"You can't please everyone anyway"

Stéphanie Empain and François Benoy were part of the Green parliamentary group in the last legislative period, but were not re-elected following their party's electoral debacle in the parliamentary elections in October 2023. A year later, they took over the chairmanship of the déi gréng from Djuna Bernard and Meris Sehovic, who have since both returned to parliament.

Since leaving parliament, political scientist Stéphanie Empain, who is also President of the Athletics Association, has started studying again (Bachelor en formation pédagogique), while Co-President François Benoy, who is also a political scientist, has returned to his previous job at the Haus vun der Natur in Kockelscheuer. He has also been group leader of his party on the municipal council in the capital since December 2018.

Lëtzebuerger Journal: These are bad times for green politics. Climate policy is virtually no longer a political issue and young voters are increasingly turning to extremist and populist parties, as was recently evident in the German elections.

Stéphanie Empain: These are times when the Greens should actually be in high demand, but the headlines are dominated by other issues, which has multiplied once again with the election of Donald Trump. We are now talking more and more about Europe's independence and security. Core green issues are having a harder time.

We dare to doubt whether young people are really interested in security policy …

François Benoy: Green issues such as the climate crisis, the biodiversity crisis and social justice are as topical as ever, but are less talked about. As far as young people are concerned, an alarming number voted for the AfD in the federal elections, but we shouldn't just point the finger at young people now.