On Tuesday 25 April, Bettel was set to give his yearly speech on taking stock and announcing new government proposals. The “state of the nation” speech is usually considered the most important of the year in parliament.

However, after 15 minutes, the speaker of parliament Mars di Bartolomeo announced that the sound system of the live transmission was not working. Half an hour later, he decided to cancel the debate and postpone it to Wednesday morning (26 April).

This means that the whole parliamentary schedule is now shifting.

Finance minister Pierre Gramegna and economy minister Etienne Schneider  were supposed to present the stability and growth programme, respectively the national reform programme in the morning. They will now speak in the afternoon, and afterwards MPs can produce their statements on the three declarations.

“Brexit minister” David Jones present

The British minister of state at the Department for Exiting the European Union, David Jones, was also present, but just in his function as MP. He had attended the EU general affairs council on Kirchberg beforehand.

There were also several ambassadors present for the speech.