Government Of Luxembourg Research Articles

Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi Public

One hope associated with the spread of deliberative mini-publics in established democracies is that they could increase acceptance of policies because of their inclusive and diverse composition. Yet, participants are not representative of the broader public in all characteristics. They tend to be more engaged with politics or debated policy issues than the average population. Building on a Climate Citizens’ Assembly commissioned by the Luxembourg government in 2022 (Klima Biergerrot-KBR), this study examines how the maxi public reacts when informed about the profile of mini-public participants. Via a survey experiment, we found that descriptive representation and similarity matter to accept the outcomes, but not universally. It depends on respondents’ attitudes about mini-publics prior to the experiment and situations of cognitive dissonance. Indeed, when people initially neutral or opposed to mini-publics (‘participatory skeptics’) learn that the process is fairly representing (their in-) groups, they increase their willingness to accept the outcomes, stressing improvement in the perceived legitimacy. By contrast, the lack of social inclusion and political diversity is an issue to keep the ‘participatory enthusiasts’ on board, stressing that they also pay attention (and perhaps even more) to how and which groups of citizens are represented within a mini-public. Our message is that deliberative mini-publics need to address more thoroughly how they can best meet their normative assumptions of participatory equality and procedural fairness; otherwise, they may not help to foster political legitimacy.

Pillar Two Implementation – Bill Submitted to Parliament

This note summarizes the Bill of Law Implementing Council Directive (EU) 2022/2523 on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large-scale domestic groups in the European Union, which was presented by the Luxembourg government on 4 August 2023, and amended on 13 November 2023. The authors examine the main features of the Bill and its amendments and focus on some key points.

Der Euromarkt und die Internationalisierung der deutschen Banken

Abstract The tax exemption of interest revenues and the high level of professional secrecy were the unique selling points of Luxembourg for the German banking community. From the 1960s to the 1990s, they were the main causes for the rise of Luxembourg to one of the biggest euromarket places. The government of Luxembourg used these institutional factors to foster and accelerate the economic transformation from an industrial to a post-industrial country. The German banks did not reduce or even discontinue their presence in Luxembourg after the end of tax exemption and strict banking secrecy. Instead, they specialized on syndicated loans, treasury functions and Private Wealth Management for wealthy clients.

RDM Services at the Luxembourg National Data Service

The Luxembourg National Data Service (LNDS) was established on 28 July 2022 by the Luxembourg government and public research institutes. LNDS is a national organisation providing services for value creation from public sector data from different domains. LNDS’ primary mission is to offer technology and data services, know-how, capabilities, platform, and infrastructure to enable sharing and re-use of data for public and private data partners. LNDS aims to become a key component of Luxembourg's data innovation strategy by (1) supporting research and innovation through a high-quality service offering, (2) contributing to accelerating the development of Luxembourg towards a data economy, (3) enabling the participation of both public research and private actors in the complete value-creating chain of data, (4) enhancing data in the context of joint innovation among all actors, and (5) becoming a partner of choice for joint development of the next generation of data products.

The Politics of Differentiated Integration: What do Governments Want? Country Report - Luxembourg

This report examines the politics of differentiated integration (DI) in Luxembourg between 2004 and 2020. It looks at the salience of DI in government discourse at the conceptual level and also in terms of more concrete references to DI mechanisms and instances. The report aims to define the position of the government of Luxembourg – understood broadly as the set of all political actors. The report relies on quantitative text analysis and qualitative analysis of the salience of DI and Luxembourg’s position on it. Overall, references to DI concepts are rare, although the idea of a multi-speed Europe has been debated. References to DI mechanisms (enhanced cooperation and opt-outs) and specific instances are more frequent than conceptual references in parliamentary debates. The government of Luxembourg generally adopts a neutral or positive position on DI (concepts, mechanisms and instances). Luxembourg supports DI when it refers to a multi-speed Europe in which the country can act as an example of European integration and incentivise other Member States to follow its path. In accordance, Luxembourg tends to reject opt-out mechanisms for Member States in EU law while supporting (and joining) most instances of enhanced cooperation. In general, Luxembourg participates in most mechanisms that can put the country at the vanguard of European integration. In stark contrast, Luxembourg opposed one important instance of enhanced cooperation which it considered would hurt its core financial interests (the Financial Transaction Tax).

