Taina Bofferding, Luxembourg's Minister of the Interior;
Credit: SIP
Luxembourg's Ministry of the Interior has announced the Government Council's decision to approve a doubling of its financial offer for municipalities involved in the future "Nordstad" merger.
In October 2020, the government decided to increase financial support for such mergers: special aid of up to €2,200 per resident to be paid up to the 2,000th resident and €1,000 per resident to be paid up to the 5,000th resident. Therefore, the maximum amount per municipality would amount to €7.4 million. For the five municipalities affected by the “Nordstad” merger, namely Bettendorf, Diekirch, Erpeldange-sur-Sûre, Ettelbruck and Schieren, the total amount would have been around €29.427 million according to this approach.
Luxembourg's Minister of the Interior, Taina Bofferding, proposed to double this amount to offer financial aid to the tune of €58.854 million. According to the Interior Ministry, this approach is justified by several reasons: from a regional planning point of view, the government aims to make the future Nordstad the third pole of attraction of the Grand Duchy, alongside Luxembourg City and Esch-sur-Alzette. Moreover, due to its scope, the Nordstad merger is deemed exceptional, considering that it is a merger of five municipalities.
The municipalities concerned had requested special aid of €5,000 per capita. According to the ministry, however, this amount is not justified when compared to the financial aid granted to previous mergers. Moreover, alongside financial assistance, the government will continue to support Nordstad's major projects with a view to its development.
Minister Bofferding recalled "that a merger should not be reduced to financial considerations, but refocus the discussion around a common vision of and for Nordstad".
The amount decided recently thus corresponds to half of what the five municipalities requested but double the amount allocated to date.
The ministry added that land has finally been found for the construction of the Nordstad regional fire and rescue (CGDIS) centre, in the locality of Fridhaff in Diekirch. The Ministry of the Interior worked together with the Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning, the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, various state administrations and the CGDIS, which will be the contracting authority, to free up land for the centre.
The five municipalities concerned have yet to respond to this new financial offer.
