Current Bech mayor Jill Goeres recently signalled her intention to step back from her role as she plans to move north to Kiischpelt, where her husband Jos Fischbach is serving as an alderman. If she had remained as mayor in Bech, things may have gone differently, but either way a move would have needed to take place due to specific rules in place for municipal councillors and married couples.
RTL’s Marc Hoscheid took a deep dive into these rules.
What do municipal councillors need to look out for?
According to Luxembourg’s Ministry of the Interior, there is one rule to observe first and foremost: a local politician must live within the boundaries of the municipality where they are politically active, as this is a condition of eligibility.
They must have lived in the municipality six months prior to registering as a candidate. If they move away from the municipality, this must be accompanied by official resignation. If the council’s aldermen know that a councillor has moved to a different municipality, they must report this to the council, the ministry and the person concerned. The person then has eight days to file a complaint and show they are still living within the municipality where they are active. If a councillor moves away but continues to carry out a political role, they risk a fine of €251 to €5,000 in accordance with Article 262 of the Penal Code, and could also serve a prison sentence ranging from eight days to a year.
How strict is the Ministry when it comes to assessing whether a councillor lives in the municipality where they are politically active?
As it is not always obvious to prove where a person is resident, the Ministry of the Interior can be somewhat lenient when it comes to the assessment. For example, there is the case of Vianden mayor François Weyrich, who even promoted the town’s castle in German media, and who lives with his family across the German border. But as he runs a roofing business in Vianden and spends most of his time there, he qualified as a candidate for the 2023 elections.
In Jill Goeres’ case, she and her husband lived in two different municipalities for their respective political mandates. This begs the question, are married couples not legally obliged to live together?
The Ministry of Justice issued a formal response: prior to the marriage, a couple is not obliged to live together, but once the marriage becomes official, Article 215 of the Civil Code states that the married couple must live together. If the couple cannot agree on where they should reside, a family judge can make the decision for them after hearing each side. If there are legitimate reasons preventing a couple from living together, the family judge can issue an authorisation for the married couple to live apart. If there are children involved, the judge may also decide where they will reside. However, the Civil Code does not provide a transitional period in which a couple must move in together.
Does it impact taxation if a married couple lives apart?
The Ministry of Finance said that married couples are taxed on a joint basis, unless they have an authorisation to live separately granted at the start of the year as part of a separation process. If there is no authorisation for living apart, they will automatically be taxed jointly as the Ministry of Finance and the tax administration do not check if married couples live together. An exception to this rule is if the couple have opted for individual taxation in accordance with Article 3 of the taxation law. This affects married couple and couples in civil partnerships (PACS), who must live together if they wish to benefit from the tax advantages.
There are a number of such rules which are not widely known, and local politicians must abide by these or decide if they want to prioritise power or their personal life.
