Luxembourg

Abstract

Luxembourg is a well-integrated founding state participating in every field of EU integration. Its EU and EMU memberships rely, however, on feebly developed constitutional foundations. This is yet to be changed by a major constitutional overhaul that is expected to finish in 2019. Three patterns must be borne in mind to understand the country’s constitutional culture: the Constitution had been somewhat forgotten, its political system is functioning according to the idea of a ‘consensus democracy’, and its leading political principle is pragmatism. The only limit to further economic, fiscal and monetary integration is the requirement of a two-thirds parliamentary majority in order to approve any competence-transferring treaty. In line with the pure monistic tradition, the domestic legal order is conceived in a way to avoid conflicts with international or EU law. EU norms enjoy full primacy even vis-à-vis constitutional rules.