The Council of State has raised significant concerns over a draft bill that would expand police powers to remove individuals causing disturbances in public spaces, citing potential risks to individual rights and freedoms.

In its recent opinion on the draft bill aimed at expanding police authority to remove individuals causing disturbances from public spaces, known as "Platzverweis" in German and Luxembourgish, the Council of State raised half a dozen formal objections.

The councillors expressed concerns about whether the proposed measures would adequately safeguard citizens' individual rights and freedoms.

The bill, introduced by Minister for Home Affairs Léon Gloden, outlines the conditions under which individuals could be ordered to leave or removed from public spaces by police officers. The Council of State questioned the proposal's power allocation, specifically assigning mayors – not police or judges – to impose temporary bans from specific locations on repeat offenders.

According to the Council of State, such a temporary ban constitutes a more intrusive measure against fundamental rights and public freedoms than a simple order to leave a space. It argues that this approach risks transitioning into a form of temporary "residency prohibition," which it considers overly restrictive. As a result, the Council recommended that this section of the bill be withdrawn for now.

Additionally, the Council criticised the subjective criteria officers would use to determine whether an individual is causing a nuisance in public or publicly accessible spaces. It warned of a potential "risk of arbitrariness in the application of the law."

The Council of State's opinion will now be forwarded to the Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee, where the draft bill will undergo further discussion. The committee has already received eight other opinions on the matter, including those from the public prosecutor's office and the Association of Luxembourg Cities and Municipalities (Syvicol). MP Laurent Mosar of the Christian Social People's Party (CSV) serves as the rapporteur for the bill.