Presenting the communication and media budget in parliament on Tuesday, media minister Xavier Bettel (DP) said the 2020 finance was increased from €5.4m to €7.6m to recruit new staff members. Otherwise, the budget increase related to an growth in training and education costs compared to 2019.

The CNPD plays an ever more important role in Luxembourg since the passing into law of the general data protection regulation, or GDPR, on 25 May 2018. During the first eight months, the CNPD received 351 complaints. Law firm DLA Piper, meanwhile, reported 200 data breaches over the first eight months since the regulation entered into force. Proportionate to population, it placed Luxembourg in seventh place for the highest proportion of data breaches in the EU. The government had already more than doubled the CNPD’s budget over the past two years, from €2.5m in 2017 to €.4m in 2019.

Elsewhere, Bettel said a first draft of the reform of press aid for print and online media would be ready before the end of 2019. Furthermore, the government’s efforts to develop the national 5G network in a bid to boost innovation and productivity is growing apace. Some 29 projects have been submitted and are currently being examined by the ministry with the goal to develop pilot projects in border regions.