Congress 2025 of the Mouvement Ecologique

The congress of the Mouvement Ecologique took place on 26 March 2025 to a full house. Below you will find a brief report of the congress and the speech by President Blanche Weber.

In accordance with the provisions of the Articles of Association, invitations to the Annual General Meeting were sent to all members by post on 12 March 2025. Around 120 members accepted the invitation.

As announced in the invitation, the agenda was as follows:

• Blanche Weber; President, welcomed the participants and thanked them for their participation. As the first item on the agenda, the participants were asked to indicate their assessment of the government’s work in the area of sustainable development, their priorities for government policy in the coming years and the most important issues for the Mouvement Ecologique using the “Mentimeter”. The results were extremely revealing and can be found in the appendix to this report.In her speech, Blanche Weber focussed on government policy in the area of sustainable development and also addressed the problematic global situation and its impact on climate and biodiversity policy.
• The next item on the agenda was the presentation of various activity reports:Blanche Weber presented the 2024 activity report of the Mouvement Ecologique, Tanja Duprez  the 2024 activity report of move. and Paul Polfer presented that of the Climate Alliance Lëtzebuerg. The last speaker was Theid Faber, who presented the activities of the Pafendall eco-centre.
• It was up to Emile Espen, Treasurer, to present the accounts for 2024, which were approved by the auditors André Gilbertz and Patrick Loewen and the fiduciary Roland Kuhn. The two auditors, Patrick Loewen and André Gilbertz, confirmed good financial management and asked the Congress to approve the accounts. The 2025 draft budget was also presented and the 2024 accounts and the 2025 draft budget were approved by the General Assembly. Both cash auditors put forward their candidature again; there was no additional candidature. The two auditors were confirmed in office by the Annual General Meeting.
• Following the presentation of the activities and the financial report, the Annual General Meeting granted discharge to the Board of Directors.
• The next item on the agenda was the election of the new Board of Directors 2025. The situation was as follows:

Not resigning: Roger Dammé, Théid Faber, Béatrice Kieffer, Claude Petit, Jacques Pir, Jean Rischette, Thomas Steinmann, Blanche Weber

Resigning and standing for election: Emile Espen, Gérard Kieffer, Joy Mertz, Marianne Milmeister, Jeannot Muller, Bob Reuter

New candidates: Tom Becker, Laure Simon, Patrick Weyrich.

This results in 17 candidates (whereby a maximum of 17 members are permitted on the Board of Directors under the Articles of Association). The new Board of Directors 2025 was elected unanimously.

• Two specific mandates to the Board of Directors were recorded from members’ interventions: the extent to which a deposit on drinks packaging can be introduced should be promoted in 2025, and a list of existing working groups should be published on the website.
• In conclusion, Blanche Weber thanked the full-time staff and members – both active and passive – for their commitment and support during 2024 and in 2025.

Minister for Economic Affairs, Energy and Tourism Lex Delles then presented the government’s energy policy priorities and answered questions from those present.

In a 15-minute speech, the Minister outlined the key points of his energy policy. According to the Minister, these range from the targeted promotion of the expansion of solar energy (e.g. also along motorways) to new emphases in the area of heat planning. According to the minister, the ministry would be working more intensively on this important lever of the energy transition. Something is also happening in the area of wind energy, but certain standards need to be reconsidered in this area, e.g. with regard to the siting in certain zones. The composition of the electricity price and the question of “précarité énergétique” were further topics… just to pick out these points. Overall, the Minister provided a comprehensive overview of current plans.

In the discussions that followed, the following topics were raised by those present, among others: The level of financing for PV systems and real targets to be achieved in accordance with the climate and energy plan, existing problems at the cooperatives, the issue of storage capacities, problems with the implementation of energy measures in co-ownership, biodiversity protection in the construction of agri-PV systems, etc. Two aspects should be emphasised: The minister stated that work was being done to improve the conditions of cooperatives and that the adoption of energy efficiency measures in state buildings should be promoted. The statement that wind turbines would generally not be erected in forests caused some discussion, but it could be considered to erect them specifically in suitable forest locations with dead spruce trees. Many participants welcomed the minister’s commitment at the final “stand-off”.  It will be important to see how the plans progress in concrete terms.

This was followed by a “walking dinner” where the participants spread out over the meeting room, the foyer and the library of the Oekozenter to deepen the discussions and enjoy the delicious food prepared by Lou Steichen of the “Oekosoph”

All in all, it was a very motivating congress that also shows how much the members stand together in the Mouvement Ecologique.