Michel Reckinger says Luxembourg’s current political leadership is missing a “bon père de famille” Mike Zenari

Michel Reckinger says Luxembourg’s current political leadership is missing a “bon père de famille” Mike Zenari

As of 1 January, Michel Reckinger has succeeded Nicolas Buck’s mandate as president of the Union des Entreprises Luxembourgeoises, which represents Luxembourg’s private sector businesses. Reckinger is the head of a family firm supplying heating and air conditioning that currently employs some 250 staff and in 2015 was appointed the president of the Fédération des Artisans. This interview took place at the end of November.

Duncan Roberts: You have been critical of the government’s part-time unemployment measures with regards to the discrepancy between the treatment of the public and private sectors. Is this a subject you will be pursuing in your new role as head of the UEL?

Michel Reckinger: Here in Luxembourg we have a structural problem in the differences between the civil service and the private sector. The state’s salary structure, entry level salaries that are too high and other advantages--it’s pretty much the same all over the world--that a civil service job is a job for life. That has an impact on schooling, training… everything that is done here, including politics, is done in the service of public employees, because they are the voters.

And that also discourages people to start up their own business?

Everything that we were told as entrepreneurs--to have the courage to start a business--was a lie. Politicians have proven [during the pandemic] that independents and the self-employed mean nothing to them. We don’t have any illusions that any political party will look after our interests. Just look at the last six months, how many people tried to convince the authorities that they didn’t actually have independent status [so they could claim state aid]?

How is morale at the moment? Is there cautious optimism about next year?

No. I mean the [hospitality] sector is at rock bottom. People say the construction sector is still doing OK, but even so, companies have been impacted--even if it’s slightly less--because they have people off sick or quarantined. And it’s the same with clients who are sick. Obviously, banks and insurance companies have largely been spared, but remote working has also affected productivity.

The pandemic did accelerate the move to digitalisation for many companies. But do you think many businesses still think digitalisation is just about having a website?

It is different from sector to sector. I mean using Teams or WebEx has become standard whereas seven months ago nobody was really talking about them. And people will keep using them. Things like digital billing, CRM [customer relationship management] and so forth… contact with clients via the internet has been in the pipeline because it adds value, and that has been accelerated because of the pandemic.

Is Luxembourg prepared for the impact of AI in terms of training and job creation?

The government has recognised that this is an important area and that these are the sorts of business models that we can attract and develop. And Uni.lu is working in this sector. But we are still small, and we lack resources--schools are too slow to adapt. We aren’t San Francisco. We have to find niches. I’m just glad we haven’t missed the AI train completely, but we are certainly not pioneers.

If we’re talking about the education system in Luxembourg, what needs to be improved?

Oh, how long have you got? There is so much that is going wrong. Whether its secondary schools, the classic and technical streams, or further education and training, what I think is missing is advancement for the elite in many areas. I mean, we have a specialist sports school but no school for engineers, no school that prepares students of natural sciences.

We need structures that can push these people, but there is no political will to do this. We are focused on everyone getting a high school diploma, whether they have earned it or not, and that is the wrong approach--and I don’t think I’m alone in thinking that.

Do you see the UEL as a counterbalance to trade unions?

Yes, we represent the interests of businesses--but that includes the employees of businesses. That’s something that is probably not talked about so much in public. But for me it’s obvious that if a business is doing well, its employees will benefit. And if they are doing well, they will be productive…it’s a win-win situation.

As an engineer you have an interest in the environment and energy. In what context can the UEL have some influence in these areas?

These are the big themes for the next ten years. By 2030 we have to reduce CO2 emissions by 55%. I think the carbon tax, which is the best way to help achieve these goals, should be index neutral--it should have no repercussions for the indexation, otherwise businesses will be the ones who will end up paying through higher salaries.

It is important that the environment and climate change should no longer be exclusively Green themes. Every party, every part of society, and all businesses should be involved – we can’t just leave it up the fundamentalists, who have done a good job up until now in drawing attention to the challenge. But the Mouvement Écologique won’t provide the answers to what are very technical issues. It is up to industry and business to implement the solutions.

What other challenges would you like to see the government focus on in 2021?

Well, budgetary consolidation without completely neglecting investment. As a businessman, you are never in favour of accumulating debt and I think the policy we are pursuing at the moment is not healthy and will be a burden on our children.

Then there is the fundamental question of what sort of industrial policy we want in this country. You can’t please everyone, and sometimes you have to make tough decisions. The “not in my backyard” attitude of our government is not viable. It’s OK when the money is there, and we did have relatively easy living over the last five years, but we [the UEL] pleaded with the government to build proper financial reserves during that time. The “bon père de famille”, which those of us who come from small- or medium-sized business have in our blood, is what is missing from the political leadership at the moment.

This article is adapted from an original published in the January 2021 print edition of Delano.