Léon Gloden (Minister of Home Affairs): Street Realities vs Golden Promises.

When Léon Gloden was appointed Minister for Home Affairs in November 2023, expectations were high. Security had been worsening for months and Gloden was perceived as a seasoned politician with a reputation for pragmatism. Fast forward to May 2025: a few progress remain overshadowed by persistent challenges.

Perceived criminality.

Not so long ago, criminality was measured once a year throught the Annual Report of the Police. Fast forward to 2025, 798 inhabitants from the Gare district have joined a whatsapp group where pictures of delictual acts are shared on a daily basis. People defacating in front of their doors; Others screaming and fighting; Drug dealers taking control of crossroads at night or hiding drugs in their flower pots. The 2024 numbers published by the police show that violent crimes went down – murders and burglaries – while the rest went up. 40954 cases in total. (+661). 18225 thefts. (+821) The group of citizens leaving near gare already organised demonstrations and met with Mrs Polfer, Mayor of the City, Mr Gloden, Minister of Home Affairs and representatives of the police, but every time, promises were followed by what is perceived as insufficient action.

An active Minister.

Gloden, who obtained a master's degree in European and international law, was a member of Parliament from 2009 until his nomination as Minister and Mayor of Grevenmacher from 2011 to 2023. He started his mission as Minister by supporting a begging ban; Introduced a “4P” strategy around Personnel, Presence, Proximity and Prevention; Demonstrated more street controls; Supported a highly publicised “Task force” to address drug trafficking which met in February and announced consultations with residents and businesses. His "Platzverweis" aims at allowing the police to remove and temporarily ban individuals from public areas. This project faces headwinds, but the conversation is still on. On the immigration side, he defends a stricter asylum policy and rejects opposition claims of authoritarianism by defending his approach as a balanced one, guided by "heart and reason”. He aims to welcome those who qualify while deterring misuse of the system. Long story short: Our Ministry has been very active and communicated a lot about his efforts over the past 18 months.

“In 2024, violent crimes went down – murders and burglaries – while the rest went up. 40954 cases in total. (+661)”

The elusive quest for decisive action.

There you have it: A very active Minister and a population that informs itself primarily on social networks and Whatsapp. Who is right? The Minister who can always pick positive statistics? Or the citizen who measures criminality with the camera of his Iphone, day after day. The key today lies in the ability of decision makers in Luxembourg to upgrade their operating model with more transparency, more cooperation but most importantly, more efficiency. We went from long cycles, where politicians had 5 years to produce results, to real-time scrutiny. By now, everyone understands that even a rich “per capita” country is struggling to recruit fast enough and deploy significant numbers of forces to secure our streets. Only 3241 employees worked for the Police in 2024, up from 3111 a year before. (+130) And voters, who got used to getting “everything they asked for” over 3 decades are waking up to a more competitive, unstable and insecure world. But clearly, security remains the cornerstone of Luxembourg’s attractiveness. So let’s all expect more decisive action, as soon as possible.