The new life of Joëlle Elvinger

Joëlle Elvinger welcomes us in the almost empty buildings of the European Court of Auditors. The month of August has something to do with it, but above all it is because of the health precautions in force. The institution went 100 percent teleworking in March 2020, and is gradually returning to face-to-face work, with no guarantee that all the staff will be back in September.

Still dressed to the nines and perched on high heels – their clacking, muffled by the blue carpet of the DP section, resounds in the empty corridors of the Court – Joëlle Elvinger lends herself willingly to the exercise of the guided tour, showing us the large room where the Court has been holding its plenary hearings for several months. "This is not the usual courtroom, but it allows us to respect the two-meter distance between each member of the Court", she explains. Because of the health protocol, the members do not get simultaneous translation for the moment and speak in English during the hearings.

Heading to the K1 building, with its massive concrete silhouette and windowed walls, that was built in 1988. However, the interior was renovated in the 2010s. While Henri Grethen made do with the dark red walls and dark wooden doors he found when he arrived in 2008, Joëlle Elvinger has had her office refreshed, with a predominantly white and clean look. She has added the Luxembourg and European flags behind her desk, mainly to identify her during video conferences, and "silk-screen prints by Luxembourg artists that I had at home, bought from Rotary, the Walferdange tennis club and the Federation of Young Women Leaders (on the occasion of club anniversaries)", she explains, "while waiting to find other paintings". The cabinet's secretariat is decorated with panoramas of the Grand Duchy. "I wanted the office to have a touch of Luxembourg."