Lydie Polfer: Luxembourg City’s successful mayor and former MEP

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Lydie Polfer is a Luxembourgish politician who has held several important positions in the small Benelux state throughout the years. During her successful career, she acted as a Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Member of the European Parliament (MEP).

Polfer has also spent a large part of her political career acting as the mayor of Luxembourg City. In 1982, Polfer succeeded her father, Camille Polfer, as mayor of Luxembourg City, when he was forced to resign due to ill health after only two years in office. During this time, she was able to gain valuable experience that later helped her throughout her career. She held the position of mayor until 1999.

Between 1999 and 2004, Polfer was also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Between 2004 and 2009, she was a member of the European Parliament. After holding these two major positions, Polfer felt it was time to return to her hometown. In December 2013, she once again assumed the position of mayor. Mayor Polfer is constantly working very hard to ensure that all Luxembourg City residents continue to enjoy a high quality of living.

In addition to improving public safety in Luxembourg City, mayor Polfer is also extremely dedicated to climate change adaptation in urban planning. In a 2020 interview with the National platform for urban policy and planning (CIPU), Polfer said that climate change adaptation and climate action are critical aspects that must be considered together when planning urban areas.

‘’There is a wide range of possible measures for climate action in the urban environment. For example, in Luxembourg City, we focus on reducing the need for transport by creating functional mixtures in the urban pattern. We adopt circular economy approaches, enabling building material to be reused and recycled in urban construction and we favour net-zero-energy buildings,’’ mayor of Luxembourg City stated in the interview.

Over the last decade, the population of Luxembourg City has increased by more than 30%. This high level of pressure possessed a challenge to urban planning, particularly in regard to issues such as traffic, increasing housing market pressure, increasing pressure on public services and more. Despite this pressure, mayor Polfer managed to help the city achieve its ambitious climate objectives and continues to lead the city into a bright future. Photo: © Ville de Luxembourg. Maison Moderne