Syllabus:
1.) Fundamental Rights of Citizens
2.) State and Municipal Institutions of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
3.) The History of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the European Integration
Passing grade: 28 out of 40 questions must be answered correctly
1.) Fundamental Rights of Citizens
1789: The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen set by France’s National Constituent Assembly during the French Revolution
The first document that set out to universally protect fundamental human rights
Main principles: People are born free and equal, political bodies aim to protect human rights, the popular feelings of the nation’s people are the source of a government’s authority and power
1948: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights accepted in Paris by the United Nations
The first international document detailing a person’s basic rights. It was not a legally binding document.
Main principles: People are born free and equal in dignity and rights; prohibition of slavery or torture; everyone is equal before the law; everyone is entitled to rights regardless of race, sex, religion...
1951: The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Council of Europe, Strasbourg
The first document designed to protect human rights in Europe
Drafted in the aftermath of World War II to protect people from the State
Inspired by the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The main difference between the two documents is the existence of an international court: The European Court of Human Rights, whose judgments are legally binding
Main principles: Individuals may bring complaints against States to the European Court of Human Rights if they believe their rights have been violated, equality before the law, right to life, prohibition of torture and slavery, right to fair trial
2000: The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, European Union
Document enshrining rights for EU citizens
It was made legally binding at the Treaty of Lisbon (2009)
Main principles: Respect for human dignity, no death penalty, workers’ rights, non-discrimination
Factors such as age, nationality, criminal conviction, and incapacity can limit fundamental rights, including the right to vote, access to the labour market, and European citizenship.
17 October 1868: The Constitution of Luxembourg was adopted
Fundamental rights embodied in the Constitution of Luxembourg:
Rights and Freedoms that guarantee
the individual’s protection from the arbitrary (random) action of state authorities
the individual’s participation in public affairs
the litigant's rights/defendant’s rights
Second-generation social and economic rights that guarantee
social allowances
services provided by the community
Constitutional objectives concerning
the societal level, the environment, natural resources and sustainable development
=> These rights are protected through…
1. The national judge
The place of fundamental rights in the national legal system: all national laws must respect fundamental human rights
The ordinary judge referring to regular courts
The Constitutional Court, made up of nine members, controls whether laws comply with the Constitution of Luxembourg
2. The supranational judge
The European Court of Human Rights ensures that states respect the European Convention on Human Rights
The Court of Justice of the European Union protects rights under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and EU law
The European Union may sue a state for breaking EU law
2.) State and Municipal Institutions in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
The Political System
The state:
Territory: Luxembourg’s borders are surrounded by Belgium, France, and Germany.
Population: 681.973 (01.01.25)
Language: Luxembourgish, French, and German
National Symbols: State coat of arms (see image), Luxembourg flag, the national anthem “Ons Heemecht”
Luxembourg is a parliamentary democracy in the form of a constitutional monarchy. There are three branches of government power: legislative, executive, and judicial
🡪 legislative and executive are linked, but judicial power is independent
Legislative branch
Legislative power resides in the Parliament (Chambre des deputés) and the Council of State.
The government also holds both executive and legislative power.
Parliament/Chambre de députés
Made up of 60 members of Parliament (MPs) from four electoral constituencies (South, Centre, North, East).
Primary function of parliament:
to propose bills (propositions de loi)
to vote on bills
to control the executive branch
Council of State
Made up of 21 councillors
Councillors are formally appointed and dismissed by the Grand Duke and nominated alternatively by the government, Parliament, and the Council of State. Members of the grand-ducal family may be part of the Council of State.
Primary functions:
To give an opinion on all bills, including amendments (changes) made by the parliament during its procedure. 🡪 Opinion must include a detailed examination to ensure that all draft bills comply with the Constitution, international treaties, the rule of law, and other higher-ranking documents of legislation
Every draft grand-ducal regulation must be examined
Decides if the Parliament should hold a second constitutional vote of law.
Note: These functions will be explained in more detail under “Legislative procedure”
Government
The government has the right of initiative, also known as governmental initiative, in the legislative branch
Right of initiative 🡪 allows the government to present bills, or preliminary drafts of law (projet de loi), which are first reviewed by the Council of State, to the parliament. In the parliament, MPs may make amendments to the bill and vote on whether the bill should be passed.
After the parliamentary vote, the Grand Duke exercises his right of assent and enactment 🡪 the bill is formally accepted and promulgated
A law comes into force when it has been published in the Mémorial (compendium of legislation).
Executive branch
Executive power lies with the Grand Duke (head of state) and the government.
The Grand Duke is inviolable, meaning he cannot be charged or prosecuted. Any action taken by the Grand Duke in the exercise of his powers, under the Constitution of Luxembourg, must be countersigned by a member of the government. Any legislative document signed by the Grand Duke must have first been submitted to the government council for examination and debate.
The government consists of the Prime Minister, the Ministers, and Secretaries of State. The Constitution gives the Grand Duke the full right to organise his government, i.e. appoint members, create ministries, etc. In practice, the Grand Duke is guided by the results of legislative elections. These elections take place every 5 years and appoint an informateur and/or a formateur. The formateur usually becomes the Prime Minister and is the one to choose the members of government and present them to the Grand Duke. He then appoints them and swears them in.
