Rituals, tensions and power plays: political parties use the congress season to stage themselves, set the internal course and make their first marks for upcoming election campaigns.
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In spring, not only does nature awaken from its winter slumber, no, in this most beautiful of all seasons, the political parties also celebrate their annual high mass – at least in Luxembourg, where almost no weekend goes by without a congress taking place somewhere.
However, even in the 21st century, such a congress still follows the same pattern: the party's own work is praised to the skies, the other parties are harshly criticized – and then it's off to the apéritif.
This year's congress season was opened by the Greens ("we are here to stay, even when the wind blows rough", Tilly Metz), followed by the LSAP, the adr ("the adr is ready to win the next elections", Fred Keup) and the CSV, before déi Lénk and the DP come together in April and June respectively, with "déi mam Xavier" once again bringing up the rear in terms of scheduling.
More interesting than usual this year could be the Congress of the Left, whose militants may finally get around to sending the shenanigans of the rotation system to the eternal hunting grounds once and for all after the 2028 elections, because anyone who voted for Marc Baum or David Wagner in 2023 did not necessarily vote for the respective second choice, in this case Gary Diderich and Ana Correia Da Veiga, who will replace the two current MPs in parliament this autumn.
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