"More culture of debate would be good for Parliament"

When she was still a minister, we were often transferred when something came up at the last minute. As leader of the opposition, however, Taina Bofferding takes things a lot easier, but that could also be because we are meeting the leader of the LSAP parliamentary group at a time when there are only a few committee meetings left on the agenda in the Chamber of Deputies. The interview takes place in her super tidy and refreshingly modern office.

Lëtzebuerger Journal: What's going on in the LSAP? Only eleven deputies and then two camps: Francine Closener and Dan Biancalana, the new-old co-presidents of the party, against Paulette Lenert and Georges Engel, who are also rumoured to have expressed an interest in the presidency. Francine Closener and Paulette Lenert in particular are said not to get along.

Taina Bofferding: We don't have any camps, and it wouldn't be good if we did. The party leadership was confirmed at our congress and can now get on with its work. As leader of the parliamentary group, it is important to me that we are a team, I don't believe in camps.

However, it was allegedly Closener and Biancalana who persuaded Sacha Pulli to put forward his candidature against Amir Vesali for the post of Secretary General at short notice, which Pulli ultimately won.

You have to ask the people involved whether such discussions actually took place. However, I don't think it's a bad thing if two people are interested in one post. It is now being portrayed as if a vote is a bad thing. But it's actually a good thing if you have several people interested in a position. I see that as a strength rather than a weakness.

Many people were surprised that you and not Paulette Lenert became leader of the parliamentary group and thus also leader of the opposition. The former deputy prime minister and LSAP hopeful was, after all, the national lead candidate, so it is somewhat surprising that she retreated to the second row.

Paulette Lenert is still in the front row. However, she decided after the elections that she didn't want to take on the role of parliamentary group leader. When I was asked whether I could imagine doing that, I didn't have to think twice. Especially as we work as a team and Paulette is Vice-President of the parliamentary group. In any case, I think it's good to have a broader base and not just focus on one person.