Dear AmCham Members, Partners, and Friends,
Welcome to your 13 February AmCham Newsletter!
On Friday of this past week, I was pleased to join Luxembourg European Parliament members Charles Goerens and Martine Kemp as the three panelists speaking on the subject of the Trans-Atlantic relationship between the United States and Europe to an audience of Schuman Trainees gathering at the EU Commission offices here in Kirchberg. The 80 or so in the audience were all participants in a mock Parliament, which reminded me of my activities in Model United Nations activities while a pre-law political science major student quite some years ago.
I enjoyed the give and take of the discussion but was surprised that the questions asked indicated a certain degree of misunderstanding and misinformation. I think I was successful explaining and correcting these mistaken assertions and was pleased by the degree of common agreement I had with both Ms. Kemp and Mr. Goerens. My bottom-line points were that the United States is the indispensable and very best partner that Luxembourg has in the present very challenging world and the foreseeable future; the Trans-Atlantic trade and Investment partnership has brought enormous prosperity benefit to both Europe and the United States (and especially Luxembourg as well) and should be further strengthened; NATO has guaranteed the defense of Europe since the end of World War II with the US paying 4/5th of the costs every year, and now we need more NATO not less; and the more requires European countries to pay their already agreed financial commitments. I hope you all agree with me on these points and am always happy to discuss this (or other issues with you whenever you want) (paul@amcham.lu).
Following the excellent interview last week with the CEO of ING, Dr. Michael Burch, this week we are pleased to have an interview with Martine Deprez, the Luxembourg Minister of Health and Social Security. I assume you all have heard about the future liquidity challenges faced by the Luxembourg pension system and the upcoming Chamber of Deputies while also impacting the attractiveness of Luxembourg for the talent we are trying to recruit into our workforce as well. We are also concerned about the unintended but nonetheless unfairness of the present system as regards all of the foreign employees in the country who come at mid- career, find they need to work beyond age 65 to have sufficient retirement funds but are blocked from continuing to pay into the old age pension tier one system as they continue to work because of need beyond age 65 and therefore would very much prefer to delay the start of their pensions in return for having higher pensions when they finally feel they are financially able to retire. We do not ask for any extra gifts from the social security pension system, we only ask for consideration of our circumstances and fair treatment based on the reality of our circumstances. Please read the interview with Minister Deprez and please feel free to contact me to further clarify and discuss if you have any questions.
Wednesday evening, AmCham was very pleased to host and promote a cinema showing of Geoff Thompson’s really good video about the vibrant Luxembourg heritage population who immigrated to the USA over 150 years ago. Fully one-third of the Luxembourg population made that move by ship and rail and their descendants have thrived and grown to over two million in number resulting in seven times the number of Luxembourg genetic people living in the USA as compared to living in Luxembourg! The event also covered the challenges and opportunities of importing and selling Luxembourg products in the USA featuring Bofferding beer, Vinsmoselle wine and PM health food products!
As always, we have published a great recipe thanks to our friendship and partnership with the wonderful team at Kachen… And please note also the great offers to our Member Benefits Program.
Lastly, we encourage you to register to join us for our third Gala Carnival Ball at the Hilton on 28 February. Wear fancy dress, a costume or come all in black! Wear your comfortable dancing shoes to enjoy the rhythm of Marco Boesen and his team of fabulous cruise ship entertainer musicians! Take a look and sign up using the registration form which you will find below. We have worked very hard to arrange a great event at a very affordable price of 360 euro per member couple including all your food, drinks, musical entertainment, with free parking and a double room with breakfast buffet the next morning. Ticket sales are going very well, so register before it is too late!
For those of you still having questions about the US change of government, we have again included a video by the eminent political scientist Victor Davis Hansen.
As always we thank you for your support, partnership and for letting us serve you!
My respect and very kindest regards,
Paul Schonenberg
Chairman and CEO
AmCham.lu
