President Marc Meyer opened the DP South district congress on Sunday, 10 May 2026, before a full hall at Bettembourg Castle. The Dudelange councillor spoke about cohesion and collegiality, but also about visibility and communication, without which politics would not be possible. The DP is represented in 23 municipalities in the south of the country.
As a liberal party, we stand for freedom, responsibility and progress. But these values only have an impact if we also make them visible. […] In every municipality where we hold responsibility, we have the opportunity to make our politics tangible. Because it is especially there that we can show that our politics offers solutions.
Carole Hartmann and Luc Emering, for their part, addressed the national Tripartite talks. For the party president, it is important to enter these discussions in a positive spirit and, together with the coalition partner, to ensure that people and businesses are not overburdened by the current rise in prices. A strong economy that enables a strong social policy would remain the objective.
Luc Emering stressed that the DP has always distinguished itself in times of crisis through a realistic approach rather than slogans. In the Tripartite, the DP must seek solutions for everyone, for employees and for employers alike.
A social policy that leaves no one behind when they are struggling. That is social-liberal DP policy, said Family Affairs Minister Max Hahn. In this context, he recalled the first national action plan against poverty, whose main aim is to make it easier for more people to benefit from the state support intended for them.
MP Mandy Minella welcomed this social policy, but also addressed the protection of young people, more specifically the proposed ban on social media for under-16s. At the same time, young people must be offered sporting and cultural activities outside school, as the relevant minister, Claude Meisch, is doing through his screen-life-balance policy.
At the congress, MP Barbara Agostino made a strong case for skilled trades, for which Claude Meisch had significantly simplified access. The allowances paid to apprentices would also be increased substantially, particularly since the state would cover the additional costs. The DP would always do everything it could to make it easier for young people to access skilled trades. Supporting people in what they do best also strengthens society, the MP said.
The composition of the new South regional committee can be found here.
Gusty Graas, President of the Chamber’s Foreign Affairs Committee, addressed the severe crises around the world. These crises require a partial adaptation and a new positioning of the European Union, so that it can hold its own in a changing world order and avoid being caught between two blocs. In defence policy too, with a less pronounced NATO commitment from the United States, Europe would have to organise itself more independently.
Claude Meisch, meanwhile, addressed the two major expectations people have of politics. The first is orientation: in other words, the goal that politics is pursuing. Politics must not create fear, but offer hope and prospects. Security is the second pillar for the Minister for Education, Children and Youth, and Housing.
That we leave no one behind. That we bring everyone along. That we make sure the necessary transformations, which will remain on the agenda even after today’s crises, are shaped in such a way that we can bring people with us. That they see them as positive transformations, and that they do not end up being left standing somewhere on the sidelines.
These broad principles had always made Luxembourg strong, he said: looking together at where we can arrive together. For Claude Meisch, this is the objective that should also guide the Tripartite talks.
