Thierry welcomes Franz Fayot, Minister of the Economy, to the first installment of this two-part session. A passionate social democrat, Franz walks Thierry through his socialist and green roots, and what motivated him to join the government just before the coronavirus crisis broke out in early 2020. They dive into the various challenges that he has faced since the outbreak of the pandemic and how he has steered the economy throughout that period. As the Luxembourg economy is emerging again, Thierry asks the minister about the nature of the economic recovery, and how it ties into his long term goal of addressing environmental issues and the need to adopt a circular economy model. Inevitably, they touch on a very important point which is quite unique to Luxembourg: its strong reliance on crossborder workers and the challenges linked to teleworking (or working from home). With workers from neighbouring countries having more flexibility to stay at home (even temporarily), this creates a series of frictions from a tax agreement and social security perspective. Finally, the minister responds to allegations that the Luxembourg government has been too complacent when it comes to attracting new industrial players. The country is indeed attempting to move away from its over-reliance on the financial services industry.

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