Mass Screening for SARS-CoV-2 Uncovers Significant Transmission Risk from Asymptomatic Carriers

Background: To accompany the lifting of COVID-19 lockdown measures, Luxembourg implemented a mass testing programme. The first phase coincided with an early summer epidemic wave.Methods: High-throughput rRT-PCR was performed using a validated pooling strategy. The sampling infrastructure allowed the testing of the resident and cross-border worker populations. Test strategy was based on social connectivity within different activity sectors. Invitation frequencies were tactically increased in sectors and regions with higher prevalence. The results were analysed alongside contact tracing data.Findings: Sensitivity and specificity of the test protocol were 100%. The tests covered 49% of the resident and 22% of the cross-border worker populations. The programme identified 850 index cases with an additional 249 cases resulting from contact tracing, corresponding to 26% of positive cases of the epidemic wave. Enrichment in positive cases was observed in the services (11·4% increase over the mean prevalence), hospitality (8·6%) and construction (6·6%) sectors alongside regional differences. Strikingly, cases that were asymptomatic on the day of the positive result had a similar secondary attack rate in the household compared to those who were symptomatic. Based on simulations using a tailored agent-based SEIR model, the total number of expected cases would have been 39·1% higher without the mass screening programme. Mandatory participation would have resulted in a further difference of 41·4%.Interpretation: The implementation of strategic and tactical mass testing for SARS-CoV-2 allows the breaking of nascent infection chains and the suppression of epidemic dynamics. Asymptomatic carriers are at least as infectious as symptomatic patients. Containment of future outbreaks will critically depend on early testing in sectors and geographical regions. Higher participation rates must be assured through targeted incentivisation and recurrent invitation.Funding: This project was funded by the Luxembourg Ministries of Higher Education and Research, and Health.Declaration of Interests: All authors report grants from Luxembourg Ministry of Higher Education and Research, and Ministry of Health during the conduct of the study. Dr. Rodrigues reports working for the Ministry of Higher Education and Research as a public servant, during the conduct of the study. Dr. Snoeck reports that Fast Track Diagnostics provided a few SARS-CoV-2 rRT-PCR kits (RUO) free of charge at the time of evaluation of different commercial assays to be procured by the Luxembourg Government in order to do the mass screening intervention in the country.Ethics Approval Statement: The study was presented to the National Research Ethics Committee of Luxembourg (Comité National d’Ethique de Recherche, CNER) that approved its submission in its current form (ref. 1120-218).

Luxembourg tax agreements: did the companies involved in tax agreements with the Luxembourg government do any better than others

The Luxembourg tax agreements (LTA, agreements initiated by the Government of Luxembourg to boost investments) area financial scandal leaked for the first time to newspapers in November of 2014 by a group of journalists from the international consortium of investigative journalists. The EU authorities (state aid) have concerns that the companies involved in the LTA were able to reduce their taxes, and that these agreements were signed by multinationals only for tax avoidance purposes thereby avoiding the taxes to be paid in the EU. At the same time, multinationals claim that the LTA were used by them to pursue other management goals, such as expansion of their presence in the EU market and for investment decisions. This paper evaluates whether US multinational companies from the S&P 500, which had been involved in the LTA of 2005–2008, were able to reduce their worldwide tax obligations. By comparing results from various difference-in-difference regressions: traditional, quantile, and semiparametric, I have found that these companies may have saved more on taxes than other US multinationals on the S&P list, which in directly confirms the arguments of EU authorities about the tax aggressiveness of those companies involved in the LTA.

Luxembourg tax agreements: did the companies involved in tax agreements with the Luxembourg government do any better than others

Luxembourg tax agreements: did the companies involved in tax agreements with the Luxembourg government do any better than others

Improved harmonisation from policy dialogue? Realist perspectives from Guinea and Chad.

