Luc Frieden

Luc Frieden (born 16 September 1963 in Esch-sur-Alzette) is a Luxembourgish politician, lawyer and business executive. He has held several posts in the cabinet of Luxembourg, including as Minister for Justice (1998–2009), Minister for Defence (2004–2006) and Minister for Finances (2009–2013). He is a member of the Trilateral Commission.

Luc Frieden completed high school in his home country Luxembourg and received thereafter an international university education in France, the UK and the US. He graduated in business law from Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He obtained a Master’s Degree in comparative law from the University of Cambridge (UK) and a further Master of Laws Degree from Harvard Law School. While at Harvard, he was also crossregistered at the Kennedy School of Government.

Besides his native tongue Luxembourgish, he speaks fluently English, German, French and has a good working knowledge of Dutch.

In 1994, Frieden was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg for the Christian Social People's Party (CSV), becoming, at the age of thirty, the then youngest member of the House. He was reelected in all general elections thereafter. While in Parliament, he chaired the Finance Committee as well as the Constitutional Committee and was a leading figure in the process leading to the establishment of a constitutional court and of independent administrative courts in Luxembourg.

In 1998, he became, at the age of thirty-four, Minister of Justice in the Government led by Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. He also served as Minister for the Treasury and Budget from 1998 to 2009, and Minister of Finance from 2009 to 2013.

In the capacity of Minister for the Treasury and Budget, Frieden was responsible for the successful introduction of the euro as replacement for the Luxembourgish franc. During the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2005, he chaired the European Council of Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA). As Minister of Finance he represented his country at the European Council of Ministers of Economic and Financial Affairs (Ecofin) as well as at the Eurogroup and participated in the stabilization of the Eurozone and the shaping of the European banking union. For 15 years, Frieden served as Governor of the World Bank and acted as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in 2013.

Frieden joined Deutsche Bank as Vice Chairman in September 2014. Based in London he advised the Management Board and senior management on strategic aspects related to international and European affairs. He also served as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank Luxembourg. He left Deutsche Bank in early 2016 to become Chairman of the Board of Directors of Banque Internationale à Luxembourg (BIL), Luxembourg's oldest private universal bank. He is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Luxembourg media group Saint Paul, the editor of the leading Luxembourg newspaper Luxemburger Wort. Next to his board positions, Luc Frieden works as a lawyer/avocat à la Cour and is a partner at the Luxembourg business law firm Elvinger Hoss Prussen since October 2016.