Next, the new government appointed by the Grand Duke presents its political program to Parliament, which then takes a vote of confidence. This gives the government a parliamentary majority that they can rely on.
Under the Constitution, the Grand Duke has the right to remove any member of the government from office, but in practice, the resignation of a minister or of the whole government is tendered by the Prime Minister to the Grand Duke, who accepts it.
Judicial branch
Courts and tribunals hold judicial power. The Constitutional Court in Luxembourg has two branches of jurisdiction: the judicial order and the administrative order.
The Constitutional Court consists of 9 members. It is responsible for ruling on the constitutionality of laws.
The Judicial Order
The various courts
a.) The courts of conciliation/The magistrate's courts
The three courts of conciliation in Luxembourg are in Luxembourg City, Esch-sur-Alzette and Diekirch. They are responsible for less important cases, such as minor civil and commercial cases. Disputes cannot involve an amount exceeding 10 000 euros. These courts play the role of conciliators, and their aim is to come up with a mutually agreed-upon solution.
b.) The district courts
The country is divided into two judicial districts of Luxembourg and Diekirch, each region having their own district court. These courts have jurisdiction in all civil and commercial matters that the law does not expressly assign to another jurisdiction. In criminal matters, the district courts are organised in the form of a correctional or criminal chamber. Passing a case to another court depends on the severity of the criminal offence. Finally, the section known as the Juvenile and the Guardianship Court has jurisdiction over child and youth protection cases.
c.) The Supreme Court of Justice
The Supreme Court of Justice is seated in Luxembourg City. It consists of a Court of Cassation (one chamber where 5 judges sit), a Court of Appeal (9 chambers to which 35 appeal judges are assigned), and the Public Prosecutor's Office. The two courts meet as one primarily to rule on jurisdictional conflicts and on disciplinary action against judges. They are also the ones to hear charges by the Parliament against members of the government.
The Court of Cassation holds jurisdiction (legal control) over rulings from the Court of Appeal and over last resort changes in rulings by district courts and conciliation courts. Its task is to check that the law is correctly and consistently applied throughout the country.
The Court of Appeal holds jurisdiction over decisions handed down by the district courts. It has jurisdiction over civil, commercial, criminal and correctional matters.
The Public Prosecution Office is headed by the State Public Prosecutor and carries out its responsibilities under the Minister of Justice. They are responsible for representing the people before the courts and tribunals. The main task of this office is to investigate crimes, to implement the law and to ensure that judgments are enforced. They are helped by judicial police officers who record criminal activity and find evidence.
The Administrative Order
The administrative order is responsible for hearing and adjudicating administrative and fiscal conflicts (between individuals/businesses and the government).
Administrative Tribunal: deals with issues caused by things such as incompetence, abuse of power or breaking the law. People may ask the court to cancel an administrative decision (e.g. fines, refusal of residence permits, etc.)
The Administrative Court: Supreme Administrative jurisdiction lies with this court. It mainly hears cases brought against the decisions of other administrative jurisdictions, e.g. decisions of the Administrative Tribunal may be appealed here.
Legislative procedure
There are two types of legislative initiative:
Projet de loi: Bills and other legislative items drafted by the government, approved by the government council, submitted to the Council of State, and is finally submitted to the Parliament.
Proposition de loi: Bills proposed by MPs, submitted to the Conference of Presidents of the Parliament, submitted to the Council of State for opinion, and sent to the government for its position.
Once the Council of State gives its opinion on the proposed item, it is sent to a relevant parliamentary committee, which examines it and reports it to the Parliament. The Parliament then votes on whether the bill should be passed or not. But before there is debate.
This debate consists of two stages:
A general discussion of the entire bill
A discussion article by article of the bill
Any member may propose to have amendments made to the bill. In Luxembourg’s unicameral system (=primary legislative power is held in one chamber), once a draft bill is voted on, it must have a second vote after at least three months of the first. This second vote may be cancelled if both the Parliament and the Council of State agree that it is not required. This has become common practice for most bills in Luxembourg. The law passed by Parliament enters into practice only after it has been granted assent by the Grand Duke and published in the Mémorial (compendium of legislation).
The Electoral System
Legislative/Parliamentary elections
Elections for MPs happen every 5 years. If Parliament is dissolved, a new election is held within three months.
Parliamentary elections are held by a mixed one-person-one-vote suffrage and a party list system of proportional representation. In simpler words, when a person is voting, one can vote either by list (voting for all candidates in one party) or by panachage (voting for specific candidates across parties). Furthermore, the system of proportional representation ensures that each constituency (North, South, Centre, East) has a different number of MPs, proportional to the population of each region. For example, the southern constituency has the largest population, and therefore, it has the most seats/MPs in Parliament.
Number of seats in Parliament
North - 9 MPs
South - 23 MPs
Centre - 21 MPs
East - 7 MPs
Furthermore, in order to ensure proportional representation, especially for small political groups, the legislative elections conform to the principle of the smallest electoral quotient.
