Thorn-Vouel-Berg Government

[1] Under Gaston Thorn, the DP and LSAP formed a coalition without the CSV, for the first time since World War II in Luxembourg.

[1] On 16 September 1977, after the departure of Marcel Mart for the European Court of Auditors, Josy Barthel joined the government.

[2] The laws of 6 February 1975 and 5 December 1978 allowed divorce by mutual consent and for a specific reason (such as the couple not having lived together for three years).

[2] The law of 15 November 1978 legalised abortion, over the vehement opposition of the CSV's Deputies, who raised concerns over the life of the unborn child.

[2] To find solutions to the demographic crisis, the government asked an international expert, professor Gérard Calot, to report on the state of the Luxembourgish family and the problem of the declining birth rate.

[3] The formula for calculating this was advantageous to publications with a small readership, and counter-balanced to an extent the growing commercial success of the main daily newspaper, the Luxemburger Wort, close to the CSV.

[3] (see Press subsidy in Luxembourg) The government was forced to abandon two large-scale infrastructure projects in the face of popular opposition.

[3] This project had faced criticism from the anti-nuclear movement, partly due to the context of the Three Mile Island accident in the United States.

[3] Another project that caused controversy was that of the "Centre 300", a planned hemicycle-shaped home for the European Parliament, designed by the French architect Taillibert.

[4] In July 1975, the government introduced a law allowing it to take measures to avoid layoffs and to assure full employment.

[6] Supported by public aid, Luxembourgish steel invested 16,2 billion francs between 1975 and 1979 in order to improve its competitiveness compared with its foreign rivals.

[6] A new instrument for state intervention, the SNCI served to implement the structural policy to make the domestic economy more competitive.

[6] The closing of General Motors in Bascharage in 1978, and of the Monsanto factory in Echternach represented setbacks to the government's diversification policy.