Delano April 2022

APRIL 2022

No. 88

Luxembourg in English

Keith O’Donnell: The tax hamster wheel The tax advisor says corporate tax reform in Europe is just going in circles.

Workspace & facility management report 5 453000 010015 88 €4

When politics and culture collide Planning this issue was not straightforward, as we debated to what extent and how to cover Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, given its impact on people, local energy prices, politics and more. Not to mention the situation is changing daily…

But the heinous attack on Ukraine has once again highlighted the difficulty in separating art and sport from politics.

The sanctions finally imposed by the UK government on Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich have hurt the club and its fans, for example.

Here in Luxembourg, several culture commentators were outraged when the Luxembourg City Film Festival took the difficult decision to withdraw Russian films from its programme in early March, following an open letter to festivals around the world from the Ukrainian film academy. The Russian filmmakers are innocent victims of censorship, the commentators cried from the comfort of their sofas, while Ukrainians were being slaughtered, and mothers and their children fled their homeland.

One Ukrainian filmmaker, Marina Stepanska, later summed up her profession’s position as her colleagues moved from making feature films to documenting Russian war crimes with their cameras. “Let me give you a hint on how to distinguish the real victims of Putin’s regime,” she wrote. “It’s very simple. All the victims are in Russian prisons already. They did have balls to speak out against this war during the first days, and they have since been arrested. The victims are already paying a price in prison, and they

don’t have the ability to present so-called ‘independent art’ on your platforms.”

Indeed, culture--and media--should take a stand when a sovereign country is invaded.

Media goes hand in hand with culture: fostering information and awareness, speaking to hearts and minds.

As part of an independent media house, our team has been rocked by the cowardly Russian invasion of Ukraine, and we’ve tried to speak with both Ukrainian and Russian citizens on the issue. But it is impossible not to feel a sense of kinship with the citizens of Ukraine and also fellow journalists--from those fighting disinformation at The Kyiv Independent, to Luxembourg polyglot Philip Crowther reporting from the field. We feel a sense of loss hearing about the deaths of journalists just doing their job, most recently when US journalist and filmmaker Brent Renaud was killed in Irpin, or the death of 24-year-old Ukraine journalist Oleksandra Kuvshynova alongside experienced war photojournalist Pierre Zakrzewski.

When taking sides on a divisive debate--just as we did during the covid pandemic--we would rather listen to those putting their lives at risk on the front line than armchair critics.

Editor-in-chief, Delano magazine NATALIE A. GERHARDSTEIN Editor-in-chief, Delano digital DUNCAN ROBERTS

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APRIL 2022

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Contents April 2022

Workspace & facilities management

06 #POLITICS - PAUL HEBER

“It’s about managing expectations and matching them with reality” 08 #BUSINESS - CAROLE MULLER

“If the world prices go up, our prices go up too”

38 Head to head ANDREAS BRAUN VS AJAY BALI

AI in financial services p. 16

40 Essay

Keith O’Donnell says continuous corporate tax reform is hitting the law of diminishing returns

The squeeze of the energy crisis

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10 #FINANCE - CATHERINE BOURIN

“They do not understand the risks” –

12 #CULTURE - ELISABETH SCHILLING

“Contemporary dance is still quite a young art form” 14 Dashboard

16 FINANCE - KEITH O’DONNELL

“ Stuck on the hamster wheel of constantly redoing corporate tax” –

22 BUSINESS - STÉPHANE PALLAGE

Street food 46 Business club 50 Pick’n’mix

On the world stage

“Universities have an important role in democracy”

Photos

Guy Wolff, Illustration

Salomé Jottreau

Gender equality: from households to boards

44 Gusto

Conversations

p. 22 University of Luxembourg rector Stéphane Pallage on how the institution has developed p. 40 With rising energy prices, how can Luxembourg assure an affordable mix?

APRIL 2022

30 Business report

Ristretto

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Ristretto #Politics

APRIL 2022

6

“It’s about managing expectations and matching them with reality” Unicef Luxembourg’s communication chief Paul Heber explains what the organisation is doing in Ukraine and Luxembourg and how other humanitarian crises remain very much in the spotlight.

Unicef responded swiftly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine with humanitarian aid. But what are the priorities there now for the children affected by the war?

Unicef has been in eastern Ukraine in crisis mode since 2014, when the conflict in the Donbass region started. So it’s been eight years, in very difficult circumstances, and we’ve worked with half a million children since then.

So when the conflict moved towards the west, we had to adapt. But we managed to do that rather quickly because we have the experience, we had material and supplies pre-positioned, and we sent in more staff.

At the moment, we work to make sure that there’s enough water, sanitation, hygiene… health care and nutrition services are also needed.

And we are also providing a lot of psychological help. But it’s not easy. You need to know where the children are, which is difficult when there’s chaos.

We have a main hub in Copenhagen, a huge warehouse. Basically, anything can be dispatched from there around the world within 72 hours. We try to get the planes to land as close as possible to the borders, and then we truck it in. Obviously, with all the problems involved… roads are closed, roads are destroyed.

How do you provide security for the people who have fled?

Behind borders we have installed what we call ‘blue dots’. Most of our teams within Ukraine are mobile, whereas the blue dot centres are fixed.

They provide psychological health, medical help for people who pass through them. They can treat or they can take care of 3,000 to 5,000 children a day. Which sounds like a lot, but it’s not necessarily a lot… Ukraine has 7.5m children that need help. Some of them have left the country, as we know. Others never will.

Is it in Unicef’s remit to ensure that these children are not exploited when they arrive in the countries that have agreed to accept them?

It’s not what we historically are used to doing in Luxembourg. So far, the government has done its share of the work; Caritas and the Red Cross are involved in settling refugees.

Our work in Luxembourg is to fundraise as much as we can, as fast as we can.

It’s about managing expectations and matching them with reality. For instance, if we had collected a lot of winter clothing, which we definitely need in Ukraine, we would have had to get them, sort them and ship them. And that just takes time.

Whereas, if we have the money to buy them, because they’re already prepared, we have the sizes, we have them in stock, we can directly ship them.

Unicef has a report that maps all humanitarian crises all around the world for any year on any given day and dedicates a budget to them. For Ukraine, the budget was $50m for 2022 at the start of the year. Within a day or two of the escalation, it had gone up to $66m, and now [15 March] it’s at $349m.

Meanwhile, there is the continuing humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan and other regions of the world. Are they in danger of being overshadowed by the Ukraine war?

We fundraise quite a bit for Afghanistan, not just last summer but before and since. Just because it may not be in the media, doesn’t mean we’re not working behind the scenes.

Just to give you an idea, more than half the population of Afghanistan needs humanitarian assistance, and that includes 12.9m children.

One in two children under five will be acutely malnourished if nothing happens. To put it in perspective, we need $349m for Ukraine, but for Afghanistan the budget for 2022 is $2bn.

Paul Heber has been Unicef Luxembourg’s communication chief since 2008

Interview DUNCAN ROBERTS Photo MATIC ZORMAN

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Ristretto #Business

APRIL 2022

8

“If the world prices go up, our prices go up too” Ahead of this year’s Journée de l’Économie (JEcolux) taking place on 29 March, Delano caught up with panellist and Fischer CEO Carole Muller to discuss future-proofing business in times of crisis.

You wear a variety of professional hats.

Which one proved to be the most challenging over the course of the pandemic?

I think clearly [being] CEO of Fischer… I had to concentrate on my company when it all started. Three days after the first confinement was announced, I had to close 20 bakeries out of 60, one-third, because most of the people that work in my bakeries--in the retail part, not the production part--98% are women.

They had the same problem as I did, [asking], ‘What am I going to do with my kids?’ The big challenge was to see how we [could] make it work. How can we protect our employees?

But also to continue with the service we provide for our customers and clients.

We’re facing an unprecedented geopolitical situation. How do you anticipate being impacted, for example, by energy prices?

We need a lot of energy. We bake every night, fresh in every shop. Pastry products have to be refrigerated, and we have to drive every day to the 60 shops… We aren’t buying grains from Ukraine because we only use grains from ‘Produit du Terroir’, a Luxembourgish label for Luxembourgish wheat… There will always be enough for the Luxembourgish market, but the prices are calculated on world prices: if the world prices go up, our prices go up too… There are some, like sunflower grains, that come from Ukraine.

Also you have the whole packaging that goes up… that has an impact on every company in Luxembourg. I think there is no company that is not impacted.

How did you adapt for your customers?

[There] was adaption every day… in the [Panelux] production, the whole export part went down--half of everything that’s produced is exported to foreign countries.

But demand also changed. People were not interested anymore in sandwiches and salads because they were at home, not in their offices… so there had to be a whole shift also in production. We have 11 [door-to-door] food trucks… those gained a lot of clients because they were happy we had that service [so] they didn’t have to go out.

Fischer is over 100 years old. How do you balance your core traditions as you evolve?

Tradition lies in the way we produce, giving time to the products to develop, especially to breads.

With bread and ‘viennoiseries’ [pastries], it stays more traditional, and there are traditional ways of preparing like it was done years ago. But you have other products, for example, the whole snacking part, or also part of pastry, where you have to go into new directions because the tastes are changing. People want products with less sugar, healthier products, also vegan products.

In bread, the production methods are the same, but the recipes change. Before, it was more white bread; nowadays, we see that grain breads are better performing.

Can you talk in general about some of the keys that you see to making Luxem­bourg companies more resilient?

‘Resilient’ is a word that’s used a lot since the crisis. But I think most companies have been resilient.

We have to adapt all the time... to the changing ways of living, taste of our customers, to the fact that there will be more home office… a company that is not resilient cannot perform. Forecasting gets more and more complicated, and so you have to analyse your situation and see what the scenarios [are], what will happen in the future and how to react to those different scenarios.

There are also scenarios that are not predictable, like the Ukraine crisis… companies have to take decisions faster, adapt faster to the way the world is going.

Muller joined the Fischer family business in 2010

Interview NATALIE A. GERHARDSTEIN Photo ROMAIN GAMBA

Ristretto #Finance

APRIL 2022

10

“They do not understand the risks” The Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL) co-organises Woch vun de Suen (Money Week) each March. But the ABBL’s Catherine Bourin says much more financial education is needed, both for students and adults.

Money Week focusses on year four pupils, so 10- and 11-year-olds, but I imagine that teens and many adults have a need for financial education too. Am I right?

Yes, you’re right, because technology in banking systems is getting more and more complex nowadays. And this increasing complexity makes it more and more difficult for consumers to understand the financial world, be it new data, new ways to connect with your bank and financial products, the risk associated with financial products, cryptocurrencies and so on. This growing complexity makes it more and more urgent for citizens to develop a better understanding of finance.