To be able to vote, one must:
be over the age of 18 on election day
have Luxembourgish nationality
possess full civil and political rights 🡪 no convicted criminal offence
For people who fulfil all the above, voting is compulsory until they’re over the age of 75. Those over 75 years old are not required to vote, but they will still have the right to do so. Therefore, a Luxembourgish national who possesses full civil and political rights and is 75 years old or over may vote if they wish to, but they are not forced to do so.
Voters may vote the same number of times as there are seats in their constituency. For example, if a person lives in the eastern constituency, they may vote 7 times. If a person lives in the central constituency, they may vote 21 times. It is possible to vote for a single candidate twice. If a person’s number of votes is more than the number of seats available in their constituency, their ballot becomes invalid and will not count in the final results.
🡪 youtu.be/YnODUBbHgO0
To stand for elections, one must:
be at least 18 years old
have full Luxembourgish nationality
possess full civil and political rights
be domiciled in the Grand Duchy 🡪 must be living in Luxembourg with intentions to stay
The Municipalities/Communes
The Municipality is a legal body. There is a total of 116 municipalities in Luxembourg. Each municipality has its own council. The members of this council are chosen through municipal elections every 6 years. Only people who live in the municipality where the election is taking place are allowed to vote. Each municipality has their own elections. The number of members on the council is chosen according to the population of the municipality.
From each council, there is the College of Mayor and Aldermen. These members are the executive branches of their communes. They consist of one mayor and aldermen (number of aldermen depends on the population of the commune). These positions are appointed through a proposal by the majority of the members in the new municipal council.
In principle, commune elections have a relative majority system, meaning whoever gets the most votes wins. But if the population of a municipality is more than 3000, elections have a system of proportional representation. The Grand Duke has the right to dissolve municipal councils. If this happens, another election for the council will take place within 3 months.
To be able to vote in municipal elections, one must:
be over 18 years old on election day
possess civic rights and not have forfeited (lost) the right to vote in their state of origin
be domiciled in the Grand Duchy and live in the municipality for which the elections are for
for non-Luxembourgish nationals: be domiciled in the Grand Duchy and have lived there for at least 5 years at the time of registration for the electoral list
Voting is mandatory for all voters registered on electoral lists. Luxembourg nationals are automatically registered on the electoral list of their commune of residence as soon as they meet the legal conditions to vote. For non-Luxembourgish nationality
individuals, voting is not compulsory unless they have registered to be on the electoral list.
To stand for elections, one must:
be a Luxembourg national or a national of another EU Member State
be at least 18 years old
have lived in the municipality for at least 6 months
have been domiciled in the Grand Duchy for at least 5 years
European elections
The representatives of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in the European Parliament are elected every 5 years. Luxembourg can have 6 representatives in the European Parliament.
The date of European elections is chosen by grand-ducal regulation, a legal act issued by the Grand Duke. Typically, the date for these elections is chosen to be on the same day as the national Parliament elections.
To be able to vote, one must:
Be a national of Luxembourg or of any other Member State in the European Union
Be at least 18 years old on election day
Possess civic rights and have not forfeited the right to vote in their state of origin
For Luxembourg nationals: be domiciled in the Grand Duchy
For EU Member State nationals: be domiciled in the Grand Duchy and have lived there for at least 5 years at the time of registration on the electoral roll/list
To stand for election, one must:
Be a national of Luxembourg or of any other Member State in the EU
Possess civic rights and not have forfeited the right to vote in their state of origin
Be at least 18 years old on election day
For Luxembourg nationals: be domiciled in the Grand Duchy
For non-Luxembourgish nationals: be domiciled in the Grand Duchy and have lived there for at least 5 years at the time of candidate list submission
The Main Advisory Bodies
I.) The professional chambers
The main purpose of the professional chambers is to protect and defend the interests of the professional groups that they represent. They can submit proposals to the government, which then, after examining them,
sends them to the Chambres de députés. These proposals must be about something within the professional chamber’s competence and area of skill.
Members of chambers are chosen through elections within each professional group. Any person who works a job that has a professional chamber must join that chamber. Everyone, whether a Luxembourg national or a foreigner, may vote. However, they are not obliged to. Voting is voluntary.
There are six professional chambers in Luxembourg:
The Chamber of Commerce
The Chamber of Private Employees
The Chamber of Civil Servants and Public Employees
The Chamber of Trades
The Chamber of Labour
The Chamber of Agriculture
ll.) The Economic and Social Council (ESC)
The ESC is an advisory group that studies the economic, financial, and social problems in Luxembourg. They can do this out of their own wish to do so, and they may also be requested by the government to study a specific area. The ESC may also submit proposals to the government based on its findings and studies.
Every year, the ESC reports on Luxembourg’s economic, financial, and social situation. This report is given to the government and the Parliament.
The ESC is made up of representatives from many different industries, such as commercial, trade, and agriculture, as well as from small and medium-sized businesses. It also includes people from trade unions and government representatives.
