LFF CEO Nicolas Mackel introduced a pre-recorded video of Bettel, as the prime minister is currently attending the European Council meeting in Brussels. 

When asked which topics will dominate the EU agenda next year, Bettel said he hoped Brexit would soon be resolved, comparing it to Echternach’s “Sprangprëssessioun”: “we jump a bit, and we go back,” he said. 

Although Brexit is bad for Europe, “it’s even worse for the UK,” he added. 

Other topics in next year’s planning are the transatlantic agenda discussions with the US, as well as relations with Turkey, the EU’s multiannual financial framework and the continued debate on rule of law.

Climate change, too, will be a focal point. “We need to have these ambitious goals, where Luxembourg… knows the decisions we take today are going to be the problems of the standards of livings of the next generations,” Bettel said. He’s optimistic, however, about the grand duchy’s role in sustainable finance. 

“We are able to have a joint public-private partnership in finance instruments, we were able to get solutions on sustainable goals that we want to have these green bonds [and] other products. 

On vaccinations, rebuilding economy

While the UK has already begun vaccinating its population, which Bettel admitted “puts us under pressure”, European MEPs are to debate the vaccines with the European Medicines Agency later today.

“Maybe we will be able to get vaccines by the end of the year, but I prefer we have more time so we have more guarantees,” Bettel said. He acknowledged that “the next days and weeks won’t be easy” and that, even when the vaccine is approved by the EMA, it will still take time to get everyone vaccinated.  

While the first priority has been the fight against covid-19, Bettel recognised the challenges he faced as a politician in decision making. But he said it’s not just the government doing so. 

“We have to listen to specialists, [to] doctors, professors, people who analyse wasterwater, virologists, epidemiologists…without forgetting the collateral damages of the crisis.”

As the premier has previously stated, he wants to avoid raising taxes, which would be “poisonous” right now. His focus is on a safer, balanced budget, delaying some projects as required. But he prefers that “credit now is used to spend into the economy, it’s much better invested money than leaving a debt economy”. 

A personal note

Bettel said that like many others, he is tired of wearing a mask and misses normality, including human gestures--even hugs. “For 2021 we hope that next year Christmas will be [different], that the next 12 months on will be different,” Bettel told Mackel. 

“I hope next year will be a year we will be able to have a normal life [again], to get more liberties,” he said. “I know how tough it is to cut civil liberties, not see who I want… [these are] limits I don’t want.”