But I would like to come back to children before going on with adults, because understanding money begins when you are a kid. I would like to say that it’s a shame that children are leaving school without basic financial skills. They know about literature, mathematics, physics, and they have a head full of things which are really useful for a job, but not for daily life. They are unable to manage their money when they become independent. So, at the ABBL, we believe that financial literacy should be incorporated in all school curriculums. We would like the government to understand that it is very important to give all children an educational background on money management, so that they become more responsible adults.

What specifically would you like to see?

It could be done in a progressive way. For really little children, you could explain how to manage their pocket money. [For older students,] it would be useful to know what a financial product is; what cryptocurrency is. Because children ‘know’ everything, or they think they know everything, but they do not understand the risk linked to this.

We are currently developing a game for children which will be available as an app on smartphones, which is progressive and which allows everybody to know how to manage money better. It will be available later this year.

And coming back to adults?

A lot of people are experiencing cybersecurity scams. We know that online scams and fraud are becoming more and more sophisticated. And online payments may be particularly at risk if you are not aware of the risk of dealing with one platform or another when you pay for something on the internet. So there is a real need to inform consumers in order to raise awareness, to be able to recognise fraud before it is too late.

Do you really think the problem is getting worse? I mean, we’ve had these scams for a few years now. Aren’t people getting a little smarter about this?

We do not have an analysis, but we know that fraud is becoming more and more complex. So it may be more and more difficult for people to recognise. A few years ago, there were typos in the emails. Now the fraudsters are smarter about the way they behave in order to defraud everybody. That’s making it more and more dangerous.

Are your members seeing a lot of problems with cryptocurrency, with people not really understanding how it works and losing money?

It’s difficult to say because we currently do not have an analysis on this, but we are going to work on it. What I think is that a lot of people want to do something with cryptocurrencies. Most young people may have already bought cryptocurrencies, but they do not understand the risks. They maybe find it is fun, it is an easy way to earn money, but the volatility of these cryptocurrencies is so high that it makes the level of risk very, very high.

And I am sure that not everybody’s really conscious of these risks.

Catherine Bourin is the ABBL’s head of sustainability and conduct

Interview AARON GRUNWALD Photo GUY WOLFF

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Ristretto #Culture

APRIL 2022

12

“Contemporary dance is still quite a young art form” The winner of last year’s Lëtzebuerger Danzpräis, choreographer and dancer Elisabeth Schilling has a packed programme lined up for 2022.

At the beginning of March you launched the Box Of Life, a collaborative project that will see you create a choreography based on messages of joy and hope the public has written on postcards.

What do you hope to get out of this?

I think my personal goal is really to bring people closer to each other. But I also hope to inspire them to make art or dance part of their everyday life, to have that consciousness. I love to connect with people, with my audience. Working with students from the Lycée des Arts et Métiers, I was really excited to have so many young artists involved in this project… I can only say that it's been a very fruitful collaboration.

But isn’t dance also crossing over into other art forms?

That is also something that is very inspiring to me because you’re stepping out of your comfort zone. I have done lots of projects with visual artists or designers, which made me think about what spaces we dance in--maybe museum space or white cube galleries that have a completely different context. And then music, of course, is, I think, the biggest inspiration on my work.

You founded your own company in 2016.

Has that proven to be liberating, or does the responsibility add pressure?

At the time I didn’t think so much about it because it was more like a legal thing.

But we signed a convention with the ministry of culture so we have a small team that I can employ via the [non-profit] structure on an hourly basis, which is incredibly important and necessary.

I think it was an incredible move from the politicians to realise that artists should be valued because other countries don’t have that kind of support.

But creating this involvement with people is also part of your residency at the Trifolion in Echternach and your Dancing The City project….

When [Trifolion artistic director] Maxime Bender invited me, I was quite thrilled to really think about ways of how we can make people in Echternach passionate about dance. I mean, contemporary dance is still quite a young art form. Also, because it doesn't communicate in linear ways, it can create a bit of anxiety…

There’s a big debate about how we make art accessible, so having the opportunity to work there for three years hopefully gives me that chance to do that.

But there seems to have been an explosion in contemporary dance in Luxembourg over the last 10 years or so. To what do you attribute this growing interest?

I think the theatre directors are very supportive.

This younger generation working here in Luxembourg, we’ve had so much support from the [contemporary dance centre] 3CL, who really have accompanied us step by step. But the directors of the cultural institutions are picking up on that. So they're giving us those opportunities, expressing interest, and we’re working very collaboratively with them.

Last year in November, you won the Lëtzebuerger Danzpraïs. How much does it help having that sort of title for your career?

It was just a beautiful feeling to get that recognition for all the work that I’ve been doing. Well, first of all, I got €10k, so I put that right back into the company. So, what I did with that was to increase everyone’s wages, because I thought they were not being paid enough.

Because I got the prize also due to them, so I want to support them as well.

Elisabeth Schilling studied dance in Frankfurt and London and currently is artist-in-residence at Trifolion Echternach

Interview DUNCAN ROBERTS Photo GUY WOLFF

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APRIL 2022

Gender equality: from households to boards MY TAKE

Gender inequalities in time use

To ensure women reach their full potential, change is required at both household level and in the workplace. After an almost 10-year impasse, the proposed EU legislation to promote gender diversity on company boards will finally move on to trilogues in the legislative process. If the directive comes into force, listed companies will need to ensure gender parity on their boards by 2027 by meeting the 40% target for nonexecutive directors or 33% target for all board members, a choice to be made at the national level. Luxembourg, which supported the directive, already surpassed its 40% target for female state representatives on the boards of public institutions. In the context of the pandemic, the impact of the quota legislation in Luxembourg will depend on the number of listed companies subject to the rules--but it will also require those companies to take a critical look on how the care burden may hold back qualified women from reaping the benefits of the legislative progress made.

Findings from a Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (Liser) 4 5 women’s employment study reveal that Europe dropped at the onset of the crisis.

The crisis also triggered changes M€ in the behaviour of individuals and households to the disadvantage of employed women, who allocated more hours per day to non-remunerated care and domestic activities. Men reverted to pre-pandemic levels in these areas.

Words ABIGAIL OKORODUS

* Data for employed individuals only

Quota legislation

WOMEN 3

1,5

Source

Time spent on telework*

Liser

Time spent on housework*

Women Feb 2020 Jun 2020 Spring 2021 Men Feb 2020 Jun 2020 Spring 2021

Time spent on childcare*

** Data for a sample of employed individuals with children only

Time spent on housework**

EU women on boards Percentage of board seats held by women in a sample of EU member states†, showing both countries with and without an established quota.

Data as of March 2021.

Source

Deloitte

Time spent on paid work*

France* Italy* Belgium* Sweden Finland Denmark Germany* Netherlands* Austria* Ireland Spain* Portugal* Poland Luxembourg

Time spent on unpaid work*

Time spent working outside*

Greece* 0%

10%

20%

30% 40%

50%

% of board seats held by women * Member states with a national quota or quota-equivalent for all or certain listed companies † Only member states included in the data set covering 10,493 companies in 51 countries

2

Time spent on childcare**

1

15

APRIL 2022

Data on time use by employed men and women in Luxembourg shows an uneven distribution of hours spent on unpaid work, childcare and housework. As advocates push for more women on boards and in leadership positions, workplaces need to imbibe a more inclusive culture supportive of employed parents.

3 QUESTIONS TO SKERDILAJDA ZANAJ

MEN

Associate professor, University of Luxembourg

3

4

5

Do quotas strengthen or reduce gender-based discrimination?

Quotas are an effective policy instrument to favour gender equality, and they do not come to the detriment of the quality of the candidates. It is often argued that gender inequality in representation is only the result of women’s choices, related to fertility and motherhood. Thus, gender quotas do not necessarily follow meritocracy, and the average quality of candidates may decrease. High-quality research has shown that, actually, quotas do not reduce the quality of candidates.

As long as implicit biases and organisational discriminations are ubiquitous, quotas improve gender equality, reducing discrimination.

Time spent on telework*

Time spent on housework*

Time spent on childcare*

Time spent on housework**

Time spent on paid work*

Time spent on unpaid work*

Time spent working outside*

Time spent on childcare**

Greatest obstacle facing gender equality goals today?

Before the covid-19 pandemic, it was estimated that we will need 100 years to close the gender gap. After two years of pandemic, it is now estimated that we will need nearly 136 years to reach gender equality. Hence, in two years, we lost 36 years to the target.

This shows not only that we are far from living in a gender-equal society, but also that all progressions are very unstable, and shocks backlash gender roles in the household and in society, massively.

One way to reduce the care burden on employed women in Luxembourg?

Care burden is still unequal, and care work is, in large majority, done by women. We shall increase awareness so that an equal sharing of care tasks between women and men becomes the norm, [e.g.], by offering further incentives to fathers to take parental leave [and] make quality care even more accessible.

University of Luxembourg

2

Photo

1

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Keith O’Donnell has been a tax advisor in Luxembourg for more than two decades

Conversation Keith O’Donnell

“Stuck on the hamster wheel of constantly redoing corporate tax” Thickening rulebooks may be good for tax consultancies like his, but Keith O’Donnell thinks we’ve had enough of multinational corporate tax reform. He argues that increased complexity is costing companies too much and makes the EU less competitive.

Interview AARON GRUNWALD

When you were speaking at a conference organised by the UEL employers’ association earlier this year, you said there’s a “risk that Europe gets stuck on the hamster wheel of constantly trying to redo corporate tax”. What did you mean by that?

So what I meant by that is, there’s been a huge amount of corporate tax reform over the last few years, mainly driven out of the OECD. Because going back 10-plus years, the G20 agreed that something needed to be done with corporate tax reform, because there was a concern about aggressive tax planning practices, loss of budgets and everything else.

So since then, there was the Beps project launched, which delivered a first set of corporate tax reforms, which in Europe are the directives Atad 1 and Atad 2. And then there was a piece left which has evolved into pillar 1 and pillar 2, and more jargon, I’m afraid. It’s an OECD initiative, making quite profound changes to the corporate tax system, and Europe will, by way of directives, implement this.

So there’s been a huge amount of corporate tax change already.

Now my point is, at some point, we have to stop obsessing about corporate tax reform because, to some extent, it’s kind of a law of diminishing returns. You can do more and more, and make things more and more complex, but at a certain point, you’re chasing smaller and smaller gains, first of all.

Photo GUY WOLFF

And secondly, you risk creating huge amounts of complexity for European businesses. And finally, through that complexity, you may ultimately end up countering your original objectives. I’d say, in a strange twist of irony, perhaps what really drove the start of the Beps project, to a large extent, was the US tax

BRIEF BIO Professional positions Keith O’Donnell is managing partner of Atoz Tax Advisers, which he co-founded in 2004, where he specialises in pan-European private market funds. He heads the global real estate tax practice at Taxand, a global network of independent tax consultancies, which Atoz co-founded in 2005. He previously was a partner at EY and Arthur Andersen in Luxembourg.

