The opening hours of shops in 2025 will be a major bone of contention between the unions and the government. Photo: Shutterstock

The opening hours of shops in 2025 will be a major bone of contention between the unions and the government. Photo: Shutterstock

It’s the subject that has the unions on edge: economy minister Lex Delles’ bill regulating opening hours in the retail and craft sectors is due to go before the Chamber of Deputies on 16 January. Controversy ahead.

One of the government’s commitments was to bring retail opening hours into line with economic realities. The current legal framework is characterised by derogations. For the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, 80.65% of retail shops in the commerce sector, representing 82.50% of Luxembourg’s total retail surface area, have been authorised to open on Sundays thanks to a large number of derogations. When exemptions become the rule, do we need to legislate? The government thinks so. If the text were to be adopted without amendments, shop opening hours would be as follows: from 5am to 10pm Monday to Friday; from 5am to 7pm on Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and the eve of public holidays; and from 5am to 6pm on 22 June, 24 December and 31 December.

Monday 13 January

Chamber of Deputies. The “Caritas” special commission will unveil its initial conclusions and its programme for the coming weeks.

Chamber of Deputies. The members of the institutions committee and the budget implementation committee are due to adopt a draft report on bill 8398, which lays down the procedures for terminating employment contracts between non-re-elected MPs and their parliamentary assistants. They will then examine the Court of Audit’s report on the financing of political parties in 2023.

Chamber of Deputies. The committee on family, solidarity, living together, reception of refugees, gender equality and diversity is examining parliamentary dossier 8382 on the modernisation of the National Solidarity Fund (Fonds National de Solidarité, FNS). A rapporteur will be appointed.

Tuesday 14 January

Government. The ministry of mobility and public works launches a survey on the daily mobility of Luxembourg residents. Conducted by the company Ilres via telephone interviews, the aim of the survey is to analyse changes in residents’ travel behaviour and their mobility needs. The data collected will be used to draw up the 2040 National Mobility Plan and the ministry’s future strategic planning.

Benelux. At a time when Luxembourg has taken over the presidency of the Benelux Union for two years and, at the same time, the Chamber of Deputies will hold the presidency of the Benelux Parliamentary Assembly, the director of European affairs and international economic relations, Angèle da Cruz, will present the priorities of the Luxembourg presidency to the Luxembourg delegation to the Benelux Interparliamentary Assembly.

Chamber of Deputies. In the committee on national education, children and youth, MPs will discuss the recognition of higher education qualifications (parliamentary dossier 8443) and the educational pathways of pupils.

Chamber of Deputies. The members of the finance committee will exchange views with the director of the Luxembourg Inland Revenue (Administration des contributions directes, ACD) on the progress made in terms of digitisation. A request to place this item on the agenda has been made by the political group déi Gréng on 21 November 2024.

Wednesday 15 January

Chamber of Deputies. The petitions committee will validate the signatures of public petition 3409 “Proposals to combat sexual, gender-based, physical and psychological violence and secondary victimisation in order to put an end to the impunity felt by victims.” By the close of the signature period on 2 January, the appeal had received 5,009 signatures.

European Court of Auditors. The ECA is presenting a special report on air and noise pollution in EU cities. It is estimated that over 300m people in the EU are exposed to harmful air pollutants and around 90m to harmful noise levels.

Thursday 16 January

Chamber of Deputies. Joint meeting of the committee on the economy, SMEs, energy, space and tourism and the committee on foreign and European affairs, cooperation, external trade and the Greater Region. MPs will examine bill 8472 regulating opening hours in the trade and craft sector. This bill was adopted by the council of government on 18 December last year, which led to the ire of trade unions.

Adem. Luxembourg’s employment agency, the Agence pour le développement de l’emploi (Adem), and the Digital Learning Hub are organising a Jobday dedicated to IT careers. The Digital Learning Hub (Bâtiment Terres Rouges, 14 Porte de France, L-4360 Esch-Belval) will host 30 companies from the sector. The profiles sought range from web developers, data analysts, network administrators and IT support experts to IT architects, full stack developers and SAP developers.

Court of Justice of the European Union. The governance of the Fédération Internationale de Football (Fifa) is once again before the European courts. At the heart of the dispute between the Belgian football club Royal Football Club Seraing and Fifa is the obligation imposed by the latter, as well as by UEFA and the national football federations, to settle their disputes before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and the res judicata authority granted to CAS awards.

European Parliament. The committee on international trade will meet Maroš Šefčovič, European Commissioner for trade and economic security, to discuss the trade aspects of the EU-Mercosur agreement on which political agreement was reached on 6 December 2024. Šefčovič, accompanied this time by the European Commissioner for agriculture,  (CSV/EPP), will meet the agriculture committee on 30 January to discuss the same subject.

Friday 17 January

Government. Meeting of the council of government.

This article was originally published in .