LUXEMBOURG. Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
A state in Western Europe. Official name - Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Area - 2586 km², borders Belgium, Germany, and France. Capital - Luxembourg City (81.8 thousand), largest cities: Esch-sur-Alzette (25 thousand), Differdange (17 thousand), and Dudelange (16 thousand). Administrative division - 3 districts (Luxembourg, Diekirch, Grevenmacher), 12 cantons, 118 communes. Population - 455 thousand (2005); of which Luxembourgers - 61.4%, foreigners - 38.6% (Portuguese - 14.1%, Italians - 4.1%, French - 4.8%, etc.). Official language - Luxembourgish; administrative languages - French, German, Luxembourgish. Religion - Catholicism (about 95%); the second largest denomination is Islam (since 1979, Luxembourg legislation prohibits the collection of religious statistics). Currency - Euro.
It has diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation (established with Russia in 1891, with the USSR - August 23, 1935 (interrupted by war, they were resumed on October 13, 1942)).
National holiday - June 23 (official celebration of the birthday of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg from the House of Nassau).
Luxembourg is a major European "crossroads," one of the capitals of the EU, where the Court of Justice of the European Communities, the European Court of Auditors, several directorates of the European Commission, the General Secretariat of the European Parliament, and the European Investment Bank are located.
The form of government in Luxembourg is a hereditary constitutional monarchy. The head of state is Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg (since October 7, 2000). According to the constitution of 1868, the duke has the right to legislative initiative, approves and publishes laws, can form a government, appoint and dismiss ministers and state secretaries. In practice, the government is formed based on the results of parliamentary elections.
Legislative power is exercised by the Chamber of Deputies (parliament), consisting of 60 deputies elected for a term of 5 years through direct universal elections by proportional representation. As a result of the parliamentary elections on June 13, 2004, the majority of parliamentary mandates were obtained by the Christian Social Party (CSP) and the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSWP), from which a coalition government was formed headed by Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker (CSP). The Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies is Lucien Weiler (CSP).
The highest advisory body to the duke on legislative and legal matters is the State Council.
It consists of 21 advisors, who are appointed and dismissed by the duke upon the proposal of the Chamber of Deputies, the government, or the State Council. The State Council provides opinions on bills and other issues. Its decisions are exclusively advisory in nature. The Chairman of the State Council is Pierre Mores. Judicial power is exercised by courts and tribunals.
Main political parties: The Christian Social Party, which is the largest in the country (9.5 thousand members).
Founded in the 1870s. It has 24 seats in the Chamber of Deputies. Chairman - François Biltgen, General Secretary - Jean-Louis Schiltz. The Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party, the second largest party in the country (about 5.5 thousand members). Founded in the 1890s. It has 14 seats in parliament and is a member of the Socialist International. Chairman - Alex Bodry, General Secretary - Romain Schneider. The Democratic Party, founded in 1947. The party has about 2 thousand members. It has 10 parliamentary mandates. Chairman - Claude Meisch, General Secretary - Agnès Durdy. The Committee for Action for Democracy and Pensioners' Rights first participated in the elections in 1989 with demands for increased pensions. It has 5 seats in parliament. Chairman - Robert Melen, General Secretary - Ferdinand Greiser. The Green Party, formed in 1994. It has 7 seats in parliament.
The leader is François Bausch. The "Left" Union - created in 1999, includes various left-leaning organizations and parties. It is not represented in parliament. Leader - Serge Urbani. The Communist Party of Luxembourg, founded in 1921. It is not represented in parliament. Leader - Ali Ruckert. The Free Party of Luxembourg, established in 2004. It advocates for a "social and democratic rule of law" (previously part of the "Left" bloc). It is not represented in parliament. Chairman - Jean Ersfeld.
The largest trade union organizations in the country are the Independent Union of Luxembourg (which aligns itself with the LSWP, Chairman - Jean-Claude Reding) and the Luxembourg Christian Federation of Trade Unions (which adheres to the views and policies of the CSP, Chairman - Robert Weber).
