Delano april 2016 by Maison Moderne

LUXEMBOURG IN ENGLISH

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CURRENT AFFAIRS Amnesty admonishes banks

BUSINESS Unlocking geoblocking

LATIN AMERICAN SPECIAL

VENEZUELAN ARCHITECT CAROLINA LAZO AND OTHER COMMUNITY LUMINARIES

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04/2016

ISSUE 42

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HERMÈS GRANDEUR NATURE

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EDITORIAL

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE

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o matter what the opinion polls in the United Kingdom may tell us over the next few months, the very real possibility of a Brexit is something that has many expats in Luxembourg deeply concerned. A number of British nationals in the Grand Duchy, many of whom have no vote in the 23 June referendum, are considering taking dual nationality as a security blanket in the case of a “leave” vote prevailing this summer. Others are comforting themselves by repeating a mantra that surely the Luxembourg government will not immediately kick out UK citizens in the case of a Brexit. The thing is, nobody seems to be really certain of anything if the scenario that Nigel Farage, Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and their bands of merry cronies so badly want actually does happen. Following David Cameron’s announcement of the referendum date, social media was awash with queries about pensions rights, work and residence permits from British residents of EU countries. There were officially some 6,000 British citizens living in Luxembourg at the start of 2015, according to figures published by Statec. They are the sixth largest international community in the Grand Duchy.

The jobs of some British employees at EU institutions would seem to be safeguarded by staff regulations, but even so there is uncertainty among others who are worried that they may not find work back “home” if they are forced to return to the UK. Many are considering taking Luxembourg nationality or adopting the nationality of their spouse from another EU member state. Workers in the financial sector also face uncertainty--would the Luxembourg government grant special dispensation to British citizens with the required skills set to work in banks and the funds industry? And how would applicants for work permits from other countries outside the EU feel about that? There is, of course, no need to panic just yet. Even if Britain does vote to “leave”, then there is at least a two-year period granted under article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon, before the Brexit is finally ratified. But that does mean that by the end of 2018 a huge swathe of the British population in Luxembourg could be facing a move back to the UK. And that would be a shame for the Grand Duchy. LEGENDE TITRE END OF THE PARTY? Many British expats could be making their way home if the leave vote prevails April 2016

Jessica Theis (archives)

PUBLISHER Phone (+352) 20 70 70 Fax (+352) 29 66 19 E-mail publishing@maisonmoderne.com Publisher Mike Koedinger Editor in chief Duncan Roberts (duncan.roberts@maisonmoderne.com) Desk editor Aaron Grunwald (aaron.grunwald@maisonmoderne.com) Contributors Wendy Casey, Neel Chrillesen, Stephen Evans, Kasia Krzyzanowski, Marina Lai, Sarah Pitt, Alix Rassel, Tonya Stoneman, Wendy Winn Photography Julien Becker, Sven Becker, Marion Dessard, Steve Eastwood, Jan Hanrion, Lala La Photo, Mike Zenari Proofreading Pauline Berg, Muriel Dietsch, Sarah Lambolez, Inès Sérizier

DELANO ADVERTORIAL

PRESCHOOL CARE AND EDUCATION “ Sunflower follows the Montessori teaching philosophy that the early years of education are the key to unlocking a child’s potential.”

ounded in 2001, Sunflower is the Grand Duchy’s leading Montessori crèche, with 76 employees across two preschools in Findel, one in Moutfort and one newly opened in Ersange. Introducing the three directors of Sunflower: Sam and Tom O’Dea and Helen Keavney Clarke. Sam has always followed an educational path and started her career as a nursery nurse. Tom gave up his position in the corporate sector in 2013 to work full time for Sunflower. Helen’s background was in retail but she changed career path 23 years ago following the birth of her son. Sam and Helen, best friends since the age of 9, left London as fully trained and experienced Montessori educators to work at a crèche in Findel. Sam introduced the Montessori method into the nursery in 1995. Helen followed in 1996 and in 2001, they bought the existing nursery. In November 2001 the first Sunflower opened its doors. This quickly reached capacity and so they decided to expand. “Sunflower is a family-owned Luxembourg enterprise where the directors work in the company everyday. We believe that this proximity to the day-to-day running of the company means that Sunflower can maintain its excellent level of care and education,” explains Tom. Due to high demand, “Sunflowers are sprouting up all over Luxembourg,” Sam tells us. The three directors designed the preschool in Moutfort, which was built from scratch in 2008. Expansion happens slowly, as a lot of care goes into the design of each Sunflower crèche to ensure that the building lends itself to the stimulating, happy and secure environment that is fundamental to Montessori learning. “The first April 2016

A. “Sunflower is a happy place” B. Education and care at Sunflower C. Learning is fun with Montessori materials D. The three Sunflower directors: Sam O’Dea, Tom O’Dea and Helen Keavney Clarke E. Life lessons for children

Sunflower Montessori crèche in Brussels will open in March this year in a beautiful town house that we have renovated,” Helen announces. In addition, two new preschools are expected to open in Luxembourg this year.

