LUXEMBOURG
a) The status of the Parliamentary
administration: is it part of the civil service (or equivalent), or an
independent and special administration, with its own rules on salaries,
pensions, career development?
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The level of normative and organisational independence of the Parliamentary
administration from the rest of the civil service
The principles of independence and sovereignty of the legislative power
are guaranteed through a complete autonomy of the Chamber of Deputies, for both
its regulation and internal organization and the management of its human
resources.
This principle of autonomy is enshrined in the statutes of the Chamber
of Deputies. Article 7 stipulates that “the Bureau is responsible for running
the Chamber’s business and takes all decisions relating to personnel
organization and discipline”.
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Is there an independent career structure, and what are the procedures
for staff recruitment?
The Chamber’s civil servants, employees and workers are managed by a
specific status, which has been approved by the Bureau of the Chamber, as well
as by the Personnel delegation. While defining the status of the parliamentary
employees, attention has been paid to stick as close as possible to the status
of civil servants, keeping in mind that the Chamber’s specificities and the
principle of independence of the legislative power have to prevail in order to
guarantee its autonomy.
The recruitment, the procedure of administering the oath, the training
and daily management of the parliamentary employees of the “Greffe” is assured
by the human resources department, under the authority of the Clerk who runs
the administration of Parliament. Any vacancy has to be approved by the Bureau
of the Chamber and made public by means of an announcement in the press. All interested candidates will have to sit a
competitive examination. Civil servants who have already successfully passed
entrance examination for their career in another public administration will not
be exempted from the entry examination giving access to the career of parliamentary
employees.
Applicants who have successfully passed the entrance examination will be
invited to an interview with the examination commission, composed by a member
of each political group and the Chairman, the Bureau (= Direction) and the
parliamentary employees of the Greffe.
After hearing the examination commission, the Bureau will decide whether
or not to admit the applicant to the training period, as stipulates article 157
of the statutes of the Chamber: “All parliamentary employees of the Chamber are
nominated or revoked by the Bureau on the basis of an absolute majority vote.”
The conditions for promotions in rank and salary applicable to
parliamentary employees can be compared to those of civil servants. However,
the final decision as far as personnel questions are concerned is incumbent on
the administration of Parliament, as stipulated by article 59: “All decisions
concerning salary increases, promotions and more generally all career related
questions are taken by the Bureau.”
As far as the pension rights are concerned, they underlie the same law
as the one applicable to civil servants.
b) Relations between the political
bodies and the Parliamentary administration
In order to guarantee absolute transparency between elected deputies and
the administrative personnel, their relations are regulated by rules and
procedures fixed by the Bureau of the Chamber.
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How much does the Parliamentary speaker, the degree of his/her “super
parts” nature and the breadth of the Speaker’s powers, influence the
“configuration” of the Parliamentary administration
In his quality as a member of the Bureau, the Chairman has a word to say
for all questions related to personnel management and recruitment of new
employees.
However, the recruitment and management of the deputies’ assistants and
the employees of the various political groups is exclusively assured by the
political and technical groups themselves. These working contracts are governed
by Luxembourg’s labour law.
But, in order to guarantee a smooth functioning of the political and
technical groups, the Bureau may put at their disposal premises with the
necessary equipment, as well as credits, which will be proportional to their
representation in the Chamber. On presentation of invoices and other relevant
documents, the political and technical groups can even claim refunding of fees
related to personnel recruitment up to a certain amount.
Furthermore and on demand, the Bureau of the Chamber puts a fully
equipped office close to the premises of the Chamber at the disposal of any
deputy (article 15 of the “Règlement” of the Chamber).
The working relations between the employees of the political groups and
parliamentary employees are purely advisory.
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How are Secretary General (as the person heading the administration) and
the other executive officers appointed? What rules govern their replacement?
Article 149 of the Chamber’s “Règlement” stipulates that the Clerk who
runs the administration of Parliament, namely the Secretary General, is elected
for the duration of the parliamentary session; he is at any time revocable. The
Clerk is part of the Bureau, and has no right to vote. According to the
“Règlement” of the Chamber, the Bureau takes all decisions related to the
management and discipline of the personnel, and it also determines what tasks
precisely will be attributed to the Secretary General. These tasks will, among
others, include the daily running of the Greffe according to the missions and
objectives defined by the members of the Bureau.
c) Does the Secretary General have
the chief responsibility and accountability for the administration? Or are
these shared with other senior officers?
It is the Secretary General’s task to run the Greffe, a mission for
which he is assisted by two Deputy Clerks.
According to article 150 of the “Règlement” of the Chamber the Deputy
Clerks are appointed by the Bureau. During the Secretary General’s absence, one
of the two Deputy Clerks will be appointed to replace him (by either the
Secretary General himself or by the President). The Deputy Clerks are not
members of the Bureau.
The parliamentary administration is composed of 12 different working
units, each one being run by a head of department. These middle grade
executives are appointed by the Clerk who runs the administration and they can
either be from the inferior, middle or upper career. Their degree of
accountability and autonomy will vary according to the tasks with which the
Secretary General will have entrusted them.
They are accountable either to the Deputy Clerks, or directly to the
Secretary General, who will evaluate their work.
As far as the parliamentary commissions are concerned, their
secretariats are free to organize their work, while respecting the needs and
directives of the Presidents of the various commissions. However, like all
civil servants, they are accountable to the Clerk who runs the administration.
Finally, this means that the Secretary General can delegate the
supervision of certain tasks and missions to the Deputy Clerks, who, in turn,
are assisted by heads of department. However, the chief responsibility and
accountability for the administration remains within the hands of the Secretary
General.
d) The Parliamentary
workload, and consequently the administration's workload.