BackgroundHarmonisation is a key principle of the Paris Declaration. The Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Partnership, an initiative of the European Union, the Government of Luxembourg and the World Health Organization, supported health policy dialogues between 2012 and 2015 in identified countries in the WHO African Region. The UHC Partnership has amongst its key objectives to strengthen national health policy development. In Guinea and Chad, policy dialogue focused on elaborating the national health plan and other key documents. This study is an analytical reflection inspired by realist evaluative approaches to understand whether policy dialogue led to improved harmonisation amongst health actors in Guinea and Chad, and if so, how and why.MethodsInterviews were conducted in Guinea and Chad with key informants at the national and sub-national government levels, civil society, and development partners. A review of relevant policy documents and reports was added to data collection to construct a full picture of the policy dialogue process. Context-mechanism-outcome configurations were used as the realist framework to guide the analysis on how participants’ understanding of what policy dialogue was and the way the policy dialogue process unfolded led to improved harmonisation.ResultsImproved harmonisation as a result of policy dialogue was perceived to be stronger in Guinea than in Chad. While in both countries the participants held a shared view of what policy dialogue was and what it could achieve, and both policy dialogue processes were considered to be well implemented (i.e., well-facilitated, evidence-based, participatory, and consisted of recurring meetings and activities), certain contextual factors in Chad tempered the view of harmonisation as having improved. These were the pre-existence of dialogic policy processes that had exposed the actors to the potential that policy dialogue could have; a focus on elaborating provincial level strategies, which gave the sense that the process was more bottom-up; and the perception that there were acute resource constraints, which conditioned partners’ interactions.ConclusionsPolicy dialogue improves harmonisation in terms of fostering information exchange amongst partners; however, it does not appear to influence the operational procedures of the actors. This has implications for aid effectiveness.

Pension reform in a worst case scenario: public finance versus political feasibility

AbstractThis paper uses a quantitative overlapping generation model to suggest a pension reform able to sustain a retirement system, in the face of deep demographic changes. We derive the reform design from an optimization program that selects one or more policy instruments – and their values – among a predefined set, to minimize the welfare loss of the median voter while keeping sound public finances, sustaining gross domestic product growth and considering the welfare of the newborn generation. We calibrate the model to the Luxembourg economy. The European Commission (2012) forecasts that, among all euro area countries, Luxembourg will experience the largest increase in pension costs between now and 2060. Our simulations show that a single instrument reform would imply severe backlashes on the rest of the economy. The suggested pension reform instead consists of a policy mix including taxation, benefits and the effective retirement age. We stress the need to design pension reforms based on optimization programs that lead to the achievement of desired targets. Indeed, the reform implemented by the Luxembourg government in 2013, which does not result from an optimization program, will not keep public finances sound over the medium term.

Competing against yourself: State duopoly in the Luxembourg telecommunications industry

The Luxembourgish telecommunications market, not too dissimilar to many other advanced industrial countries around the world, is undergoing a process of market liberalisation. However, there are some particular features of Luxembourg’s ‘informed follower’ mode of market liberalisation, which are sociospatially distinct and therefore warrant investigation. In particular, the government of Luxembourg has sought to proactively intervene in the direct provision of telecommunications services, in the form of two competing but 100% state-owned operators, whilst simultaneously supporting market liberalisation. An understanding of the role of the state in this process is clarified through the conceptual lens of the state as policy-maker, regulator and operator. Through examining the multiple roles performed by the Luxembourgish state in the wider context of the EU telecommunications reform packages, the paper reveals the competitive tension that exists between each of the different arms of the state, that is, between POST and Luxconnect. The paper critically appraises the intertwining decisions, factors and considerations that led to this state-controlled duopoly and analyses the outcomes to date of attempts to liberalise the telecommunications market as well. This analysis of the geographical and historical complexity of the Luxembourgish telecommunications sector helps to reveal the powerful role of the state in market liberalisation.

