Lawmakers in committee this week adopted amendments to new rules regulating access to Luxembourg’s beneficial owners register. The package of legislation as a whole is pending a vote in the plenary. Photo: Romain Gamba / Maison Moderne

Lawmakers in committee this week adopted amendments to new rules regulating access to Luxembourg’s beneficial owners register. The package of legislation as a whole is pending a vote in the plenary. Photo: Romain Gamba / Maison Moderne

Lawmakers and the government made progress in regulating access to Luxembourg’s beneficial owners register this week. A debate in parliament on doctors issuing virginity certificates is also on the cards while the health and social security ministers responded to criticism over digitalisation in the healthcare sector.

Read up on these and other headlines in our weekly roundup of goings-on in Luxembourg politics.

What’s the big deal?

The government and lawmakers are still working on updating rules on the country’s beneficial owners register after the European Court of Justice last year revoked public access to the database.

In amendments adopted this week, beneficial owners will be able to ask Luxembourg’s National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) if someone has accessed the data on their entities in the register. No further details, such as the identity of the person consulting the register, will be revealed by the CNPD.

Journalists can currently request access to the database to carry out investigative work. The government had initially blocked all public access to the register in the wake of the court decision and pending updated rules. It later eased this restriction.

Top stories

·      The government is planning on to support the construction sector and subsidise building projects, for example by providing extra funds for the construction of daycare centres but also introducing a €20,000 grant for first-time buyers.

·      Equality between women and men minister  (LSAP) this week threw her support behind demands to increase penalties for offenders who do not seek counselling after being ordered to do so, as well as keeping information on offences accessible for longer in police records.

·      The social security ministry said it is working with the on improving its green credentials. Lawmakers in February had asked the government to step in, with the fund this week facing by Greenpeace.

Quote of the week

The ministers wish to recall their strong commitment to work jointly with all stakeholders, including the AMMD, considering that doctors and dentists play an essential role in implementing and deploying digital solutions accessible to all and which constitute real added value for policyholders, service providers and administrations. Consequently, they call for a constructive, open and honest dialogue.

Health minister Paulette Lenert and social security minister Claude Haagen (both LSAP)

The ministers this week responded to criticism by the doctors’ and dentists’ association (AMMD) over mismanagement of the digitalisation of healthcare services and payment. The AMMD had sent a letter of 30 questions to the ministry and had cut ties with the eSanté agency.

From parliament

·      A petition to ban doctors from issuing virginity certificates has reached more than 5,200 signatures, meaning it will have to debated in parliament with lawmakers and the government. The petitioners said girls and women from some backgrounds frequently face virginity tests. France and the UK have already abolished the practice.

·      A Luxembourg lawmaker-- (ADR)--was in a verdict by a court of appeal this week. The member of parliament had been sentenced to a €50,000 fine and a one-year suspended sentence over accusations that he had sold an apartment building concealing that a basement flat was not fit for habitation.

Tweet of the week

Elections

·      (DP) will stay mayor for another six years after finding a coalition agreement with the CSV. The remaining six seats on the college of aldermen will be divided between both parties with Patrick Goldschmidt, Corinne Cahen and Simone Beissel nominated for the DP and Serge Wilmes, Maurice Bauer and Paul Galles for the CSV. Who will be taking over which dossiers--from integration to transport--will be revealed on 17 July. 

·      After the election is before the election for Luxembourg politicians this year. As talks for municipal councils are still ongoing in numerous communes, the CSV on Monday launched into its national elections campaign with a of its programme. Reducing taxes, increasing purchasing power, support for young families, housing and healthcare are among the top priorities.

·      The LSAP, also on Monday, was the first party to present a for one the country’s four electoral districts for the October elections. Health minister , who is the party’s pick for prime minister, will lead the LSAP in the east.

·      “Just solutions for today and tomorrow” (“Gerecht Léisunge fir haut a muer” in the original Luxembourgish) will be the Pirate Party’s campaign slogan in the national elections, it said during a press conference this week.

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