Among the petitions which went live on 19 November and will be open for signature until 30 December are 1409, calling for a ban on e-scooters.

This comes after the City authority ordered the removal of Bird’s scooter rental scheme, citing safety issues. Green transport minister François Bausch wrote last week in a response to a parliamentary question that a working group is compiling recommendations for a legal framework on the use of such vehicles in Luxembourg. The first findings are expected to be known before the end of 2019.

Petition 1418 calls for a prohibition on street begging on the basis that it has allegedly treated by some as a business, while petition 1421 calls for the creation of a new public holiday to mark St Nicholas day on 6 December. The celebration was earlier this year added to the list of intangible cultural heritage, along with the Schueberfouer, Octave, Emaischen and the Echternach hopping procession. While a nice idea, the petitioner may struggle to convince the government after it added a new public holiday on 9 May, to mark Europe day, and an additional compulsory holiday day earlier this year.

Reducing plastic waste continues to be a target of petitioners, with petition 1410 calling for a countrywide ban on the sale of drinks in plastic bottles, while the struggles with languages appears to be of concern to the author of petition 1414, who wants to make English the official language for administration in the country. The petition description, which is written in Luxembourgish, acknowledges the large proportion of foreign nationals in Luxembourg and outlines the importance of English in the financial sector, higher education and sciences.

How to sign a petition

These and other new petitions can be viewed by clicking here.

Anyone may sign a petition, provided they are aged 15 or over and have a social security card in Luxembourg.

If the petitions garner 4,500 signatures or more before they are closed for signing, Luxembourg MPs will debate the subject in parliament.

The next debate is scheduled for 25 November at 2pm and will examine a tax cut for single people as proposed in petition 1188.