Industry posts O’Donnell chairs the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry’s tax committee and the International Fiscal Association’s Luxembourg branch, and previously chaired the tax committee at Inrev, a trade group for European non-listed real estate investors.

Personal path A native of Ireland, O’Donnell attended University College Dublin before moving to the grand duchy in 1993. He is a dual national of Ireland and Luxembourg.

code. It was incredibly complex, and it created a huge number of loopholes. And as a result, these loopholes cascaded out indirectly all around the world. And big multinationals are taking advantage of them. So, basically, the whole world tax code has, you could say, gotten reformed largely because of the complexities of the US tax code.

The point is [that] complexity in itself is bad, because it’s administratively expensive. But it also runs the risk of unexpected consequences. So that’s why I think at a certain point, you have to kind of stop.

The second point is, to focus on corporate tax return and corporate tax reform, at a certain point, I think, is unhealthy.

You risk getting into a kind of tax populism. Why do I say that? First of all, because it’s easy as a populist thing to bash big companies and businesses generally, and say they’re all not paying their taxes, they’re not doing the right things.

Firstly, because they don’t vote, so they’re kind of an easy target. But secondly, they’re kind of abstract. And the risk is that it distracts from more important reforms.

Corporate tax, OECD-wide, represents typically for any country about 7% to 8% of the tax base. In the budget of a country, this small slice is corporate tax....

If you look at the big problems of the world that can be solved by tax, and clearly everything can’t be solved by tax, but two of the biggest ones that can are the climate and inequality.... If you say you have

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Conversation Keith O’Donnell​

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QUICK GLOSSARY these two other big problems that need solving and have a tax angle, we’re not spending that much attention on them.

[While the OECD has wrapped up its corporate tax reform efforts,] Europe has just pages and pages of proposals out there to reform corporate tax further.

It just looks as if we’re going down the road of saying we’ll continuously try and tweak and change corporate tax in Europe with, I think, very diminishing returns.

And secondly, there’s a distraction factor. If we want to do pan-European tax, should we really be focusing on doing more corporate tax--and that was my comment on the hamster wheel--or just running more and more?

OECD The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is a policy forum for 38 mostly wealthier countries.

Beps The OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting project started in 2015, with the aim of closing loopholes that allowed multinational corporations to “exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to avoid paying tax.”

Global rules were outlined last autumn. A total of 141 countries and territories, including Luxembourg, have signed on to the framework.

Atad The EU’s anti tax avoidance directives aim to harmonise member states’ tax rules, including but not limited to provisions of the OECD’s Beps framework.

Pillar 1 is digital taxation, the concern around big digital companies not necessarily having a presence in the country but yet earning huge amounts of money there. That was partly perception, partly reality. Something needed to be done about that.

Pillar 2 is the minimum tax proposals, so saying big multinationals should pay at least 15% effective tax rates in any particular country. That was a huge shift. I mean, an absolute sea change in terms of policy. You know, I think it was the right thing to do. It hasn’t been welcomed universally. But I think in the context, it was the right thing to do. It was a compromise. It was a fair way of dealing with a problem that was a mixture of perception and reality.... ultimately, pillar 2 makes sense. Let’s say big multinationals have to pay a minimum tax of 15%. It stops too much gaming of the system and, provided it’s done in a way that’s reasonably clear, doesn’t create too much uncertainty.

I’m fine with that.

For example?

One example of this was Atad 3 or the unshell directive, as it’s called. It was That’s where I get into this sense that produced as kind of a reaction to things we are on this hamster wheel, we’ll conin the press. There wasn’t a lot of work stantly keep doing tax reform because done to think about if this is really nec- we think it’s the right thing to do, never essary, given all the other tax reforms stepping back and saying, does this actuwe’ve just talked about. But yet it’s felt ally help anything? Is it going to materithis is politically necessary. We’re going ally raise revenues? Doubtful. Is it going There are very valid objectives to Atad to create a lot of complexity, create a to fix inequalities? Doubtful as well. So 1 and 2, aren’t there? People rightly huge, huge amount of work, probably to some extent, why are we pouring more want companies to pay their fair share deteriorate the competitive position of and more energy into that? That’s the of tax. I assume you would agree?

Europe to some extent compared to rabbit wheel analogy, it’s almost like a Yes. other regions, but ultimately create this constant fixation. We’re still concerned huge distraction into something which there’s somebody out there hiding some- What does a fair share mean for you? the case hasn’t really been made that it thing. So we just keep doing more and What’s a fair tax rate? What should is necessary yet. more work on this, instead of maybe they be paying?

In the press articles, there were a looking at more important things.

Well, I’ll give you kind of my purest answer series of problems created by shell comon this. I think the traditional taxation of businesses, so corporate income taxpanies, without saying, given the tax Are you happy with the OECD reforms we’re in the process of doing, agreement as it’s been implemented ation--and I distinguish here, active busiwould these still even exist anymore? through the various EU directives? nesses, so businesses that are providing Would these tax problems with shell Is it workable and realistic for you? services, creating goods--is fundamencompanies, as they call them, still exist? The first two, Atad 1 and Atad 2, there tally a bad idea. Economists will say it’s As a firm we analysed a number of the are still issues in them, but they reflect distortive, it’s inefficient. So at a fundaproblems that the journalists highlighted; what was agreed at OECD level. It was mental level, I’d say, in an ideal world, we’re basically saying these are solved. a compromise. It wasn’t a bad compro- corporate taxes should be zero.

So why are we creating another direc- mise at all. Credit to the OECD for proAnd why do I say this? Not that I don’t tive to solve problems that have already ducing something. It was really like believe those profits shouldn’t be subject herding cats, but they managed it. So I to tax. I think taxing them in the combeen solved? think these directives make sense. They’re pany is the wrong way to tax them. In an This has already been solved by the workable, even if they have some flaws ideal world, they’d be taxed at the level OECD Beps agreement? in them, but hopefully, over time, they’ll of the shareholders and investors that Yes, as implemented into European law. get fixed, or we’ll get used to working benefit from them. Now, that’s an ideal So we had the OECD Beps project and with them. So up to then, fine. world. It’s very theoretical.

There is a reason why we tax profits then Europe implemented that, basically, Now we have pillar 1 and pillar 2, which, through Atad 1 and Atad 2. Now we’re fundamentally, I think are a good idea. at the level of corporates. One reason is creating an Atad 3 on shell [companies]. They can work. There’s still a lot of com- fear of avoidance because if you don’t My question is: is it necessary? And there’s plexity in them which I would like to get tax them, maybe the investors won’t be even further things that the commission clarified. But the fundamental idea behind taxed on them, which is a very legitimate wants to do. it makes sense. concern. The second one is that to the

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reinvesting, then you want to keep their of companies that are much more pastax bill low. sive, that are basically investment vehiThere are tax systems where countries cles that just hold assets [such as real have chosen not to tax corporate profits estate investment trusts]. I’ve no probuntil their distribution. Estonia has a sys- lem with somebody saying we’ll tax tem like that, for example. So they say, them at a higher rate. we’d rather corporates kept investing their profits. And we’ll encourage them So you would be in favour of higher to do it by saying we won’t tax them as dividend taxes? Would that be a good long as they stay in the company. And trade-off? once you then pay them out, yeah, then Yes, I think taxing dividends at a higher we’re going to tax them. And that gets rate, whether it’s by withholding or on you that incentive for a company to rein- receipt, would be a good trade-off. vest the money as opposed to saying, if you’re a successful company, to some You talked about the complexity of extent, we’re going to penalise you for it. the tax system. That’s a phrase that So my theoretical answer would be: I’ve heard a lot from many people, zero would be a great number. Now, but can you put a number on it or my practical answer would be 15%. I give an example of how much is this think all corporates should pay tax at costing companies? Big firms will 15%. I preface that by saying that would have a big tax and legal team anyway, be for companies that are actively pro- right? I mean, is it really that much ducing goods or services. There are lots more work?

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extent that a corporate is active in a country, it uses resources. Therefore, it should contribute to paying the costs of the country in the form of taxation. I think that those are both legitimate points. Now, I think there would be at least theoretically better ways to deal with them. But fundamentally, I get that it’s a purist view.

So that’s the kind of purist view which might help to understand why, when you asked me what’s a fair level of taxation for a company, I would personally be in favour of much lower than the average rates. I would prefer if there’s a minimum rate, there’s a maximum range as well. Because then I think companies, which are ultimately creators of richness, of wealth, of employment, of creativity, they would actually invest more back into their businesses. And I think it’s quite possible to say, when they distribute profits out to their investors, you tax their investors. But as long as they’re still

OECD

Jurisdictions representing more than 90% of global GDP have signed on to the OECD/G20 Beps agreement

Keith O’Donnell

“ At some point, you shouldn’t need to hire an army of lawyers and advisors”

Does Luxembourg need to compete on tax rates?

It’s, again, really hard to know, because lots of people have tried to work this out and I think there have been studies that have said Luxembourg is a net loser, some that Luxembourg is a net gainer. That’s just in budgetary terms. Do we need to be competitive? Yeah, I believe we do.

You know, if you look at Luxembourg’s competitive positioning, what it has is [an] economy that’s very open, very dynamic. I think it needs to continuously encourage businesses to be here. We’ve got to be realistic, we’re not a big country, we don’t have the critical mass of having [a large] internal market.

So we do need, in my view, to be competitive. Maybe we need to reduce corporate tax rates. It’d be necessary, first of all, to see how all this kind of stabilises.

But ultimately, I wouldn’t rule that out.

I think it would be something legitimate for Luxembourg to say we want to have a competitive corporate tax rate, because at the moment, we’re mid-tier at best.

Maybe at some point, if we want to continue being a business-friendly country, one of the things we may need to do is cut the nominal corporate tax rate.

APRIL 2022

Well, there’s always going to be some tally, we’d rather advise clients that are work involved, because tax for big com- being successful than benefit from an panies is going to be a big line in its effective drag on the economy in the form expense budget, first of all. So they will of fees paid to us.

We’d much rather deal with successlook at it closely, and they will hire people to look at it. And secondly, they’ll ful clients that can be more dynamic, probably have a lot of legal entities. So more entrepreneurial, because they deal there’s a certain amount of inherent with much simpler systems, as opposed complexity in the system. to saying, let’s create very complex sysNow, having said that, if we take, for tems, and [then] have to pay people like example, the Atad 3 proposal. There us lots of money. I’d much prefer that was an estimate out from the IMF. They Luxembourg and Europe had a very said, for example, in Luxembourg, there dynamic, successful economy.

