"I am still Martine"

Martine Deprez is punctual and takes plenty of time for our interview. She doesn't have a bodyguard with her, not even during our short walk in the unfortunately still treeless Gasperich Park, which we go to for our photo session. She makes and brings the coffee we drink in her office afterwards herself.

The down-to-earth and uncomplicated 55-year-old has been a member of the CSV since 1986 and has also held various positions there, such as deputy general secretary, but until the elections, nobody had the long-serving state councillor and teacher, who was a candidate in the 2009 parliamentary elections on her party's southern list, on their radar.

Lëtzebuerger Journal: Pensions played absolutely no role in the 2023 election campaign, only to suddenly become one of the top political issues after the elections. Can you understand why some people might feel taken for a ride as a result?

Martine Deprez: I wasn't involved in the election campaign, but the CSV election programme said, among other things, that we had to make sure we kept our pension system in balance.

That may be true, but very few people read the election programmes. In any case, pensions were not discussed at all or only very little at the election meetings.

In the election meetings of my party, which I attended, there was mainly talk about our 10-point programme, but an election programme is not just ten points. Pensions were definitely an issue in the coalition negotiations.