Luxembourg's First Female Finance Minister...The Era of European Women Ministers

[Asia Economy Reporter Yujin Cho] With the appointment of the first female finance minister in Luxembourg's history, four EU member states now have women serving as heads of finance ministries.

According to Bloomberg and other sources on the 6th (local time), Yuri Backs began her term as Luxembourg's finance minister yesterday, succeeding Pierre Gramegna.

A former diplomat, Yuri Backs started her career at the United Nations headquarters in New York. After serving three years as Luxembourg's permanent representative to the UN, she worked at the Western European Union (WEU) and then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' International Economic Department in 2000.

She later served as a foreign policy advisor to Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's 21st Prime Minister, until 2013.

With Yuri Backs' appointment as finance minister, Luxembourg has its first female finance minister, and she becomes the fourth female finance minister within the EU, according to the report.

Earlier, the Netherlands appointed Sigrid Kaag, who served as foreign minister until September last year, as the next finance minister. Among the 20 ministers in the Dutch coalition government, 10 are women, marking the largest number of female ministers in the country's history.

Other European countries, including Germany, are also seeing a trend of female ministers holding the majority, signaling a 'female power' shift. In Germany, the cabinet led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, inaugurated last month, consists of an equal number of male and female ministers, eight each, while Sweden's first female prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, formed a cabinet with 12 women and 11 men.

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