The commission’s first rule of law report was published as Poland and Hungary are being probed for failing to uphold the rule of law, and as some member countries seek to link EU funds to the respect of the rule of law.

The country report for Luxembourg highlighted the independence of the justice system, which will be strengthened further with a constitutional reform. This will “explicitly enshrine the independence of judges in the constitution,” the report said.

The reform will also foresees the creation of a judiciary council that would nominate judges and have the power to initiate disciplinary cases against judges.

But while the civil and criminal justice branch “performs efficiently overall”, the commission said there is no data on the length of court proceedings and the number of cases pending in administrative justice.

The commission also found the prosecutor’s work hindered by resource shortages. This was aggravated by the “increasingly complex nature of financial crimes”, which the prosecutor deals with, it said.

No anti-corruption strategy

The country’s Committee for the Prevention of Corruption (Copreco)--located within the ministry of justice--does not publish data on its twice annual meeting and annual reports are not made public, the report said.

The commission does not make recommendations in its report but highlighted that the there is “no specific anti-corruption strategy” in place. It also noted that “lobbying and ‘revolving doors’ are not regulated.”

The government under prime minister Xavier Bettel (DP) in its 2018 coalition programme said it would explore the possibility of setting up a lobby register, but has so far not announced any progress on the matter.

There were also “no provisions” addressing the departure of senior civil servants into private sector jobs--or ‘revolving doors’--the report found. A Luxembourg ethics committee in May had proposed a two-year ban for members of government to take on private sector roles in their field of policymaking. The committee ensures the implementation of the governmental ethics code.

While there are rules in place stating that former members of government cannot use any knowledge gained as part of their mandate for at least two years, this was nearly impossible to monitor effectively, the group said. The Groups of States against Corruption (Greco)--the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption watchdog--already in 2018 had warned Luxembourg over its lax rules.

The government has promised to make new proposals to update the rules. “The form that those rules will take has to be determined,” the commission said in its rule of law report on Thursday.

Freedom of information

A final point of criticism--in an otherwise positive report--was a lack of access to information. Even though a 2018 law creating the Commission on Access to Documents (CAD), its decisions on freedom of information requests are non-binding.

For example, the CAD earlier this year said that the memorandum of understanding signed with US internet giant Google to build a data centre in Bissen should be made public. The government refused the request and released the document only to a handful of lawmakers who risk sanctions if they violate a confidentiality agreement.

“There are still cases where information is provided with a substantial delay,” the rule of law report said, adding that this also hindered the work of journalists.