The CSV separately approached the DP and LSAP, which are currently in a three-party government with the Greens, RTL reported on 4 October.
Corinne Cahen, the DP party president, told RTL that an unnamed CSV official approached her about forming a new coalition, to which she replied, “this will not be the case”.
Étienne Schneider, the LSAP’s deputy prime minister, claimed the CSV promised to make him PM in a coalition government. “I gratefully refused this proposition,” Schneider said.
Schneider has, in any case, said he would not continue his mandade as a cabinet minister beyond February 2022, when he will have served 10 years in office.
CSV leaders denied approaching the parties. “There has never been any discussion, neither within the [parliamentary] bloc nor within the party,” said Laurent Mosar, CSV MP and a former speaker of parliament. “I am strictly unaware of anything about this.”
“There was never any discussion on this subject within the party and there was never any proposal,” stated Martine Hansen, the CSV parliamentary bloc leader. “The CSV is not in a position to make this kind of offer. We are doing the work of the opposition and that’s it. Does the majority want to create a smoke screen? It’s an interpretation and I’m not one for interpretation.”
François Bausch, the Green deputy PM, may have cryptically alluded to the manoeuvres at his party conference on Wednesday evening. “Those who wish to derail the majority should put their own house in order. They will never divide us, neither within the government nor within our own party. I would have hoped that this kind of situation would never have come to pass in our country. In this kind of situation, we know who our friends are, who are in solidarity with us and who do not support us,” Bausch stated.
The Green party has faced several challenges in recent months. Félix Braz suffered a heart attack in August and left his post as justice minister. Roberto Traversini resigned last month as mayor of Differdange and as MP earlier this week after building an unauthorised garden shed on his property. The Traversini affair has implicated the Déi Gréng environment minister, Carole Dieschbourg, who was accused of illicitly looking the other way. Dieschbourg has denied any wrongdoing.
The CSV is the largest single party in parliament. However, it was shut out of government following the 2013 and 2018 elections.
The current DP-LSAP-Greens coalition agreement runs till 2023.