He was appointed deputy prime minister in 2023 in theFrieden-Bettel Government.[4][5] He received the most personal votes in the2023 elections[6] and is frequently ranked as the most popular politician in the country, with an approval rating of 77% as of a December 2024 poll.[7]
Bettel was born on 3 March 1973 inLuxembourg City and grew up inRoeser.[8] His father, Claude Bettel (1939-1999), was a French transport entrepreneur of Luxembourgish origin who moved to Luxembourg in 1971, eventually joining the DP and becoming a member of the Luxembourgish National Council for Foreigners.[9][8] Bettel has said he has anOrthodox Russian grandfather and aPolish-Jewish grandfather, while his parents were Catholics.[10] His mother Aniela is a grandniece of the Russian composerSergei Rachmaninoff.[11] After completing his secondary school studies at Lycée Hélène Boucher inThionville,[12] Bettel obtained a master's degree in Public andEuropean Law and aDEA inPolitical Science andPublic Law fromNancy 2 University inNancy, France.[13][14] He also studiedmaritime law as well ascanon law atAristotle University inThessaloniki,Greece, where he was studying thanks to theErasmus Programme.[15] Bettel joined the DP in 1988 at age 15, and became the president of the party's youth wing in 1993.[8] For four years in the early 2000s he hostedSonndes em 8, a weekly talkshow, on the now-defunct privateT.TV television network.[16][17] In 2017, he also received an honorary doctorate fromSacred Heart University Luxembourg.[18][19]
In the elections of 1999, Bettel was elected to Luxembourg City's communal council, finishing sixth on the DP's list. Two years after his election to the local council, on 12 July 2001, he was certified as alawyer.[2] On 28 November 2005, after the municipal elections in which he was placed fourth on the DP list, Bettel was appointedéchevin (alderman) in the council of Luxembourg City.[2]
Following municipal elections on 9 October 2011, Bettel was sworn in asMayor of Luxembourg on 24 November 2011. He resigned from his position as DP leader in theChamber of Deputies, which he had held since 2009.[20][21]
By the time of the2004 general election, Bettel had significantly consolidated his position; he finished fourth (of the five DP members elected), assuring him a seat in the Chamber of Deputies.[23]
Xavier Bettel with Estonian Prime MinisterJüri Ratas inTallinn on 29 September 2017Xavier Bettel with Bulgarian Prime MinisterBoyko Borisov inSofia on 16 May 2018
In 2013, Bettel was elected leader of the Democratic Party. In the2013 general election, he led the party to a third-ranked position in parliamentary seats. On 25 October, Bettel was designated byGrand Duke Henri as theformateur for the next government.[24] He assumed his post as Luxembourg's Prime Minister on 4 December 2013. In the government's coalition of theDemocratic Party (DP),Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) andThe Greens, he led the cabinet with co-Deputy Prime MinistersEtienne Schneider andFélix Braz. In his first term, he also held the functions of Minister of State, Minister for Communications and the Media, Minister for Culture and Minister for Religious Affairs.[2]
Xavier Bettel and PresidentVladimir Putin (6 October 2015)
On 16 September 2019, following a short bilateral meeting on the status ofBrexit negotiations, Bettel continued a press conference without British Prime MinisterBoris Johnson, after Johnson abruptly pulled out due to an anti-Brexit protest held by British citizens living in Luxembourg.[26] Bettel gestured towards Johnson's empty podium and confirmed that the UK Government had not tabled any concrete proposals for amendments to the UK'sWithdrawal Agreement, particularly the "Irish backstop" that Johnson wished to replace.[27] This being despite the public pronouncements of Prime Minister Johnson and the UK's departure date from the EU fast approaching.[27] Pro-Brexit UK media reported the matter as an ambush,[28] whilst other UK and international media outlets largely saw the incident, as well as the reaction of pro-Brexit UK media outlets to it, as confirming the increasing hypersensitivity of pro-Brexit pundits and politicians to criticism.[26][27][29][30][31][32]
On 4 July 2021, Bettel was admitted to hospital following aCOVID-19 diagnosis on 27 June. The move was initially described as precautionary and for tests. It was reported that he experienced "mild symptoms" such as high temperature andheadache.[41] The following day, it was reported that he was in a "serious but stable" condition and would remain hospitalised.[42] On 7 July 2021, the government said that Bettel would remain hospitalised a "little bit longer" due to low saturation of oxygen in his blood and that he was recovering "little by little".[43] On 8 July 2021, Bettel was discharged from hospital. It was announced he would resume activities soon viaremote work for the rest of his isolation period. Bettel thanked health authorities for the treatment during his hospitalisation period.[44][45]
"In [Bettel's] thesis at the University of Nancy there is not one correct reference," wrote Pol Reuter with reference to research by Reporter.lu. The master's thesis, submitted in 1999, is dedicated to the topic of electoral reform at the European Parliament. Allegedly, only two of the total 56 pages were free ofplagiarism. The plagiarism findings are said to have been confirmed by several independent researchers.[54] Bettel stated he wrote thisthesis with a clear conscience, although "from today’s standpoint, it could have – yes, maybe should have – been done differently." He also stated he would accept the findings of theUniversity of Lorraine on the matter.[55]
^abcde"Xavier Bettel".Bettel, Xavier: Biographie. Gouvernement du Grand Duché de Luxembourg. Archived fromthe original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved9 December 2013.
^Marion Van Renterghem (2019).Mon Europe, je t'aime moi non plus: 1989-2019.I have an Orthodox Russian grandfather, a Polish Jewish grandfather, Catholic parents,[...]
^Brach, Jean-Luc (25 October 2016)."Quand l'IT rencontre l'espace" [When IT meets space].www.itone.lu (in French). Retrieved18 July 2019.Le Lycée Hélène Boucher de Thionville est LE lycée de la Grande Région. Grand nombre d'élèves Luxembourgeois et Belges y font ou y ont fait leurs études. Xavier Bettel, entre autre, a été l'un d'entre eux.
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