Wednesday, 5 January 2022, Luxembourg City, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: The hitherto first female Marshal of the Luxembourgish Grand Ducal Household, Yuriko Backes, was sworn in as the novel Minister of Finance at the Grand Ducal Palace through a video conference with the country’s head of state, Grand Duke Henri – in isolation at Berg Castle owing to a COVID-19 infection.
The swearing in ceremony was followed by an encounter with Pierre Gramegna, who had served as Finance Minister since 2013.
Backes (born on 22 December 1970 in Kobe, Japan) is a trained diplomat with previous experience in the function as diplomatic adviser for erstwhile prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, and for incumbent Prime Minister Xavier Bettel until 2016, when she became the head of the delegation of the European Commission in Luxembourg.
Yuriko Backes has moreover served as Deputy Director at the Directorate for International Economic Relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg, as Deputy Head of Mission at the Luxembourgian Embassy in Japan, and as a diplomat at Luxembourg’s Permanent Representations to the EU (Brussels) and the United Nations (New York City).
Privately Yuriko Backes enjoys classical music, particularly Bach, swimming, and reading.
For further information
Ministry of Finance of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: https://gouvernement.lu/fr/gouvernement/yuriko-backes/actualites.gouvernement%2Bfr%2Bactualites%2Btoutes_actualites%2Barticles%2B2022%2B01-janvier%2B05-passation-pouvoirs-mfin.html
https://gouvernement.lu/en/gouvernement/yuriko-backes/CV.html
