From Friday 13 November 2015, the Ville de Luxembourg will be continuiing its initiative to engage citizens of the capital to actively participate in budget discussions for the 2016 draft budget through an online platform.
The initiative was first launched in 2013, with the City looking to on the one hand increase transparency in the budget of the municipal administration and improve the information flow to citizens, and on the other encourage dialogue and exchange bwteen involved citizens and elected representatives, thereby encouraging the former to share their ideas, suggestions and feedback with policy makers.
Any individual with official residence in the territory of Luxembourg City is eligible to participate in the forum, with young people under the age of 18 also able to actively engage in the forum. Registrations will open on 13 November 2015 on budget.vdl.lu and will last until the end of the forum. Participants will receive a confirmation e-mail following their registration.
The platform is organised according to ten predefined topics up for discussion, bringing together several budget items each time: Culture and Events; Environment, Housing and Territory; Mobility, Policy and Administration; Social; Sports; Work and Safety; Other.
Although the forum is held in French, participants will be able to provide feedback in English, Luxembourgish, German or French. Users will have the opportunity to approve or dislike comments from other users by clicking on a specific button. Aliases will not be allowed on the forum, and the real name of the user will be displayed beneath sent messages.
Participation in the forum will open on 13 November and last until 11 December 2015. This Friday, 13 November 2015, the draft 2016 budget will be published as a full version on budget.vdl.lu, accompanied by explanatory texts for each item to make the document more accessible for outsiders. From this same date, users will be able to connect with the forum and share their thoughts and comments.
After 17:00 on Friday 11 December 2015, participants will no longer be able to leave a message, but will still be able to consult the various messages. The following Monday 14 December 2015, the City Council will vote on the 2016 budget, as required by law. City councillors will be able to choose whether or not to take into account the various views expressed on the forum.
