Luc Frieden (Luxembourgish pronunciation:[lukˈfʀi.dən]; born 16 September 1963) is a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer who is the 25th prime minister of Luxembourg since November 2023. A member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), he held numerous cabinet positions in the Luxembourgish government between 1998 and 2013, notably serving as the minister for the Treasury and Budget during the transition from the Franc to the Euro and as minister of Finance during the European debt crisis. Frieden was president of the Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce and Eurochambres, the business federation of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
In 1994, Frieden was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg for the Christian Democrats (CSV - EPP), becoming, at the age of thirty, the then youngest member of the House. While in Parliament, he chaired the Finance Committee as well as the Constitutional Committee and was a leading figure in the process leading to the establishment of a constitutional court and of independent administrative courts in Luxembourg.
Frieden joined Deutsche Bank as Vice Chairman in September 2014. Based in London he advised the management board and senior management on strategic aspects related to international and European affairs.[5] He also served as chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank Luxembourg.[6] He left Deutsche Bank in early 2016.
Frieden has been a partner with the Luxembourgish law firm Elvinger Hoss Prussen since 2016. Between 2019 and 2023, he was also President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. In 2022, he also took over the Presidency of Eurochambres, the business federation of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Premiership (2023–present)
Frieden with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen in December 2023.Frieden with Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk in June 2024.
Following his comeback to politics in 2023, Frieden announced that he would resign from all his professional activities. He was elected to be the lead candidate of the Luxembourg Christian Social People's Party (CSV) for the upcoming national general elections in October.
He led the Christian Democrats to victory in the election, with 29.21% of the vote and 21 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. As the Bettel II Government lost its majority, Frieden was invited by Grand Duke Henri to form a government on 9 October 2023. He led coalition talks between the CSV and the Democratic Party (DP), and succeeded Xavier Bettel as Prime Minister on 17 November 2023.
On 22 November 2023, Frieden presented his government's program for the parliamentary term in the Chamber of Deputies. The cutting of red tape, digitalisation and modernisation were the three main concepts that stood out throughout Frieden’s speech. His priorities include the massive recruitment of police officers and the development of video surveillance, the adoption of tax reform and an increased role for the private sector in healthcare.[7][8]
Frieden with former Prime Ministers and Presidents of the European Commission Juncker and Santer in January 2024
Frieden's first external visit was to Olaf Scholz in Berlin on 8 January 2024,[9] amid violent protests by German farmers.[10] On 16 January 2024, news magazine Politico published an article where Frieden stated his intent to build a better relationship with Viktor Orbán and visit him, despite his opposition to the EU's support for Ukraine.[11] This led to criticism, and Frieden stated he had been wrongly cited.[12][13] ´
On 26 February 2024 Frieden travelled to Paris, where Emmanuel Macron was holding an emergency summit over the situation in Ukraine, as they had suffered the loss of Avdiivka. Czech Prime Minister Peter Fiala proposed to purchase 500,000 rounds of artillery ammunition for Volodymyr Zelensky's forces.[14]
On 21 March 2024 at the Nuclear Energy Summit 2024 in Brussels, Frieden declared an openness for nuclear power, breaking a largely held national consensus. Luxembourg would not build a nuclear reactor and was still lobbying neighboring countries to close their reactors close to the Grand-Duchy, but he would not dictate other countries how to transition from fossil fuels. Frieden underlined that research of new nuclear technologies is important in his view. This stance was met with a flurry of criticism inside Luxembourg, ranging from environmental NGOs to nearly all parties. It was noted that Serge Wilmes, minister of environment and also member of Frieden's CSV confirmed the anti-nuclear position of Luxembourg on the same day. In the environmental commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Frieden explained his position on 27 March 2024, which was widely viewed as backpedaling from his statements in Brussels and criticized as uncoordinated and arbitrary.[15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
In 2013, Luxembourg's investor-protection group ProtInvest sent a letter to European Commissioner for Internal MarketMichel Barnier, in which it criticised Frieden’s decision to appoint his senior adviser Sarah Khabirpour to the board of the CSSF, the country’s financial regulator.[23]
During the election campaign for the general elections in October 2023, LSAP politician Max Leners published an 80 page long pamphlet about Frieden's political past, criticizing deportations of minors under his rule as Minister of Justice, his views on labour laws, working hours and pensions as well as his implication in the tax rulings uncovered by the Luxleaks revelations.[24]
Personal life
Frieden married Dutch-born lawyer Marjolijne Droogleever Fortuyn, whom he met while studying at Cambridge, in 1992. They have two children.[25]
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