peer reviewed ; The year 2015 was a paradoxical one for Luxembourg. Its first half saw the government carrying its task of ‘nation branding’, trying to change its image (of tax haven and socially conservative policies) with a step toward a greater separation between church and state, several potential constitutional reforms aimed at a more inclusive democracy, and more indirectly through Prime Minister Bettel, who married his male companion less than a year after the adoption of gay marriage in the Grand-Duchy. Popular resentment regarding the exclusion of the Christian Social People’s Party (CSV) from government still loomed large, and partially explained the disastrous defeat of a consultative referendum for the tripartite coalition.