We’ll still do fine. No need to worry might be about 40,000 entities which could be regarded as a special purpose about unemployed tax lawyers, you know, vehicle. Let’s say they have to file a tax we’ll do just fine. [I’d prefer] if we had a return each year, and we need to deal successful economy and a smaller piece with this. And then our [Atoz] estimate of it than a bigger piece of an economy is year one, it’s probably in the region that’s been slowed down. of €5,000 a company. So you take 40,000 companies and multiply by €5,000, you During your UEL talk, you argued see already we’re into the hundreds of that the hamster wheel of tax reform millions.... you’ve really got to ask, could could hit competitiveness in Europe, they be spending that money on some- particularly with Asia and the US. The US tax system is known to be thing better?

Our firm and our businesses as tax incredibly complex. Is there really advisors have been growing faster than a risk that the European tax system the world economy for a number of will be more complicated than the US? years. To me, there’s something wrong I suppose in some Asian countries the there. We shouldn’t be growing faster system might be a bit simpler, but I’m in the world economy, we should be a little sceptical of the competitive risk. growing more slowly. Because the sys- You’re right to be sceptical. It’s really tem should be getting more efficient at tough to model that because one of the collecting taxes. difficulties with some of these proposals People should be spending less on is that when people try to say which compeople like me, not more. If they’re panies lose or which companies gain, it’s spending more, that means the com- basically impossible to model... if you plexity is growing faster than the prob- increase the tax in Country A, maybe lem. And that, to me, is a terrible Country B is going to increase its tax so problem. If you take it to a ridiculous that Country A doesn’t get as much. In extent, in X years’ time, businesses like the same way, when you’re trying to work ours would be way oversized and will out the knock-on effects of changing be a drag on the economy. taxes in Europe, it’s quite difficult to be There’s a fine balance. We all under- definitive about it.

However, having said that, fundastand that we need to pay a fair amount of tax. But at some point, you shouldn’t mentally, as you make your country and need to hire an army of lawyers and your system more complex, more expenadvisors to be able to figure it out. And sive, you either lose competitive advanthat’s kind of where we’re heading at tage, or somebody else gains competitive the moment. advantage over you. So that’s why I’m always very determined to say, ‘before Isn’t that good for your business and you add complexity to something, are a lot of firms in Luxembourg? you really sure it’s necessary?’

When we start to layer on too much As they say in French, I shouldn’t ‘cracher dans la soupe’ [bite the hand that feeds complexity continuously, we will ultiyou]. You know, I could be saying, or I mately lose that competitiveness, and should be very happy, that the OECD whether it’s versus the US, versus the and the European Commission are cre- UK, whether it’s versus Asia, I can’t quanating lots of work for me, but fundamen- tify that, it’s too difficult.

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Stéphane Pallage will leave the University of Luxembourg after one term as rector after joining in 2018

Conversation Stéphane Pallage

“Universities have an important role in democracy” The University of Luxembourg’s rector, Stéphane Pallage, looks back at his past four years in office and forward to his time left in the grand duchy after announcing he would not be seeking a second mandate.

Interview CORDULA SCHNUER

Photo GUY WOLFF

to receive €908m. That’s a 17% You announced last year that you increase in budget. What will these wouldn’t be seeking a second term as the university’s rector. What prompted extra funds allow you to do?

Plenty. The covid crisis has had a very that decision?

When we came here [from Quebec], four large impact on public finances across and a half years ago, we intended to go the world. Here, the government chose home very often to see the children. When to reinvest, to invest even more in higher we left, the youngest one was 17. Today he education and research. That is very rare. is 21. They are grown-ups, but covid some- We are fortunate. Universities that I know how completely changed the game. It’s very well from abroad have to cut their been hard to travel to Canada in the past budgets. And they’ve had to do that for two years. And the idea of not having the the past two to three years. option to jump on a plane if something The plan is not the vision of the rector. went wrong over there, that somehow was It’s a vision of the community. It was disturbing. We were very happy here, my designed with a lot of wisdom, a lot of wife and I; we’ve been really welcomed by collaboration by everyone and input from everyone in the country. entities, faculties and centres. A lot of things are on the agenda. Medicine and When you took this job, the university was coming out of a leadership and budget crisis. Your predecessor had stepped down after just two years.

How do you remember that time?

SHORT CV I did not personally live a crisis when I Since 2018 arrived. I was really welcomed. The staff Rector at the University of Luxembourg were very enthusiastic. We were starting a four-year plan; we had received sub2013-2017 Dean at the School of Management stantial endowment from the state. The at the University of Quebec in prospects were really good. And we accomMontreal, Canada. Pallage joined plished the plan. In four years, we grew the university in 1995 and was made a full professor in 2003. by almost 30% in terms of funding and by 26% in terms of staff. That’s com1995 PhD in economics from Carnegie pletely unheard of in other countries.

Under the next four-year plan with the government, the university is set

Mellon University, US, following a Master of Science in industrial administration from the same university in 1993.

health clearly will be taken to a new height.

We will introduce [in 2022] the third year of medical education at the bachelor level.

We are introducing a new bachelor’s in nursing science. On the research side, we have a new director of the LCSB [Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine].

You also have substantial developments in computer science, all that deals with the digital transformation. And it’s not limited to computer science. It’s transversal across the university. You have developments in the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance, with professors in digital finance, for example, or in law related to new technologies. You have developments in the Faculty of Humanities, in which we will have a centre for digital ethics. And of course, in the science faculty, you will have a lot of developments. Computer science, HPC, data science and machine learning will all be very important in the next four years.

The other development, which is going to change the face of the university, is all that is related to sustainable development.

We have the ambition to start a new interdisciplinary centre in the coming years.

With all these new fields that the university is embarking on, you rely on public funding. But how difficult is it to attract private sector and other external funding?

We’ve managed to attract substantial external funding from the European Com-

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Conversation Stéphane Pallage

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THE UNIVERSITY OF LUXEMBOURG IN NUMBERS mission, the FNR [National Research Fund] but also private partners. And I would also put other ministries in the equation. The ministry of finance has, for example, funded several things related to digital finance. There is a new finnovation hub. We have a lot of funding from the ministry of finance and the ministry of the environment, climate and sustainable development for the chair in sustainable finance. Over the years, external funding has grown very strongly, by 76% since 2016.

6,800

Students from 130 different countries

950 Doctoral candidates

270

Speaking of students, you issued a statement in February to the university’s community in solidarity with Ukraine. What is the university’s role in a crisis like this one?

Universities have an important role in democracy. Democracy is being challenged, and we have to take a position and condemn the actions that are currently taking place in Ukraine. It’s also our role to show the community that we care and that a university is a place of peace. We have many Ukrainian students, we have many Russian students, and we care about their well-being.

Beyond the conflict that’s currently taking place, universities are a weapon to protect democracy. We are in an age in which facts are being challenged. We have experts, and we have a role to play in public debates--not to tell people what they have to think, but at least to give them the information about the basic facts on which they can then base their opinion. This is something that is really important today.

Democracy is being challenged by ignorance. We are able to provide knowledge and to make sure that knowledge is made available to the public.

Reputation is a factor in attracting this funding but also in attracting staff.

But, for example, in the Times Higher Professors, assistant professors Education young universities ranking, and lecturers the university has dropped from 12th to 25th place in two years.

How do you explain that result?

It’s easy to explain. There are many new schools every year in the ranking. Just for this year, there were 64 new univer- students. We were very self-critical. All sities. Among them, you see a lot of the recommendations we had in our Asian schools. You will also find a lot of self-evaluation were essentially the same very old schools that have somehow as those by the external committee, which been rejuvenated by mergers. Even if is a very good sign.

We have introduced an office of the you keep the same score, you drop. You have to increase in all dimensions if you quality of education. It’s a central office, want to stay in the same spot. Now, we and we will standardise procedures for But when it comes to democracy being have increased substantially in research, all faculties and programmes so that stu- challenged, the university has close ties which, to me, is absolutely a great result. dents anywhere in the university know with Fudan University in China, which The university has to be excellent in what to expect from the programme. And has struck academic freedom from its research. We achieved our top score in we will make sure that all professors and statutes. There’s a Confucius Centre 2022. The same is true for industry fund- teachers also receive adequate support here when many universities in Europe ing. We see a record in terms of achieve- in terms of pedagogical help when needed. and around the world are closing theirs.

Can you have it both ways? ment for the university. We have dropped Training will also be part of the plan.

No, you cannot have it both ways, but a little bit when it comes to education Part of that university experience is and also citations. you have to discuss those questions with On education we have already taken student life. How do you see that as the people in Fudan, which I did. The action. We underwent an external eval- having evolved over the last four years fact is that Fudan was one of the few uniuation of education within the univer- that you’ve been here? versities in China that had a charter. And sity. Prior to this evaluation, there was A lot of things have happened, but among in this charter, there was this sentence. a self-evaluation. It mobilised the entire those things was the covid crisis. We have It was removed under pressure, and I can body of professors and teachers but also done three studies on the satisfaction of tell you that the people at Fudan reacted students and staff. In the last survey, which very strongly to that.

The Confucius Centre is a place of peace. is very recent and was done during the covid crisis, more than 80% of our stu- We teach Chinese culture and also language. dents said they would recommend the I think language is important if we want university to others. to have positive discussions with China.

Life on campus has improved a lot since I arrived. A lot of restaurants are How important is it that Luxembourg opening, new buildings. The students is enshrining academic freedom in its have access to the house of arts and stu- own constitution? dents. The library has completely changed There is no university without academic their lives. They come to campus not freedom. It’s already enshrined in the just for classes. They stay for much of law that governs the university. It’s a value the day. that is important for democracy.

“ Universities are a weapon to protect democracy”

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“ We are proud of being part of this university”

ask all our researchers to have a look at The four-year plan does set a path for the areas that the university is them and try to provide answers and ideresearching. There have been ally work in interdisciplinary teams. questions about how much the university is at the service of the Where do you see the university in government. How do you see that that ecosystem of the research relationship? landscape that also includes other It’s a very good relationship. We have institutions and the FNR? three missions, and the missions are part Things have increased dramatically in of the law that built the university: the terms of collaboration within the counmission of research, of education and of try because of covid. Covid, somehow, is service to society, to the cultural and a game changer. On the first day, all the economic development of Luxembourg. directors and myself accorded to our community to devote their knowledge in Luxembourg to participate in the effort.

We take all missions very seriously.

The directions we chose in our stra- and their experience to a covid-19 task And I think we succeeded really well.

