Luxembourg’s Minister of Justice, Félix Braz, yesterday presented the draft revised legislation for Luxembourgish nationality, showing a desire on the part of the Luxembourg government to accelerate the process compared with the previous laws of 23 October 2008 and 7 June 1989.
Although the law of 23 October 2008 on Luxembourgish nationality allowed for a significant increase in acquisition procedures compared to the modified law of 22 February 1968, the 25,820 people who acquired or recovered this aspect of Luxembourgish identity between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2014 contributed to an actual fall in the percentage of Luxembourgish nationals amongst the general population - this percentage actually decreased from 56.3% on 1 January 2009 to 54.1% on 1 January 2015.
As the current legislation appeared to no longer reflect or account for the changing demographics of the Grand Duchy, certain modifications have been introduced.
Regarding naturalisation, all the conditions for obtaining nationality have been altered, with the exception of the age condition. Whilst individuals wishing to receive Luxembourgish nationality must still have reached the age of eighteen, the period for which a candidate for naturalisation must have held a normal residence in Luxembourg has been changed from between five and seven years regarding the law of 23 October 2008 to the newly proposed minimum of at least five years, which can now be accumulative instead of sequential, as previously.
Two exceptions however apply, firstly in the case of candidates who have made significant efforts in terms of integration into the Luxembourg community through the participation in a reception and integration contract from the Office luxembourgeoise de l'accueil et de l'intégration (OLAI), in which case an obligatory residence for a period of three years would be required.
Secondly, in the case of certain socio-professional categories which may be subject to a significantly decreased success rate for a language exam but with the demonstration of serious efforts regarding learning the Luxembourgish language, a habitual residence period of eight years will be requested to partially offset the language requirement.
This last point denotes the changing perceptions concerning the linguistic element of Luxembourgish nationality which this draft legislation aims to instigate. In 2011, the Commission européenne contre le racisme et l'intolèrance (ECRI) published a critical analysis of the law of 23 October 2008 demanding an oral and written test to determine language adequacy, finding that "many people do not ask for Luxembourgish nationality due to the difficulty of the test".
The previous law required that candidates for the Luxembourgish language test accomplish at least seven years of education in a Luxembourgish public school or a private school employing a Luxembourgish education programme. The Institut national des langues (INL) found that between 2009 and 2013, the number of test failures rose from 23% to 34%, meaning the number of successful passes fell from 77% to 66%.
The draft legislation cited Luxembourgish as an important factor to integration in the Grand Duchy, but stated that "the Luxembourgish language needs to be perceived as an advantage, and not as an obstacle to Luxembourgish nationality". Adaptive measures in terms of learning the language have therefore been proposed.
The idea would be to combine linguistic and residential requirements, meaning that the higher the Luxembourgish language capability of the individual, the quicker they can request naturalisation. A candidate with a knowledge of Luxembourgish relevant to the A2 level of the Cadre européen commun de référence pour les langues (CECRL) would be able to request naturalisation following five years' residence in the country and after achieving the oral language test, "understanding isolated sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance". This level has been reduced from the previous law which demanded a B1 level in the comprehension test and A2 in the oral test.
Those who make significant efforts to learn the language with little chance of succeeding in the test will be able to apply for naturalisation following eight years of Luxembourg residence and 100 hours of Luxembourgish language classes, negating the need for an oral language test. For individuals of an advanced age, low educational attainment or a serious handicap, this language evaluation would also not apply.
The law of 23 October 2008 requires that candidates for Luxembourgish nationality participate in three courses of civic education, with one based on Luxembourgish state institutions and the other on the fundamental rights of citizens. Each course was comprised of a two hour session, constituting a total course duration of six hours.
For the draft proposal, the Luxembourg Government has deemed this too short to be able to fully grasp the various subject matters at hand, and has therefore recommended three modules comprising a total of 24 hours. The first module of six hours would be on the fundamental rights of citizens; the second, involving twelve hours, would examine state and communal institutions of the Grand Duchy; and the third would look at the history of Luxembourg and its European integration over the course of six hours. This would also involve a subsequent evaluation, in the form of a multiple choice test, of the candidate's knowledge on these subject matters.
Additionally, the draft legislation has retrieved a factor from the law of 22 February 1968, which was discontinued in the law of 23 October 2008, involving the acceleration and simplification of the naturalisation process for candidates who have demonstrated close links with the Grand Duchy. This would be constituted by a filial or spousal relationship with a Luxembourger, Luxembourg as a birth place, a long residential duration in the Grand Duchy, or educational completion in the country.
Photo by Sarah Graham (Minister of Justice Félix Braz)
