The Luxembourg Times 2025 naughty and nice lists

The naughty listGeorges Mischo

If, as minister for labour, you are already under fire for the way you have handled industrial relations, leading to the largest trade union demonstration for two decades, then maybe you should at least make sure you are impeccable at your other job, as minister for sports.

But Georges Mischo managed to get caught up in controversy in what should be one of the most manageable portfolios thanks to messy public procurement procedures for a planned sports museum. He resigned, citing the pressure he had been put under by the media (over the sports museum affair), and the unions, who wrote an open letter saying he was not fit for purpose as labour minister.

Fernand Kartheiser

The ADR MEP and former double agent for the CIA, who came to public prominence as a champion of divorced fathers in the early noughties, has certainly made good on Politico’s suggestion that he is one of 17 “European Parliament lawmakers you should watch this season”.

Just maybe not for the right reasons. He had already been kicked out of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group for one trip to Russia, so when he doubled down and attended a conference in Sochi in November, even meeting with former president and prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, the reviews were never going to be positive.

Kartheiser’s pro-Russian stance so angered ADR co-founder and honorary president Robert Mehlen that he quit the party.

Luxembourg Football Federation

Paul Philipp, the president of Luxembourg’s Football Federation © Photo credit: Ben Majerus

The FLF rightly drew the ire of politicians, activists and football fans in June when it allowed coach Luc Holtz to select Gerson Rodrigues for the national team just weeks after his conviction for domestic violence was upheld.

Fans showed the player the red card during a friendly match against the Republic of Ireland at the National Stadium. Holtz was told in July that his contract would not be renewed, but it was only in August that the FLF decided to drop the player for his refusal to publicly apologise for his conviction.

The Luxembourg national team went on to have one of its worst ever tournament qualifying campaigns.

Françoise Thoma

Someone had to take the fall for the failure of Spuerkeess, the national savings bank, to detect millions of euros in suspicious wire transfers and credit line applications from Caritas that led to the charity being defrauded of €61 million in 2024.

Thoma was in line to take the hit after it was revealed that in May this year, she and bank leaders had also not disclosed to a parliamentary committee hearing details of a €4.96 million fine imposed by Luxembourg’s financial regulator precisely for those anti-money laundering failures.

Gérard Schockmel

The Democrat Party MP came under fire from several quarters, including Equality Minister Yuriko Backes from his own party, following a guest opinion column in the Luxemburger Wort titled How feminism dominates the abortion debate.

Schockmel had argued that the feminist ideology “pits one half of the population (women) against the other half (men), polarises and radicalises our society, and thus jeopardises social cohesion.”

A doctor who had pushed to be health minister when the CSV-DP coalition was formed in November 2023, Schockmel wrote the article as a reaction to plans to include the freedom to get an abortion in the Luxembourg constitution.

CSV MEPs

Isabel Wiseler-Lima © Photo credit: Marc Wilwert / Luxemburger Wort

In November, Isabel Wiseler-Lima and Martine Kemp voted alongside their European People’s party (EPP) colleagues in the European Parliament to weaken corporate sustainability reporting rules.

But they also voted with far-right MEPs from the Patriots for Europe group, thus breaking the so-called cordon sanitaire to deny far-right forces the ability to shape policy.

That paved the way for an agreement between the EU Commission, Council and Parliament in December to reduce the number of companies covered by sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements – a move that some commentators have said is nothing short of kowtowing to the Trump administration at the expense of human rights and the environment.

The nice listThe Grand Ducal Couple

It may have rained on their parade, but the enthusiasm that greeted the freshly enthroned Grand Duke Guillaume and his wife, Grand Duchess Stéphanie, over three days in October signalled a breath of fresh air for Luxembourg.

The new grand duke gave an assured and measured speech and came across as relaxed and even jovial on the biggest day of his life.

Even five-year-old Prince Charles got in on the act and won hearts with his adorable displays of fidgeting and covering his ears as the noise of the crowd proved too much.

Since October, the grand duchess in particular has been keen to meet the public at events like the International Bazar and Luxembourg Art Week.

Sam Tanson

The former cabinet minister has been the de facto leader of the opposition even though her Green party only has four seats in parliament, one fewer than the ADR and seven less than the LSAP.

But while LSAP faction leader Taina Bofferding struggled with criticism from the left-wing Tageblatt newspaper amid rumours of dissatisfaction with her leadership style from within her party, and the ADR used their time to ask countless parliamentary questions about their perceived collapse of the Luxembourg language, Tanson was on point in the Chamber of Deputies and was persuasive and cool when interviewed by national broadcasters.

Women’s national football team

Led by captain Laura Miller and coached by Daniel Santos, the women representing the FLF did much better this year than their male counterparts.

They sealed promotion to the B league of the UEFA Nations League with a win in Kazakhstan in June. Not that the FLF – embroiled in controversy over the selection of a convicted domestic abuser (see our “naughty” list) – seemed to take notice.

The Red Lionesses, who won five and drew one of their six matches, were not given any official reception and Miller voiced their frustration in a letter that was later leaked to the press. But they did deservedly pick up the Team of the Year prize at the Luxembourg Sports Awards in December.

Gilles Roth

To the delight of 67% of the population, according to December’s Politmonitor poll, Luxembourg’s finance minister is to introduce a standardised tax bracket for income tax – though it will not come into effect until 2028.

He said that in today’s society it is no longer “appropriate to grant people a tax advantage simply because they are married”. But parents with children aged three and under are also set to receive so-called “infancy deduction” tax support when the reform.

His budget may have come in for criticism from think tanks and even the Chamber of Commerce, but for now Roth’s tax plans have seen his standing in the popularity polls rise.

Luxembourg fund firms

Luxembourg fund firms will contribute roughly €2.3 billion to state coffers this year, or about 8% of the estimated €28.8 billion in total tax revenue forecast in the government budget.

Even though the number of investment funds based in Luxembourg fell from 3,200 to 3,100, according to Claude Marx, the head of the Luxembourg regulator CSSF, assets under management rose by 5.5% year-on-year to €5.95 trillion at the end of August 2025.

Nation and city branding

Luxembourg has finally recognised “ex-pats” in both its national and capital city self-promotion campaigns. The national branding agency won awards for its OOPS, I stayed in Luxembourg ad, which acknowledged that many non-Luxembourgers arrive in the Grand Duchy thinking their stay will be temporary, but end up putting down roots in the country.

The city’s “a bubble full of life” campaign follows two elderly British ladies (played by genuine long-term expats) who also end up enjoying the delights of the capital city more or less by chance.

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The Luxembourg Times 2025 naughty and nice lists