We introduced an interdisciplinary tegic framework were not directions that force. It was spontaneous. There was no were imposed on us, they were directions request by the government. They had space master. The goal was to provide that directly came from the community different work packages; the majority of something that was not existent on the of the university. They are transversal. them on the health side, but some of academic market. We target students Health is clearly transversal. You can them in economics, in logistics, which with a strong science background but do sustainable development from all pos- was really crucial. It has brought Liser that do not know the space sector. We sible lenses of any discipline. And the [Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Eco- fine-tune their tools, so that they will be same is true for the digital transforma- nomic Research], List [Luxembourg Insti- very easily employable in the sector. And tion. These are important challenges for tute of Science and Technology] and the we add entrepreneurship, finance and a society. The digital transformation is LIH [Luxembourg Institute of Health] series of classes that will allow them to changing our lives and will change the much closer to the university and vice start their own business. The startup lives of our children. Sustainable devel- versa. We feel a part of a team. dimension is there. We created, with a opment, or the lack thereof, is a danger series of partners, a European university. for the generation of our kids, and prob- With the future in mind, what are you We have more than 100 different projects hoping to achieve in the last year of ably ours as well. active in space.

We chose challenges that are impor- your rectorship?

What I’m really proud of, from the tant for mankind, probably the most We have a lot on our plate. It’s a full year minute I arrived until the minute I will important ones of the century. And we of work, and it’s good that we have that leave, is the sense of community. We are time. Some things we will already accom- proud of being part of this university, plish this year, some things will be put and the solidarity in the past few years on the trail. Nursing science will not be has been amazing. I think that is quite accomplished this year; everything will an achievement. Quality of life at work be ready when the new rector arrives, has also improved. We have signed our and the programmes can be launched in first collective bargaining agreement, and SEARCHING FOR September 2023. we have adopted the first-ever gender A SUCCESSOR But already this year, we will be hir- equality policy.

The search for the University ing many professors. Professors are the of Luxembourg’s next rector has most important investment a university Any words of advice for your begun. The institution is working with consulting company Russell can make. They are very strategic. Once successor, whoever they may be?

Reynolds Associates to find the right you invest in a professor, the professor I would tell him or her how beautiful this candidate. The new rector will be is there for a long time. He or she will university is and how much it is possible the fifth appointee to hold this mandate, following François have a long-term effect on the face of to develop the future in Luxembourg Tavenas (2004), Rolf Tarrach the university. We are in the middle of and at the University of Luxembourg.

(2005-2015) and Rainer Klump recruitments for 16 professors, 14 of whom It’s not advice, but he or she will have in (2015-2017). Stéphane Pallage is not involved in the recruitment process, are in the three large strategic orienta- his or her hands the best possible unihe said, adding that it is “a decision tions that I mentioned--medicine and versity to develop. of the university for its own future”. health, digital transformation and susThe new rector should take office at the start of next year, with tainable development.

Pallage open to a handover period, depending on how quickly recruitment will be wrapped up.

The university in a statement in October said: “The rector will model the character of the university: cosmopolitan, committed to excellence, and clear-sighted.”

Looking back at the last four years, what are your top achievements?

There are so many things. Medical education is clearly a top achievement. We had to mobilise the entire medical community

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Workspace

What’s the future for office space?

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In recent years, employees’ expectations about their working conditions have changed: they want a better work-life balance and greater attention paid to their well-being. Satisfying these demands nowadays means rethinking office spaces.

What are the desires and aspirations of employees today regarding their professional environment?

Several trends can be observed in the wake of the pandemic. Accustomed to working remotely and being equipped accordingly, two thirds of them now wish to continue in hybrid mode with some degree of flexibility. With more than 250,000 cross-border commuters, the Luxembourg workforce is particularly concerned with mobility issues. Today’s office workers want to be closer to their place of work and cut back on travel.

At the same time, almost 75% of employees prioritise a better work-life balance and the benefits it brings.

“This proportion is likely to increase with millennials, who will account for 75% of the workforce by 2025,”

says Julien Pillot, Head of Office Agency at INOWAI. Accustomed to digital technology and remote meetings, workers are

EMPLOYEES’ EXPECTATIONS IN A FEW FIGURES

66%

almost two out of three employees want to continue working in hybrid mode

75%

three out of four employees want to enjoy a better work-life balance

50%

one in two employees would like to work for a company that considers their well-being

25%

a quarter of employees question their working conditions and say they are ready to change jobs

nonetheless expressing their desire to return to the office to socialise and collaborate more with their colleagues.

They are interested in their health and well-being, as well as the services offered by their company.

Putting people at the heart of real estate thinking In addition to these expectations, 25% of employees say they are ready to change jobs because of questions over their current working conditions. “At the same time, we have a situation of almost full employment, with an unemployment rate of just 4.9%. Indeed, the workforce has continued to grow even during the health crisis. One challenge for HR, therefore, is retaining and attracting new talent.

Companies can adapt by listening to the needs of their employees and by putting

Julien Pillot, Head of Office Agency, and Demet Karayer, Project Manager and Architect, INOWAI

people at the heart of their real estate thinking.”

A response to these issues and expectations can be seen in recent trends.

“In terms of real estate strategy, we’re seeing several approaches. If a company’s lease is about to expire or has some flexibility, the firm can choose to relocate to a modern building or opt for satellite offices.” Some employees no longer work from home, but they don’t want to travel long distances. Therefore, companies are on a quest for offices close to the border, primarily business centres that have already been fitted out and don’t need more money spending on them.

Modernising workspaces For companies that can’t or won’t move, it’s time for a rethink. “This new vision involves rethinking

APRIL 2022

29

“We bring expertise from a technical and architectural/ design point of view.”

Demet Karayer Project Manager and Architect INOWAI

Photo

Eva Krins (Maison Moderne)

the layout of office spaces.

This involves decompartmentalising them to facilitate small and large-scale movements. The focus is on flexible and innovative offices, but also on more comfortable areas where people can meet and work together,” says Demet Karayer, Project Manager and Architect at INOWAI’s Project Management department.

“Companies can adapt by putting people at the heart of their real estate thinking.”

Julien Pillot Head of Office Agency INOWAI

This process involves four spaces. The first is the community space, where lounge areas or shared desks reinforce collaboration and socialisation. The second space encourages concentration with telephone-­ booth-like “bubbles”.

The workspace is modernised to give freedom to the employee. “We favour flexible and modular furniture with electric, adjustable desks, mobile drawers and shelving units, and moveable soundproofed walls that reflect the client’s corporate identity. We do all this in islands of 3-4 people, which are connected to an open space.” The last space is the outdoor area, which features urban street and park furniture to make the exterior as comfortable as the interior. This space is also linked to electromobility with electric charging

stations and shared bicycles to facilitate travel.

“Buildings offering these outdoor spaces are more popular because there is a real need to connect with nature,” adds Julien Pillot.

Offering a property solution INOWAI’s Project Management department has developed its service to support CEOs, CFOs and HR departments in their thinking and to satisfy their expectations. “At the request of other departments, including the Office Agency, we intervene upstream by carrying out visits even before a lease is signed to understand the company’s philosophy and objectives.

We bring expertise from a technical and architectural/ design point of view,” comments Demet Karayer.

While INOWAI’s survey is a good thing, it also

presents challenges. “The market has shown resilience.

We’ve seen an improvement in building stock but also a rethink on the part of companies. The question now is: ‘What will happen if everyone looks for office space at the same time? Will that stress the market and impact vacancy rates, competition and therefore negotiation margins?’”

our g for y Lookin e space? ffic next o ur experts: ct o Conta m

i.co inowa

www.

Business report

Facilities management for a new world 5000

4000 NEW WAYS TO MANAGE SPACE Set up in 1993, SDK fir Betriber (“SDK for companies”) is a government initiative that supports firms in the ecologically responsible disposal of their waste.

3000

Source

Total 3,133

SuperDrecksKëscht

Companies with “SDK fir Betriber” label Companies without “SDK fir Betriber” label

1,428

2000

1000

Total 630

1,705

329

0

301

Jan 2000

Jan 2002

Jan 2004

Jan 2006

Jan 2008

Jan 2010

Workspace

As catalysts like the climate crisis and the coronavirus pandemic continue to alter our society, the functional running of offices and commercial spaces must also change. Facilities management is rapidly evolving, thanks to new technologies, smart building trends and changing staff demands.

31

an old building into a smart one” Efficiency is the name of the game p. 32

2 “We need to make

them permanent meeting places”

Rethinking the ethical role of facilities management p. 34

3 “It’s a possibility that we are studying” Getting employees’ input on their own office design p. 36

Total 5,443

2,056

08_legende 10 %

Jan 2012

Jan 2014

Jan 2016

Jan 2018

Jan 2020

3,387

Jan 2022

APRIL 2022

1 “You can turn

32

Workspace

Business report

1 New technologies

Renewable-energy technologies used in building maintenance, such as gas boilers, heat pumps and solar panels, have become far more efficient than they were some two decades ago. So says Lespagnol, who took over the helm of AIO Technologies in January last year.

Unfortunately, he continued, a chunk of that efficiency gets lost in the installation process and another chunk in the (mis)use of the product by the end user.

“If you purchase a nice sports car,” he said by way of example, “but you choose a bad design, you drive on bumpy roads, you use it with the hand brake on… its efficiency is lost. That’s basically what often happens during [facilities] projects.”

More concretely, he commented that a gas boiler can operate with an efficiency of about 95%, yet in reality many such devices are hitting rates more like 85%.

Compounding these challenges is the mere age of the building. If the infrastructure is old, then renewable technologies can only do so much. If, to boot, the building is large, then the cost of updating that infrastructure swiftly becomes prohibitive. (On the flipside, he says that for new buildings it’s “quite easy” to integrate renewable energy.)

Given these constraints, what can facilities management companies do?

Benoît Lespagnol

Plenty. Regarding shoddy installation, Lespagnol commented that it simply comes down to having qualified personnel. For the usage question, however, a new strategy is emerging as a trend: monitoring. Facilities managers will set up sensors in the building and then monitor--digitally and from afar--how well things are working. “You can turn an old building into a smart one,” said Lespagnol.

For example, if a ventilation system is running unnecessarily all night, or if

SUBSIDIES FOR GREEN ENERGY As offered by the Luxembourg government.

Source

Guichet.lu

€8,000 Maximum subsidy per individual house for installation of a geothermal heat pump

20%

Percentage of actual costs offered for installation of solar panels

€2,500 Maximum subsidy per individual house for installation of a solar thermal system for hot water

even a small water leak occurs, the sensors will pick it up and flag it, whereafter the AIO Technologies team (for example) can follow up. Dashboarding and monitoring intelligently like this also helps answer questions like why energy consumption rises at certain times or in certain circumstances, creating possibilities for better usage patterns.

