While December is associated for many people with a calmer, festive mood, the atmosphere is quite different in the country’s 100 municipalities, where end-of-year budgets are being finalised, which brings considerable pressure.
The budget vote is also the only time of the year when the executive branch of municipal politics (the mayoral council) can be removed. This happens when a majority of councillors from the legislative branch (the municipal council) vote against the budget and at least one-third of councillors simultaneously submit a motion of no confidence.
Laurent Knauf, First Government Adviser at the Ministry of Home Affairs, explained what happens next. Knauf said that a vote on such a motion must take place no earlier than five days and no later than 20 days after it has been submitted. He said that if a majority of councillors approve the motion, the entire mayoral council – the mayor and all aldermen – are automatically deemed to have resigned, and their positions must be filled. The municipal council then proposes a new mayor and aldermen to the minister for appointment, Knauf explained.
A draft law submitted in mid-2023 by former Home Affairs Minister Taina Bofferding of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) proposes to decouple the motion of no confidence from the budget vote. In future, councillors would be able to withdraw their confidence in the mayoral council at any moment in the legislative term. The goal is to avoid situations in which a mayoral council that no longer enjoys majority support remains in place for almost a full year, leaving the municipality effectively paralysed, a scenario that has occurred in the past.
Another major change is also planned. According to Knauf, draft law No. 8218 would allow motions of no confidence to be directed at individual members of the mayoral council, not only at the entire executive council as is currently the case. Knauf explained that this element draws inspiration from the Belgian system.
In previous years, there were cases where the mayor and an alderman asked members of their own majority to file a motion of no confidence so they could remove another alderman. It took more than two years for the Council of State to issue its opinion on the draft law. The Union of Cities and Municipalities of Luxembourg (Syvicol) has since also reviewed the proposal and raised a number of concerns.
Syvicol argued that allowing targeted motions against individual aldermen could result in a proliferation of motions of no confidence, creating instability within a municipality’s governing bodies. For that reason, the association insists that, if reforms go ahead, any motion of no confidence should be required to include a justification.
Asked whether he shares these concerns, Knauf declined to comment directly. Instead, he pointed out that only six motions of no confidence have been submitted since 2018, adding that he hoped the figures would speak for themselve, although he acknowledged that he could not predict the impact of potential legislative changes.
The Ministry of Home Affairs is currently working on amendments to the draft law. Once finalised, it will be presented to Home Affairs Minister Léon Gloden. It is not yet known how he views the proposals inherited from his predecessor.
