Wat mengs du ? – Entrepreneurship celebrated, the self-employed forgotten

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Luxembourg wants more entrepreneurial spirit: more start-ups, more initiatives, more people willing to take on responsibility. But those who actually take the plunge soon realise that political praise for entrepreneurship goes much further than the protection given to the self-employed.

As vice-president of the Fédération des Artisans, I regularly meet men and women who live for their businesses. They invest their own money, hire staff and stand accountable for their decisions. When things get tough, their first thought is how to pay wages and bills – and only then do they consider whether anyone can help them. This is part of entrepreneurial responsibility. But responsibility must not mean second-rate protection.

The pandemic should have marked a turning point. It showed that many support schemes were designed primarily for employees and that the government had to cobble together emergency aid for the self-employed who were lucky enough to be eligible. At the time, everyone promised to learn from the experience. Six years on, the self-employed are still waiting.