Lespagnol added that, using this approach, AIO Technologies recently helped a new office building operate at its intended energy pass category (“A”, “B”, etc.) just six months after it opened, a feat which normally takes around a year.

At twelve months, the site was operating better than the pass said it could.

“It was only possible because of energy monitoring,” he commented. “This future trend is very important.”

Despite the obvious benefits, Lespagnol estimates that fewer than 1% of buildings currently have energy monitoring in ­Luxembourg. AIO Technologies does this service for about 150 clients.

“We really try to focus on customers that, from the beginning, are interested in high-energy efficiency,” said Lespagnol, whose clients include Cactus Group and the Post’s sorting centre in Bettembourg.

The firm has also recently joined Inspiring More Sustainability (IMS) Luxembourg, a non-profit that promotes CSR. Not only are facilities managers uniquely positioned to advise building owners on using their spaces more sustainably, Lespagnol said, but IMS’s other tenets like diversity and social values are also shared by AIO Technologies.

Words JEFF PALMS

Benoît Lespagnol

What is the future of facilities management from a tech perspective?

According to Benoît Lespagnol, managing director of All In One Technologies, it’s all about energy monitoring.

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APRIL 2022

“You can turn an old building into a smart one”

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34

Workspace

Business report

2 2

“We need to make them permanent meeting places”

Among other achievements, Sodexo has recently reduced food waste by 19% across 13 of the sites it manages. How? By starting to weigh organic waste produced in the kitchen, unsold in the restaurant and left on consumers’ plates, then using a digital solution to process the resulting information, and finally updating prep and production methods accordingly.

As part of the same waste reduction project, the company has also begun offering unsold daily products at a reduced price via the anti-waste app Phenix, its digital partner. “This is both ethical,” explains Graff, “because we don’t throw away food that is still edible, but also economical for our customers, who can still enjoy delicious meals at a discount.”

These two actions, approved by the ministry of agriculture as part of its “Together against food waste” campaign, are part of a much larger project underway at the facilities management company. This is the “Better Tomorrow 2025” plan, consisting of nine commitments aimed at developing responsible behaviour in all aspects of the company. Graff explains that Sodexo has defined itself in three roles--employer, service provider and corporate citizen--for each of which targets have been set that will positively affect people, communities and the environment, respectively.

Laurence Graff

Besides reducing waste by 50%, other features of this plan include lowering the company’s carbon emissions by 34%, increasing the proportion of women in senior positions to 40% and using 50% locally-sourced products.

“I would say that there are 2,100 Sodexo employees who are involved in our CSR policy,” Graff comments. She is referring to all of them.

FOOD WASTE IN THE GRAND DUCHY Source

Antigaspi (agriculture ministry initiative)

92

Number of municipalities in Luxembourg, out of 102, that have signed the anti-waste solidarity pact against food waste

118kg

Amount of food, per person, discarded annually in Luxembourg

50%

Rate of reduction in food waste targeted by 2030

Accountability In public discourse, there is a plethora of initiatives and buzzwords on topics like sustainability and CSR, which can make it difficult to separate greenwashed actions from genuine efforts.

Graff explains that, for Sodexo, they make sure that their commitments can be measured. “For each client, we define a roadmap with objectives to be reached and actions to be deployed,” she says.

The company is also currently working on its 2021 sustainability report, part of a yearly project to review its progress.

“Taking stock annually will build trust with our stakeholders, providing them with tangible evidence of how we are improving the quality of life in the communities where we operate.”

The new workplace “The pandemic has had a lasting impact on working patterns,” says the brand and communication director. She points more specifically to the challenges now faced by businesses and the public sector when it comes to workers’ demands for flexibility.

For facilities management, this means changes in the kinds of activities they do and how they do them. Graff explains that the role of companies like Sodexo is now to foster conditions for a safe return to work, to reinvent the consumer and catering experience for a flexible work environment, and to create spaces that promote employee well-being and efficiency.

“To optimise catering spaces,” she says, “we need to make them permanent meeting places that allow for formal and informal meetings, with availability at all times of the day, with healthy, qualitative and sustainable offerings!”

Words JEFF PALMS

Provided by interviewee

As companies try to change their ways in the face of the climate crisis and social imperatives, what role do facilities management firms play? Laurence Graff, brand and communication director and head of CSR at Sodexo Luxembourg, provides more details.

Photo

APRIL 2022

Sustainable environments

Bring your talent, learn new skills and get ready for lasting success.

Be a part of The New Equation.

Learn more at careers.pwc.lu

36

Workspace

Business report

3

“It’s a possibility that we are studying”

Société Générale Luxembourg currently operates in five different locations but aims to reduce that to two by 2023. To this end, they have taken space in the new Icône building in Belval. Olivier Blanc, COO, explained that two-thirds of SG’s employees will be based in Belval while the remaining third will work out of the bank’s HQ in Luxembourg City.

The space in Belval is not a satellite office, despite what some have assumed.

Offices in Kirchberg, Cloche d’Or and Bettembourg were considered as well, but the location on the French border ultimately won out. “We saw Esch-Belval as [having] an interesting economic and development ecosystem,” Blanc explained, citing the presence of the university and IT companies. As a further bonus, he noted the investments being made in transport infrastructure: besides trains and buses, a high-speed tram connection between Belval and the Cloche d’Or is foreseen by 2028.

The function of the space itself, furthermore, has evolved. Blanc explained that both office locations will be (re) designed with coworking, meetings and collaboration in mind. This follows a broader trend, swiftened by the pandemic, in which people increasingly come to an onsite workplace because there is a reason to do so. On a related front, SG has recently implemented a

Olivier Blanc

new teleworking plan, meant to continue beyond the pandemic, that lets employees in Luxembourg, Germany and Belgium work from home two days per week. Those in France are limited to one day per two weeks due to tax/social constraints, but Blanc wants to augment it if and when possible. “We are trying to find an HR solution,” he said.

Crowdsourcing facilities decisions Blanc also described the bank’s efforts to include their employees’ input in the

SOCIÉTÉ GÉNÉRALE LUXEMBOURG Key figures on the bank’s employees and premises.

Source

Société Générale

27,680m2 Total area across its two future locations

new space. A call to the staff was made, sourcing volunteers who were organised into different streams. One of these is tasked with making décor decisions, including furniture and colours, while another is looking at transportation. The latter group has, for instance, helped determine how many extra parking spots will be needed for the new office and suggested creating a direct transportation line between Thionville and Belval. A shuttle bus, for instance, could save time by bypassing the train connection at Bettembourg. “It’s a possibility that we are studying,” said Blanc.

Participation in these projects is healthy, the COO added: there are more than 100 employees taking part.

Environmental awareness An imperative for many companies is sustainability. Blanc explained that SG worked with architects on both of their buildings to ensure several features. These include high volumes of natural light inside so as to lower energy costs, a system for rainwater recovery, solar panels on the roof and plenty of vegetation outside and inside. “It was a great way to demonstrate our ESR [socially responsible enterprise] ambitions,” he said.

With the transition to two office buildings instead of its current five, SG will also reduce the total amount of space it uses by a small margin. In this, it has balanced an uptick in teleworkers with the evolution of the bank’s activities.

1,412 Total employees

Olivier Minaire

Olivier Blanc, chief operating officer of Société Générale Luxembourg, spoke to us about the bank’s new premises in Belval, its new approach to office space and getting its employees involved in their own facilities.

100+

Employees involved in facilities development

Words JEFF PALMS

Photo

APRIL 2022

Designing office space

APÉRO TALK THE KEY ISSUES FOR THE FUND INDUSTRY Programme • Welcome cocktail (18:30) • Conversation with Corinne Lamesch and Nasir Zubairi (19:00) • Networking walking cocktail (20:00)

Nasir Zubairi CEO, LHoFT

Nathalie Reuter Director of editorial developments, Maison Moderne

28.04

Thursday

Corinne Lamesch President, Alfi

The Car’tell,

Registration and

Luxembourg-Hollerich

www.paperjam.lu/club

information:

Head to head

38

FEBRUARY 2022

AI in financial services Artificial intelligence stepped out of science fiction years ago and is at work in Luxembourg in insurance, financial services and fraud.

Andreas Braun, director, artificial Intelligence and data science, PwC Luxembourg

How is artificial intelligence used in AML has flowed into other anomchanging the way financial services aly detection tools, such as cybersecurity are delivered in Luxembourg? for financial institutions.

ANDREAS BRAUN It’s a broad question AJAY BALI I would say that AI has already because AI has changed the way finan- changed the way we deliver financial sercial services are offered on multiple vices. With something like AML, the volfronts. Let’s take the retail customer. A ume of data is huge. What ML can do is machine learning-based analysis of your pull together different combinations of income and expenditure is used by the data and flag it to the decision makers. bank. For example, if you are increasing Often the customer is unaware that AI is your spending they can sell a credit prod- being applied in very different ways to uct. If you are saving it is an opportunity make decisions on their behalf. to offer plans for retirement.

BRAUN In Luxembourg, AI also helps a In the back office, where the cost of lot with the multilingual factor. The transcompliance is ever increasing, we see lation tools that AI can deliver really help automation powered by ML and natural Luxembourg financial services compalanguage processing to look at documents, nies with exposure to markets like Asia. pick out the important parts and make the life of the back office easier. In ‘know You say that the customer is unaware. your customer’ processes, it has been Are there best practices for the use common for years to take into account of AI in financial services? a customer’s social networks and to carry BALI There are governance and best pracout a sentiment analysis. In the past, this tices around how data is fed into AI in would have been done by Googling, now order to prevent bias--for example, when it’s done through sophisticated ML. The getting a loan approved. If loans are fresame principle applies for anti-money quently granted to customers in one postlaundering, where ML can pick out anom- code and not to customers from another, alous behaviour. In fact, what has been governance is needed in the way you feed data to prevent AI from automatically implementing a bias. Take facial recognition for the KYC process. Unless you train AI with multiple images of people with different appearances, you could build in a lack of recognition and therefore a bias.

BRAUN The European Commission is defining best practices in AI to allow the ongoing functioning of markets but also to ensure that critical things affecting the consumer are being addressed. This includes bias.

BALI There are a number of risks with AI. Not only bias but also a business risk, in that the data you’re being fed may have no integrity, a financial risk if AI forms the basis of financial decisions and privacy risk.

“ The world we are living in is getting more and more complex”

Artificial intelligence

“ AI has already changed the way we deliver financial services”

The level of information that needs to be processed is always increasing.

Can AI and ML help with issues like be done otherwise. This approach can asset identification?

