The Cake
Marc Lauer takes over as president of the Union of Luxembourg Enterprises (UEL) on October 1, succeeding Michel Reckinger. His background is in finance and insurance, but he is quick to point out that his parents ran a small butcher's shop. He says he knows what craftwork means for those working in it.
The UEL, he insists, has to reflect the reality of both small and large companies. The federation's main focus will remain on three areas that concern every member: taxation, labour law, and social security.
Looking ahead, Lauer identifies four major challenges for the Luxembourg economy: an ageing population, technological change, the climate crisis, and infrastructure gaps. He puts demographic shifts and their impact on the social security system at the top of the list. Digitalisation and artificial intelligence have not yet been fully rolled out across all companies. Climate change remains pressing, and as he noted, everyone can feel that it is unusually warm for August.
He also raised housing and transport. If the country wants to keep growing, it has to make sure that people coming to work here can actually find somewhere to live. The housing shortage is not just a social issue, it is an economic one.
The bluntest warning came on the economic outlook. In the coming years, Lauer said, the cake will not get any bigger, or at least not as quickly as before. So the country needs to agree on how to divide it fairly, and if possible, make it grow again.
On social dialogue, Lauer sees it as the heart of the UEL's mission, even where consensus is out of reach. The UEL works for the competitiveness of companies. The unions focus on purchasing power. The two sides have to talk, and they will not always agree. On collective agreements, he sees room for greater flexibility and modernisation, noting that the way people work has changed dramatically, even more so since Covid.
A new president with a butcher's son's grounding and a banker's vocabulary. Four challenges, one shrinking cake, and a country that still needs to figure out how to slice it.