Laws are (almost only) a matter for the government

Alex Bodry seems predestined for an interview on this topic. As a long-standing minister and member of parliament (and now a member of the Council of State), he has familiarised himself with the democratic apparatus from all angles. In addition, the lawyer is interested in institutional issues and legislative processes anyway. As chance would have it, Bodry has already analysed parliament's right of initiative. He brought the anthology L'initiative de loi* with him to the interview, for which we unceremoniously hijacked the office of the LSAP parliamentary group leader.

Two years after gaining independence in 1839, Luxembourg ventured its first parliamentary steps. With the "assemblée des Etats", the constitution of 1841 granted a kind of parliamentary assembly with limited powers. The monarch alone had the right to formulate legislative texts. It was not until the Constitution of 1848 and the introduction of a constitutional monarchy that things changed. Articles 47 and 48 stated: "Legislative power shall be exercised jointly by the King Grand Duke and the Chamber" and "The right of initiative shall be vested in each of the two branches of legislative power."

However, even though the parliamentary right of initiative (the right to submit bills to parliament, see info box) has a long tradition in the Grand Duchy, its exercise was fraught with obstacles for decades. A look at the Chamber regulations from 1872 shows that the parliament was divided into three equal sections at the time. The members of the forerunners of today's commissions were drawn by lot. It was not until 1965 that the House was reorganised into the thematically specialised and permanent committees for labour, family and the economy.

First of all, one of these sections had to support a member's request before its author could present the text in public session. In order for a discussion to take place, "at least five MPs had to support the proposal", another hurdle. The President then asked the MPs whether they wished to withhold or postpone the bill or whether they felt that no discussion was necessary. In addition, the parliament's rules of procedure stipulated for decades that legislative proposals "must not be contrary to public order and morality". This provision was only removed in 2009.