Recent times have not been easy. The measures taken to combat the pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus limited our freedoms. Currently, the energy crisis is severely affecting our purchasing power.
Unfortunately, our prosperity is not a self-evidence.
It’s true that the government’s solidarity packages have provided support to citizens, businesses and freelancers. Our welfare state has been noticeably strengthened and our companies have received financial support. To finance these measures, the state has to bear a cost of 5.5 billion euros.
It’s important to keep in mind that our prosperity wasn’t created by chance. And before the cake can be cut into pieces and distributed, it needs to be baked first. It’s the citizens of this country, but also cross-border workers, who work in a business, in the public service, or are self-employed, who create added value and thus secure our prosperity.
In this context, Luxembourg must continue to be attractive in order to attract talent. We are in direct competition with other countries. In the recent IMD World Talent Report, Luxembourg dropped four places.
Talent attraction is particularly important when it comes to further developing our financial center and enlarging the ‘cake’ we can distribute.
Since we can’t shoulder this all alone, we have to attract more talent to Luxembourg that can effectively move the financial centre forward with their know-how and innovative spirit. I’m talking about people who are paid accordingly and who pay taxes accordingly.
The financial centre is just one example. We also need qualified and competent workers in many other sectors. Be it in medicine, crafts, industry or in general in the service sector. Politics must create the necessary environment to attract such people to Luxembourg. Because it is the working people who form the foundation of our prosperity and our welfare state. Before we distribute, we should not lose sight of that. I wish you all a happy and healthy new year 2023.
