Luc Frieden | |
|---|---|
_(cropped).jpg) Frieden in 2024 | |
| 25th Prime Minister of Luxembourg | |
| Assumed office 17 November 2023 | |
| Monarch | Henri |
| Deputy | Xavier Bettel |
| Preceded by | Xavier Bettel |
| Minister of Finances | |
| In office 23 July 2009 – 4 December 2013 | |
| Prime Minister | Jean-Claude Juncker |
| Preceded by | Jean-Claude Juncker |
| Succeeded by | Pierre Gramegna |
| Minister of Defence | |
| In office 31 July 2004 – 22 February 2006 | |
| Prime Minister | Jean-Claude Juncker |
| Preceded by | Charles Goerens |
| Succeeded by | Jean-Louis Schiltz |
| Minister of Justice | |
| In office 30 January 1998 – 23 July 2009 | |
| Prime Minister | Jean-Claude Juncker |
| Preceded by | Marc Fischbach |
| Succeeded by | François Biltgen |
| Minister of the Treasury and Budget | |
| In office 30 January 1998 – 23 July 2009 | |
| Prime Minister | Jean-Claude Juncker |
| Preceded by | Marc Fischbach |
| Succeeded by | Jean-Claude Juncker |
| Member of theChamber of Deputies | |
| In office 24 October 2023 – 17 November 2023 | |
| Constituency | Centre |
| In office 5 December 2013 – 15 September 2014 | |
| Constituency | Centre |
| In office 12 June 1994 – 30 January 1998 | |
| Constituency | Centre |
| President of theChristian Social People’s Party | |
| Assumed office 16 March 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Elisabeth Margue |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1963-09-16)16 September 1963 (age 61) Esch-sur-Alzette,Luxembourg |
| Political party | Christian Social People's Party |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Luxembourg Pantheon-Sorbonne University Queens' College, Cambridge Harvard University |
| Occupation | Politician •lawyer •banker •financier |
Luc Frieden (Luxembourgish pronunciation:[lukˈfʀi.dən]; born 16 September 1963) is aLuxembourgish politician and lawyer who is the 25thprime minister of Luxembourg since November 2023. A member of theChristian 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 theFranc to theEuro and as minister of Finance during theEuropean debt crisis. Frieden was president of the Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce andEurochambres, the business federation of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
In early 2023, he was elected to be thelead candidate of the CSV for thegeneral elections in October. He led his party to victory, slightly increasing its vote share and maintaining its 21 seats, while the incumbentBettel II Government lost its majority due to the decline ofThe Greens. Consequently, on 9 October 2023, he was appointed byGrand Duke Henri to form a new coalition government, and succeededXavier Bettel as prime minister on 17 November where Bettel became thedeputy prime minister andminister for Foreign Affairs.[1]
Frieden completed high school at theAthénée de Luxembourg and received thereafter an international university education in France, the UK and the US. He graduated in business law fromUniversité Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He obtained a master's degree in comparative law fromQueens' College, Cambridge and a further Master of Laws fromHarvard Law School.
BesidesLuxembourgish, he speaks fluentEnglish,German,French and has a good working knowledge ofDutch, his wife's native language.
In 1994, Frieden was elected to theChamber 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.
In 1998, he became, at the age of 34,Minister of Justice in the Government led by prime ministerJean-Claude Juncker. He also served as Minister of the Treasury and Budget from 1998 to 2009, asMinister of Defence from 2004 to 2006 andMinister of Finance from 2009 to 2013.
In the capacity of Minister for the Treasury and Budget, Frieden was responsible for the successful introduction of theeuro as replacement for theLuxembourgish franc. During the LuxembourgPresidency of the Council of the European Union in 2005,[2] he chaired theEuropean Council of Ministers ofJustice and Home Affairs (JHA). As Minister of Finance he represented his country at the European Council of Ministers ofEconomic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) as well as at theEurogroup and participated in the stabilisation of theEurozone and the shaping of the Europeanbanking union. For 15 years, Frieden served as Governor of theWorld Bank and acted as chairman of the Board of Governors of theInternational Monetary Fund and theWorld Bank Group in 2013.[3][4]
Frieden joinedDeutsche Bank as Vice Chairman in September 2014. Based inLondon 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.
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 LuxembourgChristian Social People's Party (CSV) for the upcoming nationalgeneral elections in October.
He led the Christian Democrats to victory in the election, with 29.21% of the vote and 21 seats in theChamber of Deputies. As theBettel II Government lost its majority, Frieden was invited byGrand Duke Henri to form a government on 9 October 2023. He led coalition talks between the CSV and theDemocratic Party (DP), and succeededXavier Bettel as Prime Minister on 17 November 2023.
On 22 November 2023, Frieden presentedhis 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 oftax reform and an increased role for the private sector in healthcare.[7][8]
Frieden's first external visit was toOlaf Scholz in Berlin on 8 January 2024,[9] amid violent protests by German farmers.[10] On 16 January 2024, news magazinePolitico published an article where Frieden stated his intent to build a better relationship withViktor 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, whereEmmanuel Macron was holding an emergency summit over the situation inUkraine, as they had suffered the loss ofAvdiivka. Czech Prime MinisterPeter Fiala proposed to purchase 500,000 rounds of artillery ammunition forVolodymyr Zelensky's forces.[14]
On 21 March 2024 at the Nuclear Energy Summit 2024 in Brussels, Frieden declared an openness fornuclear 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'sCSV confirmed the anti-nuclear position of Luxembourg on the same day. In the environmental commission of theChamber 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 toEuropean Commissioner for Internal MarketMichel Barnier, in which it criticised Frieden’s decision to appoint his senior adviser Sarah Khabirpour to the board of theCSSF, the country’s financial regulator.[23]
During the election campaign for thegeneral 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 theLuxleaks revelations.[24]
Frieden married Dutch-born lawyer Marjolijne Droogleever Fortuyn, whom he met while studying at Cambridge, in 1992. They have two children.[25]
Media related toLuc Frieden at Wikimedia Commons| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister for Justice 1998–2009 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Defence 2004–2006 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Finances 2009–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prime Minister of Luxembourg 2023–present | Incumbent |
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