Luxembourg’s Ex-Finance Minister Frieden Asked to Form Coalition

Stephanie Bodoni
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(Bloomberg) -- Luxembourg’s Christian Social People’s Party are making a comeback after 10 years in opposition after the nation’s monarch asked former finance minister Luc Frieden to form the next government, in a move that could possibly depose Xavier Bettel as prime minister.

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Luxembourg Grand Duke Henri named Frieden on Monday evening after having met separately with members of the different parties that won seats for the 60-seat parliament in Sunday night’s national election. Bettel’s government resigned on Monday after the three-way coalition of his liberal party, the Socialists and the Greens lost the required majority of seats to continue with their alliance for a third term.

Bettel, who’s held his nation’s premiership for the past decade, might have to make way for Frieden as Luxembourg’s new prime minister after the Conservatives won 21 seats, more than the 14 for the Liberals and the 11 for the Socialists. Bettel’s Democratic Party has been in a coalition with the Greens and the Socialists since 2013, when they pushed out former premier Jean-Claude Juncker’s CSV from government, in which Frieden was finance minister.

Frieden told journalists on Monday that his party is open to either a Conservative-Liberals, or a Conservative-Socialist coalition and that his party will consult Monday night about which way to go.

Luxembourg populist party ADR overtook the Greens in parliament with five seats versus the Greens’ four, final results showed late on Sunday.

“Luxembourgers today gave the CSV a clear mandate to form the next government,” Frieden told party colleagues late on Sunday.

(Updates to say Frieden named by Grand Duke to form next government)

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