is not yet the DP’s Spëtzekandidat. But he’s a prime minister who still has plenty to do. The prime minister is not going to be too specific about his political future, he said in an interview with RTL TV on Friday evening.

That said, the Bettel did remind us with whom he would not want to govern. Neither ADR, nor dei Lénk, replied Bettel, after having first been satisfied with a formula that was “neither extreme right, nor extreme left.”

Then the head of government became more specific on two no-go’s: he will not include in a coalition programme the issue of reducing working hours per week to 36 hours or an increase in corporate taxation.

His labour minister, (LSAP), had put this discussion back on the table in another interview on 19 January, triggering an outcry from the business community.

The prime minister also recalled that if Luxembourg had been able to cope well with the recent crises, it owed it to its connections with neighbouring countries. “Who can call the French president to explain to him why the borders should not be closed?” he said, explaining that the former prime minister, , “also had networks in Europe.” , the recently designated head of the CSV’s list, on the other hand, was not mentioned.

Referring to Nicolas Sarkozy, who admitted to thinking of becoming president of France while shaving, Bettel indicated that he was not thinking of remaining prime minister in front of his mirror every morning.

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