The armed forces are formed on a contract basis, numbering 821 people, of which the actual army is about 600-700 people.
The first written mention of Luxembourg dates back to the 10th century. In 963, a county was established here. Occupying an important military-strategic position in the center of Europe, Luxembourg has repeatedly been subjected to foreign conquests. In 1354, it received the status of a duchy. For almost 4 centuries, Luxembourg alternated under the rule of Burgundy, Spain, the Netherlands, France, Austria, and Prussia. In 1795, it became part of the French Republic. After Napoleon's defeat, by the decision of the Congress of Vienna in 1815, it was elevated to the status of a Grand Duchy - an independent state within the German Confederation and a personal union with the Netherlands. The modern borders of the duchy were established by the London Treaty of 1839, during which 2/3 of the territory of the then Luxembourg, populated by Walloons, was ceded to Belgium (now the Belgian province of Luxembourg). In 1841, the first constitution of the country was adopted, securing its political independence. The London Conference of 1867 proclaimed Luxembourg a sovereign and "perpetually neutral state." In 1890, the personal union with the Netherlands was terminated, and Luxembourg became fully independent.
In 1891, diplomatic relations were established between Russia and Luxembourg. In 1918, Luxembourg terminated its customs union with Germany. In 1921, the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union was created. During both world wars, Germany violated Luxembourg's neutrality by occupying its territory. Luxembourg was one of the first countries to sign the Washington Declaration in 1942 (the Grand Ducal court and government were in exile in London), which became an important step towards the creation of the anti-Hitler coalition.
The post-war foreign policy course of Luxembourg is largely determined by its participation in integration associations of Western countries. Luxembourg became one of the founding states of the UN (1945), a co-founder of the main military-political and economic structures of Western European countries. It is part of the Benelux Union, UNESCO - since 1947, NATO, the Council of Europe - since 1949, the EEC, Eurozone - since 1957, OECD - since 1960, OSCE - since 1975, WTO - since 1995. In 1987, it joined the 1948 agreement between Belgium and the Netherlands on military cooperation. Co-author of the Maastricht Treaty. Luxembourg advocates for deepening pan-European cooperation, maintaining peace on the European continent, and seeks to play an active role in shaping the EU's foreign policy approaches.
Luxembourg is a highly developed industrial country. By key indicators of economic development, quality of life, and social guarantees for the population, Luxembourg ranks first in Europe and the world (according to 2004 data, GDP per capita amounted to 52.6 thousand euros - 1st place in the world). In 2004, GDP grew by 4.2% compared to 2003 and amounted to 25.6 billion euros.
The minimum wage since the beginning of 2005 is 1466.77 euros.
The economy of the country is primarily based on a developed service sector, especially financial services. Luxembourg has 169 banks (2004), 1925 investment funds, and 95 insurance companies. Taxes from financial structures account for 73% of state budget revenues, employing more than 27.9 thousand people (exceeding the number of workers in any other sector of the economy).
Luxembourg has modern metallurgy, a broadcasting system for several countries in Western Europe (the company "RTL"), the largest telecommunications conglomerate on the continent (SES-Global), modern glass production, and high-tech products. The headquarters of the largest multinational steelmaking company "Arcelor" is located in Luxembourg.
The government pursues a targeted policy of economic diversification, production rationalization, encouraging small and medium enterprises, developing the infrastructure of modern service complexes, as well as tourism.
Main trading partners - EU countries and the USA. The country's foreign trade turnover exceeded 22 billion euros in 2004.
In 2003, the University of Luxembourg was opened - a state higher education institution and research center. The university trains specialists in law, economics and finance, linguistics, and exact sciences.
In Luxembourg, daily newspapers are published in German and French: "Luxemburger Wort" (official printed organ of the CSP), "Tageblatt" (printed organ of the LSWP), "Lëtzebuerger Journal," "Cotidien." Among weekly newspapers, "Revue," "Télécran," "Contact," and "Lëtzebuerger Bauer" are popular.