Following the failure of the third social round, the government has finalised its reform plans without reaching an agreement with the social partners. This means that the Luxembourg social model is finally on the brink of collapse.
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We didn't think Luc Frieden had that much humour Politics is the art of compromise, said the head of government on Wednesday afternoon, after he had just scuppered the third round of social talks and possibly dealt the final blow to the much-cited Luxembourg model. The fact that the CSV Prime Minister was repeatedly plagued by coughing fits at the press conference following the final round of three could mean, however, that the head of government's subconscious was resisting the statements he had just made.
In fact, so much china has been broken by the government in recent weeks and months without any real urgency that Villeroy & Boch should actually reopen its production halls in Rollingergrund, which were closed a few years ago, as it would be difficult to mend the broken pieces.
It really makes you wonder what the whole thing was good for. Three tripartite, sorry, social rounds, in which a total of over 40 hours were spent negotiating and arguing, plus the so-called consultations with citizens on the pension reform, and then such a paltry result.
It may sound trite, but in this case it really is true: the mountain gave birth to a mouse, in this case a dwarf mouse.
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