The image is exceptional: before getting into the luxurious Mercedes EQS 450+ that awaits him--the most expensive electric car at a catalogue price of €130,000--the minister of energy, (déi Gréng), immortalises on his smartphone the graceful ballet of the eight buses of Voyages Emile Weber parked in a herringbone pattern on the Place de l’Europe.
It must be said that these are not just any buses. After the tour operator agreed, at the very beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that some of its drivers would go to help extract Ukrainians from the war-torn country, the company was the first and only one in Luxembourg to answer the call of the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska.
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During her visit to the European Parliament in September, the wife of president Volodymyr Zelensky pointed out the scarcity of means of transport, the need for 3,000 buses, the importance of already preparing for reconstruction and the need to reopen 74 institutions for the education of children. Today, there are more than 3,000 destroyed or damaged structures and the education system cannot even use the internet, as electricity is often cut off. 5.7 million children are without school, according to European Commission statistics.
This is not the time to weaken our support for Ukraine!
With eight buses--less than Germany (22 buses), Spain (36), Finland (20), Estonia (9), but more than Austria or Italy (3)--Luxembourg is number one, when you compare the number of donations to the number of inhabitants, both the minister for mobility, (déi Gréng), and the head of the Luxembourg representation, , are pleased to say. Although the expected total is not close to being reached, the latter assures that with €14m released by the European Commission, things should improve significantly from the first quarter of 2023.
The 50-70 seat buses, which are between nine and 13 years old, have been overhauled to ensure that they are in perfect working order in a country that already lacks the latest models. They will head for Dnipro (2), Kherson (3) and Zaporizhzhia (3), via Poland’s Government Strategic Reserve Agency, which is the hub used by the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre.
The eight Luxembourg buses should arrive there before Christmas, a €130,000 gift that is priceless for an increasingly troubled Ukrainian people. “This is not the time to weaken in our support for Ukraine!” urged Calteux.
This story was first published in French on . It has been translated and edited for Delano.