Juncker–Poos Government

Juncker became Prime Minister after his predecessor, Jacques Santer, was appointed President of the European Commission.

[2] In the European sphere, the government gave priority to questions of employment, tax harmonisation, and the introduction of the single currency.

[3] In terms of the harmonisation and coordination of fiscal policies, the Luxembourgish authorities were not opposed to a regulation at the level of all European states of the question of the withholding tax.

[3] During the Luxembourgish presidency of the Council of the European Union in 1997, significant advances were achieved in the long process of creating a common currency.

[4] This was the effect of a stability policy which had been made the condition for joining the European economic and monetary union.

[4] If the job market continued to grow at the same rate and the population grew in similar proportion, the Grand-Duchy would have 400,000 workers and 700,000 residents by 2025.

[4] As the road network could not absorb the mass of everyday travellers, the government also prepared a traffic plan which integrated buses, trams and railways, the BTB (Bus-Tram-Bunn).

[4] Luxembourg also pledged to participate in the cost of the construction of the Paris-Luxembourg railway line up to 4,6 billion francs.

[4] Apart from the investments in infrastructure, the continuation of the development of the Kirchberg plateau represented a large burden on the State's budget.

[4] These works represented the government's desire to turn the zone that was initially dedicated to European institutions into a quarter of Luxembourg City in its own right, which would include residential, commercial and leisure areas.

[4] The government continued to support the expansion of SES, which could be considered the jewel of the policy of diversification pursued since the steel crisis.

[4] With 2,7 billion francs paid in taxes and licence fees, the SES was the principal contributor towards the Luxembourgish State's finances.

[5] The government launched a vast programme of construction of museums and cultural institutions, especially the Musée d’art moderne Grand-Duc Jean and the Museum of the Fortress in the ruins of Fort Thüngen, a philharmonic hall on the Place de l’Europe, a Centre Culturel de Rencontre in the buildings of the old Neimënster Abbey.