Juncker (second right) at the start of the hearing at the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies, in Luxembourg.


Reuters/AFP/Brussels

Luxembourg will hold new elections after the junior coalition partner in Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker’s government said that he should take political responsibility for failing to curb abuse of power by the secret service.
Luxembourg’s parliament yesterday reviewed a report that it commissioned on the security agency’s illegal bugging of politicians, purchase of cars for private use and allegations it took payments and favours in exchange for access to local officials.
The report was put together by a parliamentary committee after a Luxembourg weekly last year published a secretly-taped conversation in 2007 between Juncker and the then head of the SREL intelligence service, Marco Mille.
In the recorded conversation, Mille revealed that his staff had also secretly taped a conversation with Luxembourg’s Grand Duke and that the sovereign was in regular contact with Britain’s MI6.
But the parliamentary inquiry set up in the furore that ensued uncovered more dirt: the existence of 13,000 secret files on people and businesses, illegal wire-taps on business leaders, a counter-terror operation that was a front to help a Russian oligarch pay $10mn dollars to a Spanish spy, and even a murky private dealership in luxury cars.
“The commission of inquiry concludes that the prime minister, as head of the intelligence service, not only had no control over his service but also too often omitted to inform the parliamentary control committee or the judiciary of its irregularities, aberrations and illegalities,” the report said.
“We invite the prime minister to take full political responsibility in this context and ask the government to intervene with the head of state to clear the path for new elections,” Alex Bodry, the president of the Socialist coalition partner, told the Luxembourg parliament.
Juncker, who became prime minister in 1995 and is the European Union’s longest serving head of government, denied having done anything wrong.
“If you think that, you will have to vote,” an angry Juncker said earlier yesterday after citing a newspaper article that accused him of abusing the secret service for his personal gains and those of his party.
It was not immediately clear whether Juncker would participate in the new elections, which have to take place within three months.
The centre-right CSV and its Socialist coalition partner hold 39 of the 60 seats in parliament.
Wealthy Luxembourg, a major financial hub, is one of Europe’s most politically stable countries.
The CSV has led all but one government since World War II.
Though aged only 58, Juncker has been in office for 18 years and in government for 30. He is best known in Europe for a tumultuous eight year stint as head of the eurozone finance ministers group, which ended in January.
Socialist leader Bodry said earlier yesterday that he expected “a strong gesture” from Juncker but feared he had “chosen another option”.
“When one thinks one is infallible it’s hard to admit to making mistakes,” he told the daily Luxemburger Wort.
The opposition says it is ready to call for a censure motion against Juncker.
Juncker last month survived the duchy’s first confidence vote in 150 years over a separate scandal. The last confidence motion in Luxembourg was in 1848 and led to the fall of the government.