Citizen participation must be simple and straightforward to reach as many citizens as possible and keep our democracy alive. This is the Pirates’ position and that is why we created matbestemmung.lu. 

The goal of this website is to provide an easy way for citizens to tell politicians whether they want to vote in a referendum or not. If we find enough citizens who want a referendum, we could put pressure on the four major parties (CSV; LSAP; DP; Déi Gréng) and we could also organize the transport to the municipalities as required by the constitution and today’s law to request an official referendum. 

Together we can make a referendum possible. 

What are the four proposals about? 

The proposed constitutional amendments have been grouped thematically. The propositions address different issues: 

• Proposition 7575 deals with the judiciary in Luxembourg and ensures its independencetowards the government and the parliament. The Constitutional Court is given more attribution and a National Judicial Council is created to help make the judiciary more transparent. A future law will specify the details of this council. The Constitution only states that there should be this council; implementation is regulated by law.
• Proposition 7700 deals with the organization of the state. Here, among other things, the Luxembourg language is to be retained as the national language – which was not the case until now – and the Grand Duke is to be restricted in his rights and duties in favor of the democratic institutions.
• Proposition 7755 deals with the rights and duties of citizens. Fundamental rights and liberties are established, the right to found a family is included in the text, and the rights of children are strengthened. One particular amendment concerns the establishment of specific state goals. The new constitution stipulates that environmental and climate protection, as well as animal welfare, must be among the priorities of every government.
• Proposition 7777 deals with the parliament and the Council of State. The new text seeks to strengthen the Chamber of Deputies in its oversight role by explicitly establishing the role of government oversight and the right to request any type of information and documents from the government. The new text also gives the parliament the right to convene a commission of inquiry at the request of 1/3 of the deputies. Currently, a majority is still required. Of particular interest to people who want to get more involved in politics is the new possibility of the “Citizens’ Legislative Initiative,” a procedure known at the EU level, and which could now also be a reality in Luxembourg. Similar to a petition, citizens could join together and, in this way, force the parliament to deal with certain bills.

Why are there four texts? We only have one constitution, right? 

Originally, the Chamber of Deputies presented only one text that combined all the constitutional amendments. Since this text was slowly but steadily losing the approval and it was no longer certain that the necessary majority would be found for a vote, it was decided to divide the text into four parts. This way, it these proposals can be put individually to a vote in plenary soon. 

How do I learn more about the constitutional amendments proposed by the House of Representatives? 

You can find the full text on the House of Representatives website. In addition to the full texts, there are also a number of summaries. 

There is also a video in which the parties present the new constitution. 

If you have questions or problems finding the full texts on the Chamber’s website, please contact ahoi@piraten.lu.