Under the leadership of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, the government has safely guided our country through the pandemic as well as through the energy and inflation crises. Particularly in times of crisis, the DP has demonstrated that no one is left on their own.
As a socially liberal party and as a supporting pillar to the state, the DP guarantees social cohesion. Prime Minister Xavier Bettel has strengthened the social dialogue as a tried and tested model of success in Luxembourg by concluding three successful sessions of tri-partite negotiations. The DP has preserved the index mechanism, successfully fought inflation with innovative and courageous solutions such as the energy price cap and strengthened people’s purchasing power with socially targeted direct aids and tax credits amounting to billions of euros.
The DP is the driving political force in Luxembourg advocating the strengthening of people’s purchasing power. In this legislative period, for example, and based on the DP’s persistence in the matter, the government has introduced additional benefits such as free public transport and free child care ‘Maison Relais’.
The DP also sees all of those people who keep our country running each and every day. The DP is committed to a responsible economic and labour policy creating secure and well-paid jobs and prosperity instead of putting them at risk. The DP works towards ensuring that all people have the same opportunities for the future, so that they can shape their own lives in a secure and self-determined manner.
The DP is committed to addressing the major challenges of the future. We craft specific solutions for the most urgent challenges society is facing, by launching sustainable investment offensives in terms of residential construction, mobility, energy transition and the healthcare sector. The DP aims to tackle tomorrow’s problems today by immediately starting to plan major infrastructure projects such as new railway lines, hospitals and schools.
The DP in government is the guarantor of responsible and solution-orientated policies.
Investments in public housing
The DP is going to ensure that many people’s desire to own their own home in Luxembourg can be achieved by launching a historic public housing offensive in cooperation with private stakeholders. Through the massive expansion of the state’s housing stock, we are going to offer affordable rental housing to young people at the beginning of their careers and support them with targeted subsidies so they can finance their own homes.
Therefore we will:
- in the short and medium term take over as many as possible private projects that cannot be constructed due to the current crisis, in order to make them available to the general public via the publicly managed real estate park.
- build on publicly owned land without delay by actively involving the construction industry in the creation of public housing through large-scale tenders and by pooling the resources of public and private stakeholders in a unique solidarity-based housing offensive.
- create a national citizens’ fund in which both, citizens and businesses, can participate in the financing of public real estate projects.
- adjust the amount of housing allowances and the salary ceilings for prospective tenants to current property prices and inflation, grant young first-time buyers a one-time exemption from registration fees, and promote alternative financing models such as hire purchase.
- Drastically simplify and accelerate permitting procedures by introducing a tacit consent (“accord tacite“) between administrations after a set deadline and improving the efficiency of environmental reviews and compensation.
Relieve the middle class noticeably
The ceaseless efforts to make the tax system more equitable and relieve some of its pressure, as well as the strengthening of the general purchasing power, are in the DNA of the DP and, still at this stage, constituteone of our absolute priorities. We pay special attention to supporting families with children.
Therefore, we will:
- regularly adjust the tax table to inflation to strengthen people’s purchasing power in a sustainable fashion.
- defend the index mechanism as a guarantor of social peace and the preservation of purchasing power.
- in the medium term, introduce a uniform tax class that treats all forms of cohabitation equally for tax purposes and thus leads to more tax equality.
- extend the energy measures adopted by the Tri-partite, such as the energy price cap, beyond 2024 if so required based on the international situation.
- safeguard state pensions, provide greater support for private pension schemes and make the voluntary transition from working life to retirement more flexible.
High quality of life in all phases of life
The DP is committed to a high quality of life in all phases of life. This includes a greater work-life balance. By offering high-quality education and creating flexible working time models, we want to provide people with more ‘time’ for family and leisure.
Therefore, we will:
- introduce a childcare place guarantee toenable all children to have access to quality extracurriculareducation in the medium term.
- introduce flexible and family-friendly working time models with the aid of, among other things, an annual working time and time savings accounts that take people’s individual needs into account.
- promote location-independent working arrangements by encouraging teleworking and expanding co-working spaces in all regions.
- introduce a limited right to part-time work for parents, which can be used up until the children reach 13 years of age. We will ensure that pension losses are avoided during the part-time period.
- further expand parental leave and make it even more flexible and increase paternity leave from 10 to 15 days tostrengthen the father-child bond.
- introduce a paradigm shift in health care policy by making the decentralisation of health care a main supporting pillar and by doing so significantly reducing waiting times in the sector.
- strengthen the autonomy and the right to self-determination of our elderly fellow citizens.
Further energy transition in a socially responsible way
The DP will secure our prosperity in the long term with a responsible energy and climate policy that is putting people first. We have actively involved society in the development of the national energy and climate plan by establishing the Climate Citizens Council. With the aid of massive investment and subsidy programmes, we are going to drive the energy transition faster than previously planned, so that all people and businesses can benefit from a more secure and affordable energy supply.
Therefore, we will:
- consistently implement the photovoltaic initiative announced by the Prime Ministerand, via massive investments, enable the use of suitable areas on roofs, on and next to railway lines and motorways and on fields and meadows for solar energy.
- completely finance photovoltaic systems on roofs if the owners cannot afford or do not want to install them and let them be part of the electricity production.
- further expand international cooperation with Luxembourgish participation in large offshore wind projects and solar parks, to make Luxembourg energy-independent in the medium term.
- protect people from disproportionate costs in all climate protection measures, prioritise financial support and choose bans only as a very ast resort.
- increase and pre-finance climate subsidies (“tiers payant“) so that citizens only pay a residual amount and no longer have to wait for months for government subsidies
- shorten the approval time for energy and refurbishment projects significantly by introducing a tacit consent at administration level after a set deadline.
- ensure tomorrow’s climate-friendly mobility today by immediately planning and implementing additional rail and tram routes as well as other major infrastructure projects.
Strengthen competitiveness and attract talent
The DP will pursue a competitiveness policy and provide attractive framework conditions for companies which will help create new jobs and safeguard our prosperity. This will enable us to attract and retain highly qualified talent for the long term.
Therefore, we will:
- reduce corporate tax towards the average rates of the EU and OECD countries.
- provide targeted support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by consistently reducing bureaucratic hurdles. An SME check and an SME clause should to make sure that the legal framework corresponds to the concerns and special properties of SMEs and does not burden them disproportionately
- further strengthen and expand the financial centre, especially with a view to sustainable finance and fintech.
- take fiscal measures to attract graduates and support young talent tosettle in Luxembourg.
- strengthen the role of the University of Luxembourg, as well as public research institutes, in attracting young talent.
- secure the Triple-A credit rating for Luxembourg in the future via a responsible and sustainable budgetary policy.
Innovation and shaping the future
The DP continues to consistently focus on shaping the future. To ensure our prosperity, preserve the scope of action for future generations and guarantee the best prospects for their individual development to our children and young people, we need a bold policy in the areas of education, innovation and the economy. We will continue to invest substantially into our education to help improve the children’s opportunities in the future.
Therefore, we will:
- preserve educational opportunities in times of technological and social change by adapting primary and secondary school programmes to the needs of technological and social transformations in our society;
- analyse the pilot projects of literacy programs in French and generalise them so that in each school the parents can pick between an alphabetisation in German or in French;
- focus on the skills of the future :creativity, communication, critical thinking and collaboration;
- Improve the network between public research, innovation and business promotion;
- Encourage corporate investment in sustainability and research through additional tax credits and super deductions;
- consistently invest in reskilling and upskilling programmes to meet the needs of workers and companies of the 21st century’s labour market.
