His Excellency Luc Frieden
Frieden in 2023.
25th Prime Minister of Luxembourg
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 November 2023
Monarch	Henri
Deputy	Xavier Bettel
Preceded by	Xavier Bettel
Minister of Finances
In office 23 July 2009 – 4 December 2013
Prime Minister	Jean-Claude Juncker
Preceded by	Jean-Claude Juncker
Succeeded by	Pierre Gramegna
Minister of Defence
In office 31 July 2004 – 22 February 2006
Prime Minister	Jean-Claude Juncker
Preceded by	Charles Goerens
Succeeded by	Jean-Louis Schiltz
Minister of Justice
In office 30 January 1998 – 23 July 2009
Prime Minister	Jean-Claude Juncker
Preceded by	Marc Fischbach
Succeeded by	François Biltgen
Minister of the Treasury and Budget
In office 30 January 1998 – 23 July 2009
Prime Minister	Jean-Claude Juncker
Preceded by	Marc Fischbach
Succeeded by	Jean-Claude Juncker
Member of the Chamber of Deputies
In office 24 October 2023 – 17 November 2023
Constituency	Centre
In office 12 June 1994 – 30 January 1998
Constituency	Centre
Personal details
Born	(1963-09-16) 16 September 1963 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
Political party	Christian Social People's Party
Spouse	Marjolijne Droogleever-Fortuyn ​ ​ (m. 1992)​
Children	2
Alma mater	University of Luxembourg Pantheon-Sorbonne University Queens' College, Cambridge Harvard University
Occupation	Politician • lawyer • banker • financier

Luc Frieden (Luxembourgish pronunciation: [luk ˈfʀi.dən]; born 16 September 1963) is a Luxembourgish politician and lawyer who serves as the current and 25th Prime Minister of Luxembourg since 2023. A member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), he held numerous cabinet positions in the Luxembourgish government between 1998 and 2013, notably serving as Minister for the Treasury and Budget during the transition from the Franc to the Euro and as Minister of Finance during the European debt crisis. Frieden was president of the Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce and Eurochambres, the business federation of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

In early 2023, he was elected to be the lead candidate of the CSV for the general elections in October. He led his party to victory, slightly increasing its vote share and maintaining its 21 seats, while the incumbent Bettel II Government lost its majority due to the decline of The Greens. Consequently, on 9 October 2023, he was appointed by Grand Duke Henri to form a government, and succeeded Xavier Bettel as Prime Minister on 17 November.^[1]

Background and education

Frieden completed high school at the Athénée de Luxembourg and received thereafter an international university education in France, the UK and the US. He graduated in business law from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He obtained a master's degree in comparative law from Queens' College, Cambridge and a further Master of Laws from Harvard Law School.

Besides Luxembourgish, he speaks fluent English, German, French and has a good working knowledge of Dutch, his wife's native language.

Chamber of Deputies (1994-1998)

In 1994, Frieden was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg for the Christian Democrats (CSV - EPP), becoming, at the age of thirty, the then youngest member of the House. While in Parliament, he chaired the Finance Committee as well as the Constitutional Committee and was a leading figure in the process leading to the establishment of a constitutional court and of independent administrative courts in Luxembourg.

Minister (1998-2013)

Luc Frieden, then Minister of Defense with Donald H. Rumsfeld, US Secretary of Defense and Jaan de Hoop Scheffer, NATO Secretary General (February 9, 2006)

In 1998, he became, at the age of thirty-four, Minister of Justice in the Government led by Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. He also served as Minister for the Treasury and Budget from 1998 to 2009, as Minister of Defence from 2004 to 2006 and Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2013.

In the capacity of Minister for the Treasury and Budget, Frieden was responsible for the successful introduction of the euro as replacement for the Luxembourgish franc. During the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2005,^[2] he chaired the European Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). As Minister of Finance he represented his country at the European Council of Ministers of Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) as well as at the Eurogroup and participated in the stabilization of the Eurozone and the shaping of the European banking union. For 15 years, Frieden served as Governor of the World Bank and acted as chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in 2013.^[3][4]

Frieden (2013)

Career in the private sector (2014–2023)

Frieden joined Deutsche Bank as Vice Chairman in September 2014. Based in London he advised the management board and senior management on strategic aspects related to international and European affairs.^[5] He also served as chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Bank Luxembourg.^[6] He left Deutsche Bank in early 2016.

Frieden as President of Eurochambers

Frieden has been a partner with the Luxembourgish law firm Elvinger Hoss Prussen since 2016. Between 2019 and 2023, he was also President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. In 2022, he also took over the Presidency of Eurochambres, the business federation of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Premiership (2023–)

Following his comeback to politics in 2023, Frieden announced that he would resign from all his professional activities. He was elected to be the lead candidate of the Luxembourg Christian Social People's Party (CSV) for the upcoming national general elections in October.

He led the Christian Democrats to victory in the election, with 29.21% of the vote and 21 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. As the Gambia Coalition lost its majority, Frieden was invited by Grand Duke Henri to form a government on 9 October 2023. He led coalition talks between the CSV and the Democratic Party (DP), and succeeded Xavier Bettel as Prime Minister on 17 November 2023.

On 22 November 2023, Frieden presented his government's program for the parliamentary term in the Chamber of Deputies. The cutting of red tape, digitalisation and modernisation were the three main concepts that stood out throughout Frieden’s speech.^[7]

Other activities

Criticism

In 2013, Luxembourg's investor-protection group ProtInvest sent a letter to European Commissioner for Internal Market Michel Barnier, in which it criticised Frieden’s decision to appoint his senior adviser Sarah Khabirpour to the board of the CSSF, the country’s financial regulator.^[9]

References