Luxembourg MEP accuses current government of 'purge' in civil service

A statement made by Luxembourg Member of the European Parliament Frank Engel on social media has caused a stir this weekend, especially in the ruling Democratic Party (DP). 

"The current government has since the beginning of its term in office started the greatest purge since the Zivilverwaltung (Zivilverwaltung was the civil administration the Nazis established in Luxembourg during WWII) - and I weigh my words," Engel, a member of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), wrote in a post on his Facebook wall. 

The post was written in connection with the nomination of Laurent Loschetter, a close friend of Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, as chairman of the board of directors of the public service radio station 100.7. 

The DP said it was "shocked" about this "unacceptable" declaration, in a statement on Sunday evening. It continued by saying that Engel had compared the democratically-elected government with the Nazi regime's civil administration yet still received support from the CSV leadership, whom it called upon to clearly distance itself from the statements of the MEP.

Engel, told the Luxemburger Wort that he had by no means equated the government with the civil administration, and added he had only used the word as a time window to show that the current government was breaking with 70 years of democratic tradition. 

"Anyone who immediately draws comparisons with the Nazi regime in this context has no arguments left," said Engel. It had hitherto been customary not to fill posts in the civil service according to party membership, in order to ensure independence from politics. 

Even the government of Gaston Thorn had followed that custom, said Engel, however, in 2013 that tradition was broken. He held fast to his accusation.

(By Eric Hamus, Translated from German by Barbara Tasch)