Energy minister Claude Turmes (déi Gréng) is taking over as environment minister ad interim while the party finds a successor (Photo: Simon Verjus/Maison Moderne)

Energy minister Claude Turmes (déi Gréng) is taking over as environment minister ad interim while the party finds a successor (Photo: Simon Verjus/Maison Moderne)

Environment minister Carole Dieschbourg on Friday morning informed her party, déi Gréng, of her intention to leave office--a move that surprised the Greens and leaves them looking for a potential successor.

Dieschbourg’s --delivered after a written personal statement in which she had supported for her diplomatic immunity to be lifted as part of an investigation by the Luxembourg prosecutor’s office--also caught the party leadership off guard.

“We were informed this morning. We totally respect her decision even if it hurts us,” said the co-president of the Greens Djuna Bernard. She stressed that although Dieschbourg's decision is painful, “it also highlights the respect she has for ministerial mandates and the missions that are attached to them. She does not want the affair that concerns her to pollute her actions.”

Dieschbourg is embroiled in a corruption case, facing accusations of favouritism towards fellow Green politician Roberto Traversini. The former Differdange mayor and member of parliament had started works on a shed in a nature protected zone before receiving planning permission. This was granted in retrospect after works were halted pending review. Dieschbourg has denied any wrongdoing, saying the file was treated like any other.

The public prosecutor’s office in 2019 seized documents at the environment ministry and on Friday said it had forwarded the matter to the Chamber of Deputies, which must vote to lift the immunity of ministers and formally accuse them in a legal case. 

Dieschbourg had announced that she wanted her immunity lifted to be able to say her piece. “She wants to be able to be heard and to give explanations as Carole Dieschbourg and not as a minister, that is to her credit,” said Bernard.

Carole wants total transparency.
Djuna Bernard

Djuna BernardCo-presidentdei Gréng

Bernard said the decision to leave now was not prompted by a desire to prevent scandal closer to the elections in 2023. “This has not been a factor. No, Carole wants total transparency,” said Bernard.

Dieschbourg has been attacked on several front in recent years: the shed scandal in 2019, then the turmoil surrounding the in early 2021, before being entangled in a case involving with the law by his family business Moulin Dieschbourg. 

It will now be necessary to find a replacement, with Claude Turmes acting as environment minister ad interim. The party will meet “as soon as possible”, said Bernard, but said there were no concrete solutions on the table at this point. 

This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.