The prime minister of Luxembourg (Luxembourgish: Premierminister vu Lëtzebuerg; French: Premier ministre luxembourgeois; ‹See Tfd›German: Premierminister von Luxemburg) is the head of government of Luxembourg. The prime minister leads the executive branch, chairs the Cabinet and appoints its ministers.
Since 1989, the title of Prime Minister has been an official one,[2] although the head of the government had been unofficially known by that name for some time. Between 1857 and 1989, the prime minister was styled the President of the Government,[3] with the exception of the 25-day premiership of Mathias Mongenast.[4] Before 1857, the prime minister was the President of the Council. In addition to these titles, the prime minister uses the title Minister of State, although this is usually relegated to a secondary title.
This is a list of prime ministers and governments since the post was founded, in 1848. In larger font are the dates of the prime ministers entering and leaving office. The smaller dates, during the respective premierships, are those of the prime ministers' governments. Luxembourg has a collegial governmental system; often, the government will present its resignation, only for the successor government to include many, if not most, of the previous ministers serving under the same prime minister. Each of the smaller dates reflects a change in the government without a change of prime minister.
From the promulgation of the first constitution, in 1848, until the early twentieth century, Luxembourgish politics was dominated by independent politicians and statesmen.[5] The prerogative powers of the grand duke remained undiluted, and, as such, the monarch actively chose and personally appointed the prime minister. As a result, the prime minister was often a moderate, without any strong affiliation to either of the two major ideological factions in the Chamber of Deputies: the secularist liberals and the Catholic conservatives.
In the early twentieth century, the emergence of socialism as a third force in Luxembourgish politics ended the dominance of independents, and further politicised the government of the country.[5] This did not affect the prime minister's position until 1915, when the long-serving Paul Eyschen died in office. His death created a struggle for power between the main factions, leading to the establishment of the formalised party system.[6]