Soil protection law caught in the mud

It was intended to be Luxembourg's "response to the legal vacuum left by the European Union". This is what it says in the draft of the national soil protection law that the then Environment Minister Carole Dieschbourg (déi gréng) submitted to Parliament in 2018. A reaction to the failed attempt at a European legislative proposal, which the EU Commission had dared to put forward in 2004, but which was withdrawn eight years later. No agreement could be found within the international community.

However, another six years have now passed and there is still no standardised legal framework to protect our soils, either at European or national level. Although such a framework has been repeatedly promised by various governments over a period of more than 30 years.

Déi gréng MP and former Minister for the Environment (in 2022 and 2023) Joëlle Welfring knows why the draft law number 7237 has made little progress in Parliament in recent years: "Towards the end of the [previous] legislative period, the EU decided to draw up a directive following its strategy (of November 2021 to restore healthy soil ecosystems by 2050, ed.) […]." In July 2023, the Commission presented the new proposal. Parliament and Council adopted their positions in April and June 2024 respectively. And according to the EU Parliament, the trialogue negotiations between the three institutions began in December 2024. Once again, all eyes are on Europe.