The Worries, Career Employment Attitudes, and Social Inequalities of Master’s Degree Students

Aim University students' mental health is affected by worries about the employment of their future. Our purpose is to analyze the relationships between traits of worry and career attitudes, happiness and autonomy in their quality of life among postgraduates. Method Independent of their socioeconomic status, all students obtained financial aid from the government of Luxembourg. A link to an online questionnaire was sent to their home address. The instrument assessed: Penn-State-Worry scale, Career dimensions (adaptability, optimism, knowledge and planning), Happiness and Quality of Life Autonomy scores, and socio-demographic characteristics. Bivariate-tests, correlations and multiple linear regression models were used for analysis. Results A majority of the 481 volunteers (26.4 years; SD=5.5) were women and unemployed. Socio-demographical factors such as European or non-EU nationality ( vs. Luxembourgish ), possession of an internship employment contract ( vs. fixed-term and permanent contract ) and being a part of social and humanity sciences domain were related with high worries. Lower adaptability (β= −2.271; p Conclusion Worry indicator could be observed routinely to monitor students’ career adaptability and optimism. University career employment workshops may help to increase the individual capabilities to improve and/or to maintain their wellbeing. Nationality, employment contract status and chosen academic field had generated mental health inequalities that must be considered in consultations, counselling and implementation of prevention and promotion programs.

Positive Career Attitudes Effect on Happiness and Life Satisfaction by Master Students and Graduates

Background: Happiness and life satisfaction are well-known indicators. However, there has been little contribution by the scientific community on the positive career attitudes of master students and graduates. In an effort to provide deeper empirical understanding, the relationships between positive career attitudes, health satisfaction, financial situation and happiness and life satisfaction among master students and graduates were analyzed. Method: A link of online questionnaire was sent by mail to all students which independently of their social economic status obtained a financial aid from the government of Luxembourg, and to all master graduates (ex-students) who have been finished with their courses for one year. The data was analyzed using bivariate tests, correlation and multiple linear regression models. Result: 455 voluntary postgraduate/master students vs. 144 graduates participated. Students were younger than the graduates (mean age 26 vs. 29 years). Majority was female and had Luxembourgish nationality. Most graduates had a job and lived with their parents. Luxembourg natives were happier, and those who were living with their parents showed higher life satisfaction. For both samples, self-rated health satisfaction was positively associated with happiness and life satisfaction. For the students, the higher career adaptability and career optimism are, the better the happiness and life satisfaction will be. The higher the perception of the household financial situation is, the better the happiness will be. For graduates, the higher career optimism contributed to the better happiness. Conclusion: Happiness and life satisfaction of master students and graduates were affected, related to socioeconomic and perceived health difficulties, and career attitudes. Those indicators could be used routinely to monitor the situation of young people over time and their needs in terms of adaptability and optimism capabilities, which should be appropriately treated. These findings may help with the development of university and post university interventions aimed at improving happiness and life satisfaction among postgraduate students and ex-students.

Baby steps to a big footprint

Some people have had satellite TV for so long that, like mobile telephony, they take it for granted. Services such as Sky and Freesat are an established part of the telecommunications landscape. It means that those outside the satellite industry the ground-huggers of terrestrial broadcasting and cable tend to overlook the role of satellites in expanding broadcasting. March 2010 marks the 25th anniversary of what began as a little-known start-up in Luxembourg dedicated to bringing multiple channels of satellite broadcast TV to homes across Europe. Societe Europeenne des Satellites (SES) was established by the Luxembourg government in 1985 as Europe's first private satellite operator, setting up shop in a chateau that was formerly home to a Grand Duke.

