strategy.” That includes hosting green and sustainable events in the city, offering reusable materials like cups and cutlery, as well as the washing facilities to go with them, to organising associations. “As a result, we’ll increase quality of life in our city and strengthen the independence of its citizens.”

Integration matters

Breath of fresh air: “As an Italian, mother of four, EU jurist and co-founder of a societal impact company, I have been active in Luxembourg City for 20 years,” says Stefania Filice-Lorenzen. “We need to move forward in order to bring fresh air into our city” following a “standstill” over the last years after déi Gréng lost power in the 2017 election.

No more parallel lives: “Foreign citizens tend to isolate in parallel societal lives.” A proactive integration and civic participation policy for déi Gréng would include a “reception officer” who will help newcomers settle in. “By offering real citizen participation in different languages, instead of just informing the citizens, we will involve residents in shaping our intercultural city.”

An alternate version of this article first appeared in the  of Delano magazine.

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