The Luxembourg Cabinet discussed current international and European political affairs at its meeting on Friday 1 March 2019.
Under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, the Cabinet ministers discussed the budget for the financial year 2019, hunting, the school holidays calendar, electronic commerce and telecommunications, weapons and firearms, agricultural conditions and African swine fever.
Concerning national issues, the ministers approved the bills and the Grand Ducal regulations concerning the budget for the financial year 2019, including the expenditure budget and the draft budget plan for 2018/2019. They went on to approve an amended draft Grand-Ducal regulation setting minimum conditions for the examination of certain varieties of agricultural plant species and certain varieties of vegetable species. The two draft regulations are intended to transpose into national law the provisions of a European Commission directive.
Similarly, the Cabinet ministers agreed with the draft convention concerning the conversion, compliance and equipment of the Kannerduerf House number 6 in Mersch.
The agreement concerns the financial participation of the State in the costs attributable to the Special Fund for the Financing of Private Education Infrastructures and Social and Family Infrastructure. The Cabinet also approved the draft regulation setting holiday and school holiday calendars for the 2019/2020, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 academic years.
Moreover, the ministers agreed with the draft regulation setting the limits of hunting lots in Luxembourg. This draft Grand-Ducal regulation aims to update the subdivision of the national territory into hunting lots, as provided for in Article 21 of the law of 25 May 2011 on hunting. They similarly approved the Weapons and Ammunition Bill, in compliance wih EU law. The main purpose of the draft law is to transpose the EU Directive on the control of the acquisition and possession of weapons. The bill also proposes to introduce into the law, for greater transparency and greater legal certainty, a number of principles stemming from the administrative practice that has developed over the last 35 years over basis of the amended law of 15 March 1983 on arms and ammunition. The ministers went on to approve the draft law approving the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Their Parts and Components and Ammunition, additional to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Crime.
The Cabinet approved an amended draft law on electronic commerce aimed at bringing Luxembourg legislation into line with an EU regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the market interior, known as eIDAS. The eIDAS Regulation aims to provide the EU with a comprehensive cross-sectoral and cross-sectoral framework to increase the confidence of electronic exchanges of trust services within the EU and to promote the functioning of the internal market and legal certainty. The Council also endorsed a bill creating a common platform for secure electronic transmission and modification. The bill aims at setting up a common electronic platform for the judicial authorities and the State Intelligence Service, to ensure the secure transmission to telecommunication operators of interception, tracking and surveillance decisions. In addition, the ministers approved a draft Grand-Ducal regulation on the restriction of the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment, in compliance with EU law.
Looking beyond Luxembourg's borders, the Cabinet also exchanged views on the African swine fever situation. Indeed, at its meeting of 15 February 2019, the "Swine Fever Task Force" adopted a series of additional measures in the fight against the spread of African swine fever, such as the continued analysis of all wild boar that are found dead and allowing the exceptional opening of the hunting season from 1 March to 15 April in the forests located in the surveillance zone. For their part, the Veterinary Services Administration (ASV) sent a letter to all pig keepers to remind them of the importance of biosecurity in the fight against this disease and a warning letter to holders whose possession of pigs is not biosecurity compliant. The Nature and Forest Administration and ASV will organise an information meeting for hunters on 4 March 2019 in the presence of representatives of the Belgian authorities to share their experience. Finally, the Ministry of Agriculture has asked the Chamber of Agriculture to elaborate, together with the competent authorities, a manual illustration of the preventive and curative measures in connection with agricultural activities.
Finally, the Cabinet adopted the draft law on the approval of the Protocol between the Republic of Armenia and the Benelux States implementing the Agreement between the European Parliament and the Republic of Armenia on the readmission of persons in an irregular situation (signed in Brussels on 20 June 2018).
