Thorn Ministry

The Thorn Ministry was the government of Luxembourg between 15 June 1974 and 16 July 1979. It was led by, and named after, Prime Minister Gaston Thorn. Throughout the ministry, the Democratic Party formed a coalition with the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party. At first, the Deputy Prime Minister was Raymond Vouel, but he left to become European Commissioner in 1976, and was replaced by Bernard Berg.

Policies

The liberal-socialist government enacted a reform of divorce laws, abortion laws and the penal code. In 1974, adultery was decriminalised. The laws of 6 February 1975 and 5 December 1978 allowed divorce by mutual consent and for a determined cause (such as the couple not having lived together for three years). The law of 15 November 1978 legalised abortion, over the vehement opposition of Deputies of the CSV, who raised concerns over the life of the unborn child. In 1979, the death penalty was formally abolished.^[1]

To preserve a level of pluralism in the press, the government introduced direct subsidies for newspapers. The formula for calculating this was advantageous to publications with a small readership, and counter-balanced to an extent the growing commercial success of the main daily newspaper, the Luxemburger Wort, close to the CSV.^[1]

The government was forced to abandon two large-scale infrastructure projects in the face of popular opposition. In 1977, it cancelled plans for a nuclear power plant in Remerschen. This project had faced criticism from the anti-nuclear movement, partly due to the context of the Three Mile Island accident in the United States. Another project that caused controversy was that of the "Centre 300", a planned home for the European Parliament, designed by the French architect Taillibert.^[1]

Ministers

15 June 1974 – 21 July 1976

21 July 1976 – 16 September 1977

16 September 1977 – 16 July 1979

References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Thewes, Guy. "Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché depuis 1848." Service information et presse. Luxembourg: Imprimerie Centrale, 2011. p. 182-190

Government ministries of Luxembourg de la Fontaine Willmar Simons de Tornaco Servais de Blochausen Thilges Eyschen Mongenast Loutsch First National Union Gov't Kauffman Reuter Prüm Bech Dupong-Krier Gov't in Exile Liberation Gov't Second National Union Gov't Dupong-Schaus Dupong-Bodson Bech-Bodson Frieden Werner-Schaus I Werner-Cravatte Werner-Schaus II Thorn Werner-Thorn Werner-Flesch Santer-Poos I Santer-Poos II Santer-Poos III Juncker-Poos Juncker-Polfer Juncker-Asselborn I Juncker-Asselborn II Bettel-Schneider