Luxembourg residents seem to mainly trust their government’s judgement. Photo: Shutterstock

Luxembourg residents seem to mainly trust their government’s judgement. Photo: Shutterstock

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on 13 July released the result of its Survey on Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions, where it evaluated public confidence in 22 OECD member states.

The so-called trust survey mainly took place in November-December 2021 and January-March 2022. Improving democratic systems by looking at the reliability, integrity, fairness and openness of various governments allowed the OECD to paint a picture of the public sentiment towards ruling institutions.

The grand duchy did relatively well when it came to trust put in the government. In 2020, the country had scored a trust rate of 78%--a score likely influenced by the so-called ‘rally around the flag’ effect of the pandemic, according to the OECD. In 2021, around 6 in ten Luxembourgers were confident in their government, compared to a 40% EU average. Only Norway and Finland were ahead of the grand duchy on the chart. Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel (DP) reacted to the news in a series of tweets.

“While in Luxembourg the level of trust in government is among the highest in OECD countries, preserving and strengthening it requires continued efforts. Democracy is a precious good that we have to protect so that future generations can thrive and live in peace,” Bettel on 14 July.

According to the study, disadvantaged groups, such as young people, women, low-income households, citizens with low levels of education and those who are financially insecure tended to trust the grand duchy less.

Yet, almost 70% also thought the state would be prepared for another covid-like pandemic, should it occur. Only half of Luxembourgers felt like their country should do more to priorities climate action, but only 1 in five trusted that it would.

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Less than half of the Luxembourg participants (around 45%) believed that the government was responsive to the needs and concerns of residents. But, they thought that local politicians would be less likely to grant political favours in exchange for a well-paid private sector job.

Less than a year before the end of the current coalition government made up of the DP, déi Gréng and the LSAP, Bettel said that improvements were already on the way, citing parliament’s decision to ease the voting process for foreigners in Luxembourg.

Luxembourg, as well as Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom also took part in the survey, with usually around 2,000 respondents partaking per country.