Council of State of Luxembourg

The Council of State ( Conseil d' État French, Luxembourgish Staatsrot ) is a consultative body within the political system of Luxembourg, which has existed since 1856.

Tasks

The State virtually fills the role of a second chamber, but without being one. Although these functional gap exists, one can not speak of a second chamber. The Council of State is not authorized by the voters and can therefore have no competing with the Parliament position. Furthermore, it is debatable whether he is entitled to a substantive right of review in the legislative process. The State must be informed of any law or any law project proposal before the Chamber can vote on it. It also reviews whether the proposals or projects with the Luxembourg Constitution are compatible, international agreements, including EU law, be respected and otherwise there are no violations. Is the project or proposal compatible with all of the State Council of the Chamber allowed the vote. If problems occur, laws, projects or proposals need to be revised and resubmitted to the State Council.

Also Grand Ducal regulations (ie decisions by the Government ) can be submitted to the State Council for control. Then, the State decides whether the Chamber must vote for the second time on a bill ( Sovereign constitutional vote ). In the end, the Chamber may, however, override this decision.

Composition

It is composed of 21 members, of which at least 11 doctorate must be lawyers. You will be formally appointed and dismissed by the Grand Duke. If a member resigns, the replacement is selected alternately

• From a three-member list of suggestions of Parliament
• From a three-member list of suggestions of the State Council
• Directly appointed by the Grand Duke, but in practice, on a proposal from the government.

In addition, the Hereditary Grand Duke may be a member of the State Council. In this case, the number rises to 22, the current Incumbent Guillaume was appointed in June 2005 as a member. President of the State Council has since 2012, as the successor of George Schroeder, Victor Gillen.

Developments

Until 1994, the State Council was also something of a supreme court, but a judgment of the European Court of Human Rights concluded that this was incompatible with the democratic principles of separation of powers.

In April 2005 the government presented a bill, which provides 21 to increase the number of members to 27.

In recent years has been increasingly questioned whether the current constellation is still up to date. This was especially true in regard to the question whether the State should only act as a supervisory body, which bills have to check on their constitutionality, or whether he should also have the role of a second chamber. In the latter case, in particular the electoral process has been criticized and suggested a stronger participation of the population in the selection of members.