Viewpoint Absolutism and Hate Speech

The Modern Law ReviewVolume 69, Issue 4 p. 543-582 Viewpoint Absolutism and Hate Speech Eric Heinze, Eric Heinze Reader in Law, Queen Mary, University of London aReader in Law, Queen Mary, University of London. This article benefited greatly from the comments of Evert Alkema, Eric Barendt, Charles Calleros, Carolyn Evans, Jonathan Griffiths, Peter Molnar, Michael Salter, David Seymour, Patrick Thornberry, James Weinstein and Tony Wood. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers of the original submission. Ideas in this paper were first presented at a conference entitled ‘Mainstreaming Diversity’, sponsored by the Luxembourg Government Commission for Foreigners and Ministry for Family and Integration, 27–28 June 2005 at Mondorf-les-Bains, and a conference entitled ‘Hate Speech from the Street to Cyber-space’, 31 March–1 April 2006, in Budapest, Hungary, sponsored by The Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the Center for Media and Communications Studies (CMCS) at the Central European University, Budapest. Thanks also for an invitation to present parts of this paper at a Law Faculty seminar of the University of Warwick, and for lively exchanges with my own colleagues at Queen Mary.Search for more papers by this author Eric Heinze, Eric Heinze Reader in Law, Queen Mary, University of London aReader in Law, Queen Mary, University of London. This article benefited greatly from the comments of Evert Alkema, Eric Barendt, Charles Calleros, Carolyn Evans, Jonathan Griffiths, Peter Molnar, Michael Salter, David Seymour, Patrick Thornberry, James Weinstein and Tony Wood. Thanks also to the anonymous reviewers of the original submission. Ideas in this paper were first presented at a conference entitled ‘Mainstreaming Diversity’, sponsored by the Luxembourg Government Commission for Foreigners and Ministry for Family and Integration, 27–28 June 2005 at Mondorf-les-Bains, and a conference entitled ‘Hate Speech from the Street to Cyber-space’, 31 March–1 April 2006, in Budapest, Hungary, sponsored by The Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the Center for Media and Communications Studies (CMCS) at the Central European University, Budapest. Thanks also for an invitation to present parts of this paper at a Law Faculty seminar of the University of Warwick, and for lively exchanges with my own colleagues at Queen Mary.Search for more papers by this author First published: 29 June 2006 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2006.00599.xCitations: 16 Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume69, Issue4July 2006Pages 543-582 RelatedInformation

La Directive 99/44 du 25 Mai 1999 et le droit Luxembourgeois

The other contributions to this special issue have analyzed in detail the content and impact of the Consumer Sales Directive; this article will refrain from doing this one more time. First, the present state of Luxembourg Sales Law will be discussed. In the following, it will be compared to the requirements of the Directive in order to identify the issues, which require an intervention of the Luxembourg legislator in the transposition process. In this regard, it has to be noted that so far, the Luxembourg government has presented no proposal aimed at implementing the Directive into Luxembourg Law.

Elementary Schooling in the Common Market

University of Reading Reading, England In 1951 the Coal and Steel Community was founded with headquarters in Luxembourg. The Community was then composed of six member states-Belgium, France, Federal Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. In 1953, the officials working with the organization established a kindergarten for their children. In October of that year they opened a five-year elementary school and later still a seven-year secondary school (1). The schools were financed by the parents, who were assisted by the Coal and Steel Community and the government of Luxembourg. The cooperation between the member states became much more sophisticated when the Economic Community was established in 1958. About this time the school in Luxembourg was brought under the control of the Economic Community. Subsequently, as the scope of economic cooperation was extended, five other European schools were founded, and at the present time the establishment of two other schools is being considered. It is possible that by the 1973-74 academic year, English teachers will be working and English pupils will be studying at some of these schools. What type of education will be given at the

Protocol No. 5 to European Convention on Human Rights

This Council of Europe Convention adds to the European Convention on Human Rights substantive rights with respect to procedural safeguards on the expulsion of aliens and to equality of spouses' private law rights and responsibilities concerning marriage. The government of Denmark ratified this Protocol on August 18, 1988; the government of Luxembourg ratified it on April 19, 1989; the government of Norway ratified it on October 25, 1988; the government of San Marino ratified it on March 22, 1989; and the government of Switzerland ratified it on February 24, 1989.