The new campaign encourages institutions and citizens to come together to save around 15% of Luxembourg’s energy.
Pirate Party
MP Marc Goergen from the Pirate Party stated that the Minister did not provide much concrete information. Goergen criticised that municipalities are merely “encouraged” to save energy, stating that the Pirate Party does not expect much to come from this decision. The MP warns that if Luxembourg fails to save enough electricity, the country is at risk of facing a blackout. Goergen said that he has the feeling that the government is not even aware of this risk.
The Pirate Party also questions why the government does not encourage employees to work from home, which would eliminate the need for offices to be heated at all.
Christian Social People’s Party (CSV)
According to Gilles Roth, co-chair of the CSV’s parliamentary group, MPs in the parliamentary committee received no further explanations on Luxembourg’s energy security. Roth also criticised statements made by Minister for Energy Claude Turmes during the press briefing on Thursday morning that the opposition had proposed “police-state measures”.
Roth assumes that the Minister was referring to the CSV when he made this comment and argued that his party was merely “asking some questions that were justified”. “All I can determine is that we did not receive any answers to these questions,” Roth said.
The Left Party (Déi Lénk)
The Left Party demands immediate support for households, with party spokesman Gary Diderich arguing that the government is “leaving it up to random chance whether there will be savings or not”.
All the Minister is doing, according to Diderich, is “telling people how to cook or wash their hands”. According to the party spokesman, the campaign presented on Thursday has no influence on whether people will actually do this or not. Instead, the Left Party believes that “clear rules and objectives” are required, which could include “speed limits” or “energy quotas for the industrial sector,” but in any event “medium- and long-term goals that everyone can adhere to.”
Alternative Democratic Reform Party (adr)
MP Fernand Kartheiser thinks that the energy-saving measures announced by the government are “redundant”.
The current situation, according to the adr MP, is a “self-imposed crisis” that the West, notably the European Union, “provoked with imprudent energy sanctions against Russia.”
While the Minister “now wants us to stick together and save energy together,” Kartheiser suggested that the real question is “where all of this leads in the end.”
General Confederation of the Civil Service (CGFP)
The Minister’s presentation, according to CGFP President Romain Wolff, contained “few concrete and some contradicting declarations.”
Wolff argues that on the one hand, the Minister says that Luxembourg’s has tanks are well-filled but on the other hand cautions that he could not give “the all-clear”. This is a clear contradiction in the eyes of the CGFP President.
Wolff also regrets that the government did not convene with the trade unions prior to the announcements.
Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL)
Jean-Luc Matteis from the OGBL agrees with the latter observation, pointing out that employer representatives had the opportunity to discuss measures “all summer long” while working-class representatives did not. Saving energy together is good but “saving” does not mean the same thing for everybody, Matteis argued.
The OGBL representative thinks that the government has to be careful when it speaks of saving 15% of Luxembourg’s energy, since this is easier to do “for someone living in an A++ house with a photovoltaic system, amazing insulation, and amazing windows than for someone living in a poorly insulated dwelling where the standard energy consumption is much higher.”
Luxembourg Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (LCGB)
The LCGB is “mostly satisfied” with the announcements made on Thursday. According to Christophe Knebeler, the deputy secretary general of the LCGB, the authorities’ emphasis on “volunteer action and awareness campaigns” is a good thing.
