July 2020 photo shows Luxembourg finance minister Pierre Gramegna Romain Gamba/archives

July 2020 photo shows Luxembourg finance minister Pierre Gramegna Romain Gamba/archives

Pierre Gramegna (DP) was speaking to the parliament budget control committee on Monday following a Court of Auditors report which found the economy ministry sold for €30m rather than leased, as is normally the practice, land to Fage. The firm eventually abandoned its yoghurt factory plans because of mounting opposition, and the state bought back the land.

The report found the economy ministry failed to inform the finance ministry of its plans and to explain why it opted for a land sale over leasing.

A week after the new economy minister, Franz Fayot (LSAP), outlined a draft bill to avoid a repeat of the Fage fiasco, Gramegna said he had not followed the file closely because the industrial zone concerned fell under the jurisdiction of the economy ministry.

He said that he was notified of the sale of land via a sale contract, which he forwarded to the administration of registration and domains. Gramegna was criticised for not calling upon the services of the acquisition committee of the finance ministry. According to Gramegna this was a mere formality since all transactions for the sale or purchase of land must be signed by the finance ministry.

He added that the procedure could be improved and, in future, a representative of the economy ministry will sit on the acquisition committee so that a better exchange between administrations can take place.

In a future meeting, the committee will decide how to follow up on the special report.

It could be that the then economy minister, Etienne Schneider, will be called to give his account of the steps leading to the sale.