BRAUN AI has certainly helped in com- move banks away from their standard, plicated regulatory cases in the past. With process-oriented thinking.

GDPR, for example. There’s suddenly a big risk to clients if they keep personal What do you think are the biggest information of the people with whom challenges of the upcoming EU they interact. We can use it as a tool to regulation on artificial intelligence? help companies find where this infor- BRAUN The idea is to regulate the use of mation is stored. Then take the example AI in ML. As with any regulation, there of transitioning from Libor and Euribor is always the fear that it will lead to a lot indices. ML can help a client identify all of new processes, a kind of GDPR 2.0.

However, it’s very much in draft form, and their links to these indices. we welcome the opportunities to standardise processes and protect the consumer.

How else do you use AI to support BALI The regulation is due to come into your clients? action in 2024. It essentially categorises BRAUN How we support our clients depends on their maturity. We do an assessment, AI applications into three different tiers dig into what they have done so far. It’s depending on their assumed risk to the important to do data governance first. individual--from unacceptable risk to Through this we can set up processes to high-risk down to low-risk applications provide algorithms for clients to improve that will be left largely unregulated. At their competencies in-house. We have the moment, business owners feel there an AI lab in Luxembourg, where we can is no risk when using AI. Hopefully with workshop with clients to build a proof this regulation they will understand more, and it will ensure that critical aspects of concept. of AI to protect the consumer will be addressed.

What would you say the role of

fintechs is in artificial intelligence?

BALI The role of fintechs is to bring innovation to AI. They are completely critical to the development of AI. I would say on the one side I work with classic banks on AI, and on the other side with fintechs.

What is important to do is to create an ecosystem that brings fintechs and banks together. This way, rather than building new technology from scratch, we are working from a more sophisticated springboard.

One of the things that EY does in Luxembourg is to bring large companies together with fintechs in our labs. It’s like a bit of matchmaking, and build conceptual models together far more quickly than it would

Moderated by JOSEPHINE SHILLITO Photos GUY WOLFF

FEBRUARY 2022

In the past it has been suggested that AI poses a risk to jobs in financial services as well. What do you think?

BRAUN Around 10 years ago, there certainly used to be a fear that AI would put everyone out of a job. In reality, the world we are living in is getting more and more complex. Regulation in financial services has become more and more of a challenge, so we see AI as a necessary tool to manage a complex world, and not as a replacement for people.

39

Ajay Bali, associate partner, digital advisory services, EY Luxembourg

Essay

APRIL 2022

40

The squeeze of the energy crisis In March, energy prices reached an all-time high in Luxembourg. Many weaknesses in the EU and Luxembourg’s sustainability strategies need to be addressed to protect local businesses and households from energy poverty or bankruptcy. The solution is complex.

Words TRACY HEINDRICHS

Illustration SALOMÉ JOTTREAU

Energy storage solutions, green energy Just as the sanitary crisis that shook the supply within the whole of the EU… The generation, a stronger network connectworld was seeming to settle--allowing right way to go is that each EU member for a more precise damage assess- state reviews its role and contribution ing all parts of the EU--these necessities ment--Russian president Vladimir Putin within the EU’s internal energy market.” aren’t evolving at the speed of the EU’s renewed promises. Existing industries, on 24 February launched an attack on told by their government that their activUkraine. This human tragedy is, not Green transition and high ambitions unlike the pandemic, shining a light on The transition to renewable energy is ities would disappear, didn’t continue existing flaws and discrepancies in the another contributing factor to the explo- investing in their own capacities. This economic and energy strategies set up sion of energy prices. In 2021, the EU and the Ukraine crisis led to successfully

by Luxembourg and the EU. presented its Fit for 55 deal, making mem- overpricing fossil fuels, but without givThe multi-layered structure of this ber states vow to reduce their carbon ing consumers the choice to switch to a issue makes it a complex knot for poli- emissions by 55% by 2030. The climate more beneficial power source.

Some countries, like Germany or Belticians to untangle. Soaring prices directly crisis and newest Intergovernmental Panimpact the energy budgets of businesses el on Climate Change report may have gium, are now slowing down their susand households and accelerate the rise been drowned out by headlines of the tainable energy strategy, but Luxembourg of the cost of living. In Luxembourg, infla- Ukrainian war, but they remain relevant. continues to bet on its green transition. tion of more than 2.5% triggers an auto- Yet the slow execution of Europe’s ambi- Luxembourg will always remain an import-dependent country, says Paul matic indexation of wages, threatening tious plans has added fuel to the fire.

Matzet, a spokesperson for the energy the viability of businesses and employ“The decisions to exit from coal and ment rates. nuclear power, increase energy taxes, ministry, but will continue to implement introduce national CO2 prices and squeeze sustainable energy projects in the grand The question of energy supply the availabilities of emission rights were duchy and in collaboration with other EU The EU needs to rethink where it sourc- only some of the deliberate measures to countries, like Denmark.

Considering nuclear power is, howes its energy stocks, as the Russo-Ukrain- create a price signal to motivate people ever, out of question, says Matzet. If anyian war highlights. In 2019, the EU towards more sustainable consumption,” depended on imports for 61% of its con- explains Trauffler. This was a step in the thing, the Russian invasion has shown sumption. The majority came from Rus- right direction but couldn’t succeed with- the vulnerability nuclear plants represent. sia: the EU bought 46.7% of its solid fuels, out a key component: alternative renew- “Nuclear plants are targeted and under attack for war strategies. This just shows 41.1% of its natural gas and 26.9% of its able energy infrastructures. how unsafe that source is,” he adds. crude oil from the country. For the grand duchy, the dependency rate on foreign A sense of déjà vu energy imports climbs to 95%. LuxemIndustries and companies are at risk bourg only covers a part of its own elecbecause of the energy crisis. “This situatricity production (19.3%), but for petrol tion is at least as dramatic as the pandemand gas, it completely relies on external ENERGY SUPPLY BY TYPE ic” for businesses in Luxembourg, argues suppliers. For Patrick Dury of the LCGB The different sources of energy used Carlo Thelen, director of the Luxembourg in Luxembourg in 2020 labour union, that is a strategic mistake: Source Statec Chamber of Commerce. “If the energy “The EU is dependent on countries that prices grow, they will impact the inflaaren’t managed democratically.” tion rate, but because energy is the founAdd a pandemic-induced product dation of many businesses, it will impact shortage and the high volatility of prices 0.1% sectors in other ways too,” he explains. In due to speculation to the mix, and one light of this, the national consumer union geopolitical issue can destabilise the ULC and the LCGB, among other actors, whole supply chain of 27 member states 10% 17.2 % had asked for a price freeze on energy and challenge the EU’s strategy. and fuel.

To build a resilient structure, the EU On top of higher fuel and energy costs, must take several steps, one of which is companies will have to deal with the indexto make sure that it diversifies its portation of wages brought on by this inflation. folio of energy suppliers. “Instead of each 13% If the country’s automatic indexation syscountry purchasing their own personal tem is triggered three times in 2022--the 0.1% energy separately,” the EU should also worst-case scenario envisioned by Thelact as one single organisation, says Dury. en--the grand duchy will have gone through A solution supported by Gaston Trauf59.6% four wage increases (10%) in 16 months. fler, head of industrial policy at LuxemLuxembourg’s automatic indexation bourg’s multi-sectorial business federation system at this point supports no one, Fedil: “Instead of a single member state says Thelen, who sees the indexation as focusing on energy independence, we a threat to the functioning of companies must find a new balance between cost-­ Solid fuels Oil products Renewables and thus employment rates. Price m ­ akers effective energy supply and security of Electric power Natural gas Heat

41

APRIL 2022

Energy

Essay Energy

APRIL 2022

42

may adapt their prices accordingly--thus contributing to inflation even more--but price takers will see their competition shrink as they have to count the wage increase in their margins.

This does not make Luxembourg’s economic strategy viable over the long term, explains Thelen. Alongside reviewing the items considered when calculating inflation, Thelen argues that Luxem­bourg should review its unique automatic indexation system. Perhaps a fixed annual indexation is a solution in the long run.

Right now, however, a sectorial approach to a solution needs to be adopted. Some companies are more impacted by rising energy prices than others. Just as during the pandemic, aids should be handed to businesses depending on the impact the price shock has on a business’ turnover.

“Without companies, our economy cannot survive,” says Thelen. Businesses generate investments, innovation and employment, and an uncontrollable inflation and indexation could be detrimental to their survival.

ENERGY PRICES CONTRIBUTION TO INFLATION The energy crisis wasn’t born from the Russo-Ukrainian conflict. Instead, it was born from a conjunction of several smaller crises. The pandemic caused a shortage in workers through illness, while the economic rebound following the 2020 lockdown generated a shortage in energy and raw materials. The shortcomings of the EU’s energy transition strategy and inflation due to the shortages exacerbated the issue.

Luxembourg’s price formation observatory on 16 March published a report on the evolution of inflation over 2021.

It registered an inflation of 2.53% for Luxembourg, slightly higher than the EU average (2.47%).

Higher services prices due to a wage indexation in October 2021 and the exploding prices of energy contributed most to the inflation, according to the report

No business, no jobs; no jobs, no energy Among the 86,688 households dependent on gas, and the 262,255 households dependent on electricity--according to the Luxem­ bourg regulation institute ILR--some will Source odc.government.lu inevitably be more affected by the increase in energy and goods prices than others.

Fossil fuels, for instance, doubled to €2.112/l over one year--a harsh truth for those who are dependent on their car to work. Heating prices have followed a similar path, putting some households at risk of ener- a single person and €2,891 for a family gy poverty. of four--for low-income families, the To stuff the leak, the ministry has intro- price surge impacts consumers’ purchasduced energy aids--an unsustainable ing power unequally too. As it triggers approach, says Trauffler. “The price an indexation of 2.5% across the board, increases seem to outweigh what com- lower-income families see a smaller amount pensations can achieve. However, a coher- added to their wages, whereas a high-inent policy would focus on the most come household will receive much more. vulnerable of our society and help with “The current indexation system is unjust selective measures against energy poverty and antisocial,” says Thelen, an opinion instead of broadly distributing aids that supported by Trauffler. tend to cancel price signals.” The ULC had Consumers should, however, also stop also argued that the maximum compen- panic-buying fuel, to avoid increasing sation of €200 to €400 would be unlikely demand, Thelen explains. Though it is to help lower-income households cover impossible for some to decrease their the stark increase in energy costs. These consumption, and the government’s lack aids are not handed out to average-income of affordable sustainable alternatives keep many in a headlock, individuals households, who are also at risk.

Despite the additional cost-of-living should make an effort to reduce their allowance--ranging between €1,652 for energy needs to avoid bad surprises.