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The number of parliamentarians:
The number of deputies is established by the Constitution at 60
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The duration of the parliamentary
sessions in the course of the year
The Chamber of Deputies meets in ordinary session on the second Tuesday
of October. The opening of the new session takes place immediately after the
closure of the previous session, which means that the duration of a
parliamentary session is exactly 12 months.
During the period of elections, automatically held every five years
during the month of June, parliamentary sessions are closed in May.
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The number of sittings
Approximately 65 per session
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The number of hours the house sits
per year: approx.
250 hours
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The number of formal votes/divisions
(which require a quorum):
Practically all the votes require a quorum, i.e. a presence of minimum
31 deputies.
Our Parliament has an average of 350 votes per session, 120 of them are
on bills
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The number of bills examined by the
House in one year
During the session 2002/2003, 126 bills have been discussed in public
debates after having been examined by the Standing Committees.
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The main activities performed by the
Standing Committees and the average number of sittings of each Committee during
the present Parliament
The rules of procedure establish a Conference of Chairmen and make
provision for setting up regulatory, standing and special committees.
The committees are responsible for examining Government and private
member's bills and the amendments and motions referred to them by the Chairman
of the Chamber, and are entitled to submit proposals and amendments themselves.
They are also responsible for preparing debates, organizing public and
non-public hearings and visits, and carrying out any business falling within
their area of responsibility.
The committees also deal with European matters related to their field of
competence.
There are 3 statutory committees, 19 standing committees and 5 special
committees. During the session 2001/2002, the number of sittings of each
committee was as follows:
Statutory committees:
Accounts Committee 2
Petitions Committee 16
Regulations Committee 3
Standing committees:
Foreign and European Affairs and Defence Committee 12
Internal Affairs Committee 16
Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development Committee 5
Committee for Middle Classes, Tourism and Housing 17
Committee for Controlling Budget Implementation 17
Committee for Economy, Energy, Post and Transport 18
Committee for National Education, Vocational Training and Sport 20
Committee on Equal Opportunities between Women and Men
and Promotion of the Woman 13
Committee for Higher Education, Research and Culture 12
Environment Committee 24
Committee for Family, Social Solidarity and Youth 10
Finance and Budget Committee 28
Civil Service and Administration Reform Committee 15
Committee of Institutions and Constitutional Reform 16
Legal Committee 40
Media and Communications Committee 33
Health and Social Security Committee 22
Labour and Employment Committee 19
Committee for Public Works 27
Special committees:
Special Committee "Ethics" 11
Special Committee "Immigration" 12
Special Committee "Youth at Risk" 2
Special Committee "Employment" 3
Special Committee "Drug abuse" 2
Conference of Chairmen 21
The Bureau 13
TOTAL: 449
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The degree of formality of Standing
Committee procedures and whether the Speaker of the House controls the
regularity of the procedures adopted by the Committees' Chairs
Standing Committee procedures are partly defined in the Rules of
Procedure of the Chamber. Some of them are based on tradition and consequently
not published anywhere. The Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies ensures that the
regulations and procedures are observed and decides on the acceptability of the
form of texts and other proposals. He may be assisted in his decisions by the
Conference of Chairmen.
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The assistance routinely provided by
the Administration to Parliamentary bodies
At the level of committees' activities, the committee secretarial
services assume the organization of each sitting by providing the requested
preparation, research work and documentation. At the end of the sitting, these
services write a summary which is distributed to the committees' members and
the secretaries of the parliamentary groups. These documents are not public.
At the level of public sittings, the dialogue between the parliamentary
bodies, the Government and the Chambers' Administration is directed by the
Secretary General, who also ensures the diffusion of the necessary
documentation.
All advices on procedural matters are provided by the Secretary General
who runs the administration of Parliament.
e) Relations between
the Parliamentary administration and the legislative process
Any interpretation or explanation on the field of parliamentary
procedure is done under the responsibility of the Secretary General.
Public documentation is available at the Chambers' administration and
sent to all Members of Parliament and Government.
In the lawmaking process, basic documentation is provided by the
Government. On demand of the Parliamentarians, the committee secretarial
services, with the help of the researcher, make more extensive researches and
can ask external bodies or specialists for more information.
All kinds of political information are provided by the parliamentary
groups.
The external bodies and authorities whose opinion on a bill is requested
are contacted by the Government, which continues this documentation to the
Chamber of Deputies.
Technical notes on problems connected with ensuring statutory
consistency and constitutionality are made on request by our legal department
and are for internal use.
f) Latest changes in Parliamentary
administration
There is a need to improve the coherence of the different aspects of
European politics and to move the European issues closer to the members of
national parliament. The different committees have been invited to strive for
an increased dialogue on the important European issues.
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Changes at the level op communication: computerisation and Internet are
openness and outreach to the general public.
The sessions of the Chamber of Deputies are public, except for adopting
application for naturalization, for example, when the Chamber sits behind
closed doors.
The Parliamentary press, television and radio included, follows the
debates in public sessions, as well as in the committees and transmits summary
of the debates.
Since December 2001, the Chamber of Deputies has its own TV channel. All
public sessions are re-transmitted over the Internet Web-TV an on television.
Furthermore, the full verbatim report of the debates in public sessions
is published and distributed free of charge to all households in the country.
Information pages on national and international parliamentary business are
regularly attached.
Finally, the Chamber of Deputies has an Internet site that can be viewed
by anyone interested in its organization, functioning, program and work.
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Changes of the administrative level: the need to keep domestic
legislation adjusted in line with legislative developments.
The reception of such legislation and regulations has not created
specific problems in Luxembourg until now.
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Security issues following September 11, 2001
The security concept of the Chamber was totally renewed after this date. The taken security measures have become more severe.