Growth in the name of security, and what falls by the wayside

Luxembourg's defence spending is increasing, from 190 million in 2014 to 728 million in 2024 and is now expected to reach around 1.5 billion euros by the end of 2025. The government's aim is to achieve a positive economic and social return on its armament efforts. They are not intended purely as a budgetary burden, but to promote growth, competitiveness, andd innovation.

According to the Lux4Defence strategy paper presented at the Chamber of Commerce at the end of April 2025, around 2.000 new jobs could be created through a geographical return of 60 per cent of defence spending. And that's with a defence budget of just two per cent of the gross domestic income. A target that Prime Minister Luc Frieden brought forward to the end of this year in his State of the Union address, instead of 2030 as stipulated in the coalition agreement. Most recently, the willingness to gradually support probable new NATO targets was signaled, even if the 2 per cent set in 2014 is raised to 5 per cent (including 1.5 per cent in defence-related investments) by 2035 according to the latest NATO summit.

At the same time, the industrial base is also taking shape. Luxembourg is building on existing strengths in dual-use sectors such as cybersecurity, aerospace, logistics and high-tech materials. National companies joined forces in June to form Asbl LuxDefence as a result of the Lux4Defence initiative, with the declared aim of bundling cooperation as structured government partners and increasing the international visibility of the sector.

There is no doubt that the ball has been set rolling.

The concept of values

There is also a lot of talk about "values", whether in the Chamber of Deputies, public speeches, press releases or the current coalition agreement. MP David Wagner (déi Lénk) rejects the term. "It's not about the defence of values – whatever they are – as it is always presented, but about capital markets."