Juncker in Luxembourg Parliament address

(CS) Prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker presented the results of last week's EU summit to members of Parliament on Wednesday, rejecting a change of Luxembourg's constitution.

The so-called “Golden Rule” proposed by the EU to better control the members states' debt should not be a part of Luxembourg's constitution Juncker said on the occasion. Rather it should be a law with the option of change by majority vote.

Juncker argued that political understandings should not form part of a country's guiding principles set out in the constitution.

The rule agreed on at the EU summit foresees that member states pledge not to surpass a 0.5% deficit in their budgets measured by their economic performance.

While the rule is unlikely to make it into Luxembourg's constitution, members of parliament nonetheless agreed that swift action must be taken by the EU's member states, including Luxembourg to tackle their debt problems.

Claude Meisch (DP) highlighted the necessity for consolidation of the national budget, while also leaving room for growth. This echoed earlier statements by Juncker saying that the market needed “room to breathe.”

Despite these long-term measures, criticism came from Marc Spautz (CSV) about the lack of immediate solutions to acute problems.

Tripartite threatened

Whether some of these solutions will be found at Friday's Tripartite meeting remains unclear at this point.

The government, employers and workers' unions are set to meet on Friday, but the future of the meeting is not secure after workers' unions issued an ultimatum. They said that the proposals the Union de l'Entreprises, a business syndicate, intended to bring to the table were unacceptable, showing no change to previous proposals.

Arguing that the UEL was not willing to budge, the OGB-L, LCGB and the CGFP refused to attend the meeting unless business leaders were willing to compromise.

Tripartite or no, Juncker said on Wednesday that the government would be making decisions of importance for the country on Friday.