Responding to COVID-19 has presented an unprecedented challenge for Organisation for Economic Co‑operation and Development (OECD) member countries, due to both the magnitude of the crisis and the severity of its impact on health, the economy, educational continuity and the well-being of citizens more generally. As we have seen, the crisis has also shone a light on structural and social problems, including the erosion of public trust in government and expert opinion. In response to this situation, OECD member countries have deployed significant human, financial and technical resources in a relatively short period of time to manage and mitigate the consequences of the crisis.

While the Luxembourg government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis was particularly agile, maintaining a high level of trust in government, reducing inequality and achieving sustainable and inclusive growth will be critical to the country’s future resilience. This report aims to assess Luxembourg’s response to COVID‑19 and learn lessons from it based on an analytical framework developed by the OECD, focusing on three main components that correspond to the phases of the risk management cycle.

While the COVID-19 pandemic did not affect all countries with the same intensity, the response to the crisis was an unprecedented challenge for most. In this context, Luxembourg deployed significant human, financial and technical resources in a short period of time to manage and mitigate the consequences of the crisis. This report, which is part of the OECD’s work to evaluate responses to the COVID-19 crisis, aims to understand which measures worked and which did not, for whom and why, to learn lessons from this experience and in so doing strengthen the country’s future resilience.

Public policy evaluations allow lessons to be drawn from the crisis in order to strengthen the future resilience of countries. This chapter presents the analytical and methodological framework for the evaluation that forms the basis of this report. It also presents the structural strengths and weaknesses present in Luxembourg that may have impacted the margin for manoeuvre that the government had when facing the crisis. It ends with a brief overview of the main measures adopted by Luxembourg at the beginning of the crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic caught many countries off guard, due not only to its magnitude, but also to the rapid spread of the virus and the complex knock-on effects of the measures put in place to limit case numbers. Luxembourg had the advantage of its mature risk management system, its diplomatic network and emergency plans that had been developed for previous epidemics, which allowed it to adapt quickly to the crisis. The country also faced specific challenges in relation to maintaining the continuity of essential services and access to the medical and protective equipment needed for its health workers and other inhabitants. This chapter examines Luxembourg's risk anticipation capacities and the initial emergency procedures implemented to control the COVID-19 pandemic before a state of emergency was declared on 18 March 2020. The chapter also examines the pandemic preparedness of Luxembourg's critical infrastructure operators and essential service providers.

Managing modern and complex crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, requires governments to mobilise a number of actors beyond the traditional emergency services, and to create a climate of trust in public action, which is essential to ensure its effectiveness. This chapter assesses the extent to which the mechanisms put in place in Luxembourg have enabled the government to adopt a co-ordinated and agile approach to responding to the pandemic across its different agencies. It then examines the effectiveness of the government’s crisis communications towards citizens, in terms of both the relevance and the coherence of its messaging. Finally, the chapter looks at the measures adopted by the Luxembourg government to deploy a co-ordinated response across society as a whole.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on the health of Luxembourg's population. The mobilisation of resources and actors around the interministerial crisis unit was remarkable, and enabled new systems to be developed rapidly and health services to expand to absorb the shock of the health crisis. However, the pandemic also revealed structural weaknesses in the healthcare system, suggesting a lack of preparedness. This chapter assesses the resilience of Luxembourg's health system, taking into consideration the direct and indirect effects of the health crisis. The strengths and weaknesses of the crisis management in Luxembourg are also analysed in terms of the level of pandemic preparedness, the mechanisms implemented to absorb the shock and contain the pandemic, and the policies put in place to help certain health system functions recover.

This chapter examines how the government of Luxembourg handled the COVID-19 crisis in education, with a particular focus on formal (general) education. The study is structured around three areas of analysis: educational continuity during the various stages of the health crisis; the impact of the crisis on educational outcomes and stakeholder well-being; and the processes of engaging, co-ordinating and communicating with stakeholders. The analysis shows that, on the whole, Luxembourg managed the crisis successfully in the education sector: schools mostly remained open, educational continuity was ensured when they were closed, and educational outcomes remained relatively stable. The OECD proposes recommendations to support actions taken by Luxembourg in future, both in the context of the pandemic and for other similar crises, taking into account the broader needs of the country’s education system.

This chapter describes the economic and fiscal policies adopted during the crisis, particularly those aimed at supporting business. It compares the measures adopted in Luxembourg with those of other OECD Member countries. The chapter offers a detailed analysis of the use of the various measures by the size, sector and pre-crisis financial health of the beneficiary companies. It also includes the results of an impact assessment analysing how the support received by businesses affected their performance. Finally, this chapter makes recommendations for improving the targeting, implementation and impact of emergency economic and fiscal policies.

Labour market and social policies in Luxembourg were relatively well prepared going into the COVID-19 pandemic. As employees fell ill, reduced their working hours or lost their earnings, paid sick-leave, family leave, job retention schemes and unemployment benefits kicked-in. Existing schemes were extended and reinforced, while new measures were adopted to respond to emergent needs. The tight labour market coming out of the crisis has aided a strong recovery, and many of those deeply affected have since recovered their livelihoods. Nevertheless, there remains scope for fine-tuning policies to ensure, if such a crisis happens again, support reaches everyone who needs it, and no one is left to fall through the cracks. This chapter examines the main labour market and social impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in Luxembourg, and presents a first review of the measures taken by Luxembourg authorities to support the jobs and livelihoods of those affected.