Laurent Mosar is a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer. He is a member of the Christian Social People’s Party and sits in the Chamber of Deputies. He was the President of the Chamber from 2009 to 2013.
Amcham: Please introduce yourself to our readers giving your personal information and career summary
Laurent Mosar: After having completed my law studies in Strasbourg and in Paris at the Sorbonne University, I started working as a lawyer from the early 1980s on.
My political career started in 1979 when I became a member of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV). I was elected as a Member of the Parliament in 1994 and have been elected in the Parliament ever since. I was President of the Chamber of Deputies from 2009 to 2013.
Besides my political engagement at national level, I have been involved at municipal level as an elected Member of the City council of the City of Luxembourg since 1997. I was Member of the College of Aldermen between 2000 and 2005 and again since November 2017.
Please explain your separate responsibilities within the Ville de Luxembourg and the Chamber of Deputies
As a Member of Parliament for the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV), I focus on all the policies related to the economy of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg and its financial center. Which is why I am part of the « Commission de l’Economie, de la Protection des consommateurs et de l’Espace » (economic committee) and the « Commission des Finances et du Budget » (finance committee). I also deal with all matters related to homeland security, especially in the City of Luxembourg. I am a Member of the « Commission de la Justice » (justice committee) and the « Commission des Affaires étrangères et européennes, de la Coopération, de l’Immigration et de l’Asile » (committee for foreign affairs).
As an Alderman of the City of Luxembourg, I deal with all matters related to accounting, budget, taxes and municipal revenues.
In what ways are your satisfied with the management of the Ville de Luxembourg and what areas would you have managed things differently?
The elected Members of the City council of the City of Luxembourg that were running for the Democratic Party (DP) and the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) adopted back in 2017 a coalition agreement for the capital, which we have been implementing since. I am part of the team managing our beautiful city and am satisfied with the priorities that have guided our political action: housing, transport, urban development, education, social cohesion, environment and security.
I wish however that the Ministry of the Interior would allow the City of Luxembourg to handle the recurring security problems in our community more efficiently.
Please assess the strengths and weaknesses of the city and national governments management of the Covid crisis
I believe that the national Government did the best it could during the early Covid-19 crisis with the information that was available at the time. However, since then, the situation has not been managed well – especially in nursing homes, where more people died on average than in other countries, as a recent study from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) pointed out.
In the context of the Covid-19 crisis, the City of Luxembourg launched a series of initiatives to help its citizens navigate these difficult times. For older residents, the City of Luxembourg organized for example free transportation to the vaccination centers. To support the restaurants and cafés at a time where a negative Covid-19 test was necessary to enter, the City of Luxembourg put in place free testing centers.
Consider your oversight involvement in the National budget, are you in agreement with the government to underfund the Luxembourg NATO contribution at the lowest level of GDP percentage of any partner country?
Luxembourg definitely needs to invest more money in defense. While the target of 2% of the Gross domestic product (GDP) seems to be unrealistic for a small country like Luxembourg, the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) wants to see the public spending in defense reach 1% in the medium term.
Do you agree that Luxembourg’s attractiveness as an international business location has been diminished over the mandate of this government and what changes would you suggest to adopt to ensure Luxembourg’s attractiveness to international companies?
I believe that there is more and more pressure on Luxembourg’s financial center and its business environment in general. The constant need of the Government to overregulate and to transpose EU directives with establishing standards that are higher than those required by the directives hurt Luxembourg’s competitiveness in the long run. Many decisions are taken today at EU level. I strongly believe that we should merely transpose the EU directives, without doing more than what is required from Luxembourg.
It appears that progress towards digital transformation is meagre with much government in fighting to protect vested interests at the expense of needed progress. What would you do differently if the CSV was in power?
The problem of the Government’s digitization efforts is that there are too many initiatives promoting digitization that are initiated without being integrated in a clear and forward-looking strategy, that enables technological and societal progress. This country is in an urgent need of a strategy linking the different initiatives and allowing for a better digitization of processes in companies and in the public sector.
It has been said that the principal objective of the current coalition is simply to have power and keep the largest political party in the country out of power. Even though the policy agreements between the current political parties is very limited. Do you agree with this assessment and in what areas have you seen negative impacts for the country?
With the years passing by, it has become even more obvious that the political parties of the majority are experiencing difficulties finding common ground. Let’s take the long-promised tax reform as an example: While the Democratic Party (DP) keeps saying that there is not enough money left to engage in a far-reaching reform, the Socialist Worker’s Party (LSAP) and the Greens (déi Gréng) seem to push for more. The same goes with the level of public debt of our country – while some of the political parties of the majority want to strictly maintain the ratio at under 30% to make sure that Luxembourg keeps its Triple-A rating, others seem to see the level of public debt in a more flexible manner.
What do you do to relax?
I try to go running as often as I can – 3 to 4 times a week when I find the time. I enjoy spending my holidays in the South of France, where I am taking my dog for a walk and spend time pursuing one of my favorite hobbies: French gastronomy!
What advice would you give to someone just starting their career?
I would encourage all young people to engage politically to shape the future of their municipality and country. Luxembourg is a country of many opportunities – people who want to engage and work hard can participate in creating change.
In what ways are you optimistic and disappointed for the future?
I am very optimistic that our country will navigate out of the many crises and challenges it is facing at the moment. This implies however that our economy – the financial center, but also manufacturing industry and the many small and medium-sized enterprises – remains competitive and attractive.
What is your favorite comfort food?
I enjoy many different cuisines: my favorite is probably Italian – pasta and risotto are the dishes I like the most! But I also enjoy a lot Japanese, Chinese and Thai cuisine.
While foreigners appreciate the economic opportunities of Luxembourg, there are concerns over discrimination based on age, race and simply the fact of being foreigners. How do you assess this expression of concern and what do you think needs to be done to promote fairness and equal access?
Luxembourg has a population with an incredible diversity – almost half of the population does not have the Luxembourgish nationality. Which means that in the Grand-Duchy there is a remarkable mix of languages and cultures from people from all around a world! And while already many initiatives are taken to promote integration and equal access, there is always more that needs to be done, notably by encouraging the participation in the associative life and offering language courses.
What questions would you like to have been asked which we have not given you…. and how would you answer them?
How do you assess the chances of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) in the upcoming municipal and national elections? I am very optimistic that our party will achieve positive results. We have good chances to remain in the coalition managing the City of Luxembourg and return to the Government.
Amcham would like to thank Mr Mosar for this interview!