Storage, sustainability and collaboration There is no doubt that the invasion of Ukraine is first and foremost a humanitarian crisis and a violation of international law. But, when a crisis pokes holes through a fragile economic fabric, it also serves as an accelerator of change. The consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian war are still uncertain--Russia has yet to announce its countermeasures to the EU’s sanctions--but due to the nature of the conflict, speculation is difficult.

The EU must collaborate to ensure it becomes more unified, more resilient and more independent in its energy strategy, while also meeting its climate goals.

The development of an EU-wide energy network and energy-storing capacities have to match the pace at which the EU goals are set.

On a national level, Statec is already working on a new economic forecast for Luxembourg, based on inflation, price developments, stock indexes and the EU’s sanctions on Russia.

A tripartite meeting was convened on 22 March (after this issue went to print).

Originating in the steel industry crisis Luxembourg faced in the 1970s, the tripartite will allow the government, employer representatives and labour unions to discuss solutions to the crisis.

Whether the subject of an indexation reform will be broached remains uncertain; however, unions are putting a lot of hope in the meeting. One way or the other, all actors of the economy will have to weather the storm together.

www.paperjam.lu

La famille Paperjam s’agrandit ABONNEZ-VOUS sur newsletter.paperjam.lu

Gusto

APRIL 2022

44

Street food It’s no secret: when it comes to finding the best gourmet meals at affordable prices, your best bet might be a food truck away.

Words ABIGAIL OKORODUS Photos GUY WOLFF

1 Arancino The Italian rice balls come with many surprises with their variety of stuffings. Arancino has made us special recipes that come with classic bolognese, mozzarella-ham, peas, ricotta-spinach, ‘nduja, mascarpone cheese, roasted peppers and capers. www.arancino.lu

2 StrEATchef Enjoy the famous Melusina menu that comes with a StrEATchef burger, French fries and bacon.

The homemade burgers contain 100% pure Luxembourg beef. www.streatchef.lu

“Food trucks offer freedom.”

Greggory Hell, founder of So Food

3 Green Mango

Eat it!

Its pad thai is a bestseller, with glass noodles being the main ingredient, plus a healthy mix of tofu (on demand), spring onion, soya sprouts and soya sauce. www.greenmango.lu

4 T-Wraps With several organic wraps on offer, be sure to ask for its most popular wrap with homemade falafel, grilled peppers, homemade houmous and ketchup, onions and iceberg lettuce. www.twraps.lu

The street food festival is back for its 11th edition on 9-10 April.

What to expect:

1 About 15 Luxembourg and international food trucks and stands will take visitors on a gastronomic world tour: from surprising Asian dishes to traditional South American recipes, tasty burgers to crispy wood-fired pizzas and authentic Lebanese mezze. Those with a sweet tooth can savour ice cream and pancakes.

2 As always, much to the delight of vegetarians and vegans, each stand will offer at least one veggie dish.

3 A DJ in the courtyard will provide the right sound to keep visitors moving and hungry for more.

Details on: www.rotondes.lu

APRIL 2022

45

Welcome to the Club

Business Club

APRIL 2022

46

In numbers

Flashback Your events

1,100

March has become a month to celebrate womanhood, and members were enthralled to discover what role models had inspired the women leaders (such as 1 Stacy Cummings, 4 Djamila Aouada or 5 Gabriela Nguyen-Groza) who spoke at our 10×6, sponsored by IQ-EQ. Inspirational and encouraging, empathetic and engaging were all included in the feedback from the full house in the Lycée Vauban.

The Networking Circle was hosted in Subtile, the art gallery in Belair, and guests were treated to art, drinks, sumptuous food and networking with other business leaders, including 2 Vanina Henry, interior designer, and 3 Giulia Iannucci, KnowThyBrand.

COMPANIES The number of company members of the largest business club in Luxembourg.

19,000 MEMBERS

The number of individuals who are part of the vibrantly active Paperjam + Delano Club community with whom you will get to interact.

250

EVENTS The number of opportunities to network and learn, split into 120 shows, talks, social events and 130 advanced trainings, workshops and webinars.

“No one cares as much about your career as you do.”

Stacy Cummings NATO Support and Procurement Agency

1

300

HOURS

The number of annual training hours for your employees to develop their hard and soft skills: an additional benefit for you and useful extras for your teams.

3

HOW TO ATTEND PAPERJAM + DELANO CLUB EVENTS ?

You’re already a member Please check the Club section on our website paperjam.lu. Select, among all the digital and on-site events listed, the ones you would be interested in, fill in the registration form at the bottom page and register.

You’re not a member yet Please email the Paperjam + Delano Club via club@paperjam.lu and an account manager will be in touch to introduce you to all the perks offered by the largest business club in Luxembourg.

2

47

Programme April/May Tuesday 19 April

APRIL 2022

10×6

3

Architecture: Passion TIME 18:30 – 22:30 VENUE Lycée Vauban SPONSORS Polygone, Zumtobel Thursday 21 April

4 3

Delano Live + Meet the Scandinavian community: Will AI help or hinder the diversity agenda for HR professionals?

4

TIME 18:30 – 20:00

“She taught me determination. ”

VENUE Zulu SPONSOR ING

Djamila Aouada SnT

Thursday 28 April

“ Women put obstacles in their mind.”

Gabriela Nguyen-Groza Amrop Luxembourg

Photos

5

Simon Verjus, Eva Krins

APÉRO TALK

The key issues for the fund industry TIME 18:30 – 21:30 VENUE The Car’Tell

Sign up on the Paperjam + Delano Club site: club.paperjam.lu

011 BY MIKE K N2 OE DI DI DE

N GE

R

FO UN

48

APRIL 2022 EDITION

APRIL 2022

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR

Bérengère Beffort EDITORIAL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Editorial Phone (+352) 20 70 70-150 E-mail news@delano.lu JOURNALISTS

Teodor Georgiev (-158) Aaron Grunwald (-152) Tracy Heindrichs (-164) Edouard Ombredane (-159) Jeffrey Palms (-156) Cordula Schnuer (-163) Josephine Shillito (-153) COMMUNITY MANAGER

Christophe Lemaire PROOFREADING & FACTCHECKING

Maison Moderne PHOTOGRAPHY

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Nathalie Reuter EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, DELANO MAGAZINE

Publisher

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Abigail Okorodus (-155)

Brand Studio Phone (+352) 20 70 70-300 DIRECTOR

Youcef Damardji STRATEGIC BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR

Francis Gasparotto (-301) HEAD OF MEDIA SALES AND SOLUTIONS

Dominique Gouviaux (-338) COMMERCIAL ASSISTANT

Céline Bayle (-303) MEDIA ADVISORS

Nicolas Galtier (-318) Mélanie Juredieu (-317) Virginie Laurent (-322) Aline Puget (-323) Léo Santoro (-335) Mikaël Spezzacatena (-326)

www.maisonmoderne.com Phone (+352) 20 70 70 E-mail publishing@maisonmoderne.com FOUNDER, CHAIRMAN AND CEO

Mike Koedinger ADMINISTRATIVE AND FINANCIAL DIRECTOR

Etienne Velasti PUBLISHING DIRECTOR

Bérengère Beffort STRATEGIC BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR

Francis Gasparotto DIRECTOR, BUSINESS CLUB

Artur Sosna CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICER

Viktor Dick HR MANAGER

Sylvie Notarnicola ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER

Sylvia Leplang

HEAD OF CONTENT STRATEGY

DIGITAL PROJECT MANAGERS

Emmanuelle Thivollard

Meryem Alamy & Antonello Di Pinto

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Jeremy Leslie

Kévin Thirion

STUDIO MANAGER

Sandrine Papadopoulos ART DIRECTOR

José Carsí LAYOUT

Sophie Melai (coordination), Stéphane Cognioul, Juliette Noblot, ILLUSTRATIONS

To contact staff members

Salomé Jottreau

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Pick’n’mix

50

On the world stage

C’est Karma

JAZZ PIANIST

SINGER

Pascal Schumacher

Claire Parsons

Nicolas Przeor

SINGER

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY GUITARIST AND VOCALIST

Every place, moment and time have their own momentum and vibration.

Every audience is different from country to country-even from town to town.

It’s a matter of energy.

Every new impression, culture and input makes you grow and feeds into your creativity.

It changes your perception. It’s so amazing to meet people who share the same goals as you.

Of course.

Mainly at the very beginning of my career.

Absolutely! Meeting new people opens up new possibilities and projects that wouldn’t have happened if you stayed in your comfort zone.

We’ve met so many people around the world--other bands, promoters--and collaborated with many of them.

In the Cour d’honneur of the Palais des papes in Avignon. It was very windy that night, but that perfectly suited my music then.

I’ve loved them all!

Tough to say, it should probably be Vega in Copenhagen or maybe Ancienne Belgique in Brussels.

Does the public abroad react differently to your performances?

Yes, but no better or worse.

It’s just different.

Each new audience has other favourite songs.

How has playing abroad affected your style?

Probably as kind of a cultural impression which left a mark on me and resulted in more openness in music.

Has playing internationally pushed you to collaborate more?

Not really.

Only if I met them in real life and was there for a longer period.

Favourite venue you’ve played abroad?

Sounds Jazz Club in Brussels (town of my studies), Eurojazz Festival in Mexico City (first big festival abroad).

Probably the Gaîté Lyrique in Paris.

What have you gained from playing abroad?

Meeting new people and cultures with different points of view and relation to art, and exchanging with them.

I travelled alone to my shows abroad.

This taught me how to be alone in both joyous and disappointing moments.

Any advice to succeed internationally?

JAZZ MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER

Present your music to new audiences, and don’t be afraid to contact foreign organisers.

Just do it! I think it’s very helpful to connect with other artists abroad [who] then help one another.

Here, the crowd is often filled with people I know.

Abroad, it’s mostly people I don’t know, which adds pressure and takes pressure away.

Playing abroad is not only about the shows themselves; it’s also about the people. These encounters have an effect on my creativity.

Yes, meeting musicians is a big part. Even if we don’t collaborate, I often make connections.

No.

It didn’t.

Time and practice did.

Travelling the world as an artist and not as a tourist gave me profound insights into different cultures and ways of life.

Be yourself.

Be curious, stay focussed and never give up!

I found out how deeply I love to sing.

I could use some advice myself!

I’ve been more openminded since I started touring. I was a super shy person, and touring made me open up.

Go for gold. No dream is too big, no challenge is too tough.

Eric Engel, Pit Reding, Matic Zorman, Lynn Theisen, Congés Annulés, Shutterstock, Wikipedia

Arthur Possing

Photos

APRIL 2022

Five Luxembourg artists talk about exporting local music on the international scene.

www.atoz.lu

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