Roy Reding, born 17 July 1965, in Luxembourg City, is a Luxembourgish Member of Parliament, lawyer, politician, and vice-president of the ADR, as well as treasurer of the Alliance of European Conservatives and Reformists (AECR), a centre-right eurosceptic European political party, of which the ADR is a member.
AMCHAM: Please introduce yourself to our audience so our Newsletter readers understand who you are and your background.
Roy Reding: Luxembourg born and raised, I studied law in France. After a short stance at Banque Générale du Luxembourg as in-house lawyer, I joined the bar in 1990 and remained a lawyer until 2019, when I decided to concentrate on my multiple business ventures, in Luxembourg and abroad and on my political work.
I am member of Parliament for the conservative party adr since 2013.
I am married to Karine Reuter, a civil law notary, and dad to 4 kids, 3 of which are working or studying in London.
Please tell our readers about the reason the ADR party exists and what goals, policies and objectives differentiate it from other Luxembourg political parties.
ADR was born as a social movement for fairer pensions in the private sector. It developed into the only conservative party in Luxembourg since I became its secretary general in 2006.
Please share your views on what your party believes the current coalition government has done right and wrong during its current mandates in power?
For a conservative, it is not easy to find the “ right things” that were done.
We certainly supported quite a few laws during the last 10 years, but opposed the main ones brought into Parliament by this government. We are opposed to all laws restricting our liberties or the freedom to trade. We were the party that did not vote in favor of any “Covid”-law. We oppose State-founded journalism, and in general funding of funny activities by the tax-payers money. We are against any increase in the tax-burden we already have. We strongly condemn that the new Constitution was not submitted to a vote, as every (!) major party promised to do in the 2018 election manifesto. This was a breach of confidence !
What in your view are the most major societal problems facing Luxembourg and how would you suggest to solve them differently than the current government coalition?
There are few “ societal” problems in Luxembourg. People living here are doing so peacefully and enjoy the same rights. Of course it is unacceptable that people who work in Luxembourg are unable to afford housing, and we strongly support intelligent measures to create more affordable housing. In general the salaries paid must allow to live a decent life in our country. We are concerned about the uprising of violent incidents and crimes. We all can see that the Green Ministers of Police and Justice are utterly unable to tackle these problems.
What is your assessment of the attractiveness of Luxembourg as a business location for international companies and are there any steps your party would support to enhanced Luxembourg’s attractiveness for international companies and their employees?
We need top-schooling options ( here a lot of positive things were done) , a nice and secure living ( here we need to do more) and attractive taxes ( here we need to act !) in a country enjoying his AAA-status ( which must be secured at any costs) We need less bureaucraty ( “simplification administrative” is too often a concept to make live easier for administration, not for citizens) and come back to the good old times when Luxembourg was internationally praised for its “ short ways” and pragmatic handling of issues.
What is the view of your party on making English an official language?
We are in favor of this logical step. There is only one national language, Luxemburgish, but we do not understand why only German and French would enjoy the status of official language. A great part of our population is nowadays from English-speaking countries.
Your party is viewed by some as Luxembourg centric and therefore not welcoming to foreigners. Is this view correct and, if not, please explain what you offer in support to appeal to foreign residents and their business interests.
This “view” couldn’t be further from truth ! We want that Luxembourg remains its true self, the reason why so many people come to live here from every countries in the world. Yes, we fight to keep our national language alive, and are strongly opposed to a vote in national elections for people who are not nationals. We also oppose the fact that it is far too easy to become Luxemburger. But we are truly welcoming all foreigners who want to live and work here. Our party has an “ international” section in which we unite conservatives from all over the world living here.
There are more threats to our peaceful and prosperous society than I wish there were …
It is simply unacceptable that “rescue boats” founded by tax-money linger around Libya looking for people to “ rescue” . These peoples are traffickers who should face the most severe criminal prosecution for accepting death of innocent people who pay for seeking a better future. Persons who are in a position to seek asylum can do so. Persons who want to come to Luxembourg in order to work should be able to get much easier access to the labour market.
Also the “gender ideology” and early sexual “education” are completely unacceptable. We should leave this to families, not teachers and “Trans” – people who follow their ideologic agenda.
