Xavier Bettel

Bettel was born on 3 March 1973 in the Luxembourg City quarter of Bonnevoie and grew up in Roeser. His father, Claude Bettel (1939-1999), was a French transport entrepreneur of Luxembourgish origin who moved to Luxembourg in 1971, eventually joining the DP and becoming a member of the Luxembourgish National Council for Foreigners. He also has Moldovan roots. His mother Aniela, daughter of Maurice Spiro (1892-1988) and Vera Rachmaninoff (1912-1997), is a granddaughter of Arkady Rachmaninoff, younger brother of the Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff. After completing his secondary school studies at Lycée Hélène Boucher in Thionville, Bettel obtained a master's degree in Public and European Law and a DEA in Political Science and Public Law from Nancy 2 University in Nancy, France. He also studied maritime law as well as canon law at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece, where he was studying thanks to the Erasmus Programme. Bettel joined the DP in 1988 at age 15, and became the president of the party's youth wing in 1993. In 2017, he also received an honorary doctorate from Sacred Heart University Luxembourg. == Municipal politics (1999-2013) ==

In the elections of 1999, Bettel was elected to Luxembourg City's communal council, finishing sixth on the DP's list. Two years after his election to the local council, on 12 July 2001, he was certified as a lawyer. ==Chamber of Deputies (1999-2013)==

Bettel ran for the Chamber of Deputies in the 1999 general election; he finished tenth amongst DP candidates in the Centre constituency, with the top seven being elected. However, the DP overtook the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP) as the second-largest party; its members formed the majority of the new government as the Christian Social People's Party's (CSV) coalition partners. Thus, with Lydie Polfer and Anne Brasseur vacating their seats to take roles in the government, as well as Colette Flesch not taking her seat so as to focus on her role as Member of the European Parliament (MEP), Bettel was sworn in to the Chamber of Deputies on 12 August 1999. By the time of the 2004 general election, Bettel had significantly consolidated his position; he finished fourth (of the five DP members elected), assuring him a seat in the Chamber of Deputies. ==Premiership (2013–2023)==

First term In 2013, Bettel was elected leader of the Democratic Party. In the 2013 general election, he led the party to a third-ranked position in parliamentary seats. On 25 October, Bettel was designated by Grand Duke Henri as the formateur for the next government. He assumed his post as Luxembourg's Prime Minister on 4 December 2013. In the government's coalition of the DP, LSAP, and The Greens, he led the cabinet with LSAP leader Etienne Schneider serving as Deputy Prime Minister. In his first term, he also held the functions of Minister of State, Minister for Communications and the Media, Minister for Culture, and Minister for Religious Affairs. (6 October 2015) Second term at the Luxembourg American Cemetery and Memorial, for the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, on 16 December 2019 Following the 2018 election, he became the first openly gay prime minister in the world to be reappointed for a second term. He began his second term when his government was formed on 5 December 2018, which he led with co-Deputy Prime Ministers François Bausch and Dan Kersch. The government is a continuation between the Democratic Party, the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party, and The Greens from the Bettel I government, with minor changes. On 16 September 2019, following a short bilateral meeting on the status of Brexit negotiations, Bettel continued a press conference without British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, after Johnson abruptly pulled out due to an anti-Brexit protest held by British citizens living in Luxembourg. Bettel gestured towards Johnson's empty podium and confirmed that the UK Government had not tabled any concrete proposals for amendments to the UK's Withdrawal Agreement, particularly the "Irish backstop" that Johnson wished to replace. This being despite the public pronouncements of Prime Minister Johnson and the UK's departure date from the EU fast approaching. whilst other UK and international media outlets largely saw the incident, as well as the reaction of pro-Brexit UK media outlets to it, as confirming the increasing hypersensitivity of pro-Brexit pundits and politicians to criticism. in Kyiv on 21 June 2022 On 29 February 2020, all of Luxembourg's public transport became free of charge as a result of the Bettel II government coalition agreement. ==Deputy premiership (2023–present)==

Bettel was appointed Deputy Prime Minister in the Frieden-Bettel Government, after the coalition lost the 2023 election and only gained 29 seats. A new coalition government emerged between the CSV and DP, in which Luc Frieden is the Prime Minister. He is in charge of foreign and European affairs, development cooperation, foreign trade, as well as the Greater region. In February 2024, Bettel told Israel they risked losing "the last support they have in the world" if they attacked Rafah. ==Personal life==

Bettel, who is openly gay, has stated that increasingly in Luxembourg "people do not consider the fact of whether someone is gay or not". Bettel was Luxembourg's first openly gay Prime Minister. Worldwide, he was the third openly gay head of government following Iceland's Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (2009–2013) and Belgium's Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo (2011–2014). He was one of four openly gay world leaders in office, the others being the Prime Minister of Serbia Ana Brnabić, the Taoiseach of Ireland Leo Varadkar, and the President of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs. Bettel has been married to Gauthier Destenay since 2015, the same year that same-sex marriage was introduced in Luxembourg. COVID-19 hospitalisation On 4 July 2021, Bettel was admitted to hospital following a COVID-19 diagnosis on 27 June. The move was initially described as precautionary and for tests. It was reported that he experienced "mild symptoms" such as high temperature and headache. The following day, it was reported that he was in a "serious but stable" condition and would remain hospitalised. On 7 July 2021, the government said that Bettel would remain hospitalised a "little bit longer" due to low saturation of oxygen in his blood and that he was recovering "little by little". On 8 July 2021, Bettel was discharged from hospital. It was announced he would resume activities soon via remote work for the rest of his isolation period. Bettel thanked health authorities for the treatment during his hospitalisation period. ==Honours and awards==

== Allegations of plagiarism ==

"In [Bettel's] thesis at the University of Nancy there is not one correct reference," wrote Pol Reuter with reference to research by Reporter.lu. The master's thesis, submitted in 1999, is dedicated to the topic of electoral reform at the European Parliament. Allegedly, only two of the total 56 pages were free of plagiarism. The plagiarism findings are said to have been confirmed by several independent researchers. Bettel stated he wrote this thesis with a clear conscience, although "from today’s standpoint, it could have – yes, maybe should have – been done differently." On 1 February 2022, he announced in a press release from the State Ministry that he was asking the university to revoke his DEA (Diplôme d'études approfondies). The day before, the university had requested that he provide the missing source references in his thesis. ==See also==