- The parliamentary debate on the government’s asteroid mining bill has been delayed. Revisions to the space bill, meant to address objections by the Council of State, had been set to get a hearing on Thursday. The debate will likely take place next week instead. “We still need to have more discussions on the questions of legal certainty and appropriation of resources, but also on the conditions of authorisations” for firms, the LSAP chair of the parliamentary economy committee, Franz Fayot, told Paperjam.
- Fewer consumers are using the free mediation services offered by Luxembourg’s main utility regulator. The Institut luxembourgeois de regulation handled 80 mediation cases last year, 18 less than in 2015. In 2016, the vast majority of cases (76) involved telecommunications services, including billing errors and contract disputes. The ILR also regulates the electricity, postal and postal banking, natural gas, railway and airport usage markets.
- The government has disclosed directors’ fees and allowances for board members of the Housing Development Fund (Fonds du logement). The chair (currently Tania Fernandes, a senior civil servant at the housing ministry) earns a director’s fee of €370 per month, if she attends at least half of all board meetings, and an allowance of €100 for each board meeting. Board members earn a director’s fee of €65 per month and an allowance of €50 for each board meeting. The figures were published on 10 May in the government’s official gazette.
- Seven out of ten workers in the grand duchy are non-Luxembourg nationals. 44% are cross-border commuters, 28.4% are foreign residents and 27.6% are Luxembourgers, according to the latest figures.
- Luxembourg’s GDP is expected to grow 4.3% this year and 4.4% in 2018. That’s according to the European Commission’s “Spring 2017 Economic Forecast”. The commission also projected 2017 growth of 4% or higher in Malta, Romania and Ireland. Across the euro zone, GDP is projected to rise 1.6% this year and 1.8% next year.