A CENTRE OF EDUCATION “Sunflower is not just a warehouse to store children while parents are at work. We combine care and education. This is a key factor for many parents in deciding where their children should spend these important developmental years,” adds Tom. Sunflower has children of 48 different nationalities,

from 3 months to 4 years old. They also run an after school service for ages 4 and above. Although English is the main language, 3-4 year olds have two French afternoons a week. “In addition to the appeal of the Montessori method, many parents choose Sunflower so that their children can learn English during these sensitive formative years,” explains Sam. “We are all parents and our children started their education with Montessori. We are not only strong believers in the vast benefits of the pedagogy but Helen and I also teach it. I haven’t forgotten my roots, my passion for education

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a lot of importance in providing children with an environment that they can explore and learn freely while they are at their most receptive. Each child is unique and each child is taught individually. Innovation, movement and creativity are very much encouraged. “The prepared environments give the children freedom of movement and freedom of choice. It is wonderful to see them engaged in self-directed activities. Sunflower is a happy place,” says Helen. and the basis of what Sunflower is,” Sam tells us. Helen and Sam teach children at the Saturday school each week. “I am a director of Sunflower but first and foremost I am a Montessori teacher,” says Helen. “I believe the role of a teacher is the greatest responsibility a person can have. Teachers make an impact on children’s lives and help shape their future.”

TRUST AND CONFIDENCE “We want to nurture the huge amount of learning going on at this early stage in life as much as possible,” explains Sam. The Montessori method places

"WE DON’T JUST LOOK AFTER CHILDREN EVERY DAY, WE EDUCATE THEM." TOM O’DEA

“We build confidence, self-esteem and place trust in children from an early age. We aim to give them confidence to do things, to allow for mistakes, to give them time to try again and to find solutions. This is important for nurturing independence and conviction in their abilities and ideas for later in life,” Sam continues. The teachers and carers channel children’s talents and find a way to educate them using their interests. In addition,

Montessori integrates social rules and behaviour in its activities. “We teach grace and courtesy, such as how to greet somebody, looking people in the eyes, how to be polite, taking care of friends and of each other,” explains Sam. “Montessori is not just about the materials in the classroom, it is about respect for oneself, the environment, the world and the people in it. I believe my role as a director is to lead by example and show the respect I want all our teachers to have for one another and for each of the children as individuals,” states Helen. Sam is proud to say Sunflower offers far more than a standard preschool. “I meet all new parents. As a mother, I understand their worries and fears. Parents can meet with me at any time to talk about future schooling options or developmental concerns. We accompany parents and children all the way.” The core business of providing quality preschool education for children is what drives the directors. “We are very passionate about the Montessori philosophy. We’re doing this because we firmly believe that it gives children a really good start in life.”

Sunflower Bus Sunflower really thinks about everything: they have two Sunflower buses, with both a bus driver and a bus buddy to look after the children. They pick up at the European School and St. George’s and bring them to Sunflower for a hot lunch and afternoon activities. After School Service Sunflower is not only a preschool. We provide a relaxing yet stimulating afternoon of Montessori activities, arts and crafts, singing, stories, baking and outside fun. The children can learn English through stories, poetry, drama, music, nature and lots more. Sunflower Musicals Each year we organise two musicals: a winter and a summer musical. It’s not just fun, it also helps the children’s self-confidence and boosts their self-esteem. April 2016

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CONTENTS

DELANO APRIL 2016 CURRENT AFFAIRS 8

BUSINESS 26

UPFRONT Catching up with…

UPFRONT Carte blanche

The education minister was not surprised by the strong interest in the Differdange international school opening this autumn.

SNAPSHOTS Charity quiz

Ara City Radio listeners faced the music and helped raise hundreds for the Fondation Cancer’s Relais pour la vie. 12

The funds sector needs to connect with individual investors in a meaningful way, says Rana Hein-Hartmann.

MEDIA Geoblocked

Expats can’t always shop online or watch TV shows from home. How do they get around it, and is Brussels about to break the block? 36

In light of LuxLeaks, is a “fundamental rethink” of the economy needed; why is there a “Luxembourg Income Study” in New York; the Grand Duchy scores some table tennis pointers; a guide for protecting expat children in Luxembourg; and who is Ainhoa Achutegui? 21

INTERNATIONAL Amnesty admonishes banks

FUNDS Friend or foe?

Will blockchains, one of the technologies behind bitcoin, upend the asset management sector? 48

LEGAL Breaking the code A report by the human rights group puts the financial sector under scrutiny over the arms trade. 22

UPFRONT Perfect weekend

Let your hair down, go geek and watch steamy opera… it’s fantasy time. 68

COVER STORY Passionate and open-minded

VISA FREE ACCESS

What are the best passports to carry? www.delano.lu/news/ visa-free-more-170-countries

Reaction to the deal negotiated by David Cameron. 25

IN FOCUS Not even 3 songs

Are you from a common law country? Here’s our guide to understanding Luxembourg’s legal system.

STYLE Cool designers

WAY TO STAND OUT Young architect makes BIG cover letter www.delano.lu/news/ young-architect-takes-rap

Temperatures are finally rising. Bring on spring shopping! 90

INTERVIEW New territory

Gast Waltzing has been a jazz musician and composer for decades, but was just honored with Luxembourg’s first Grammy award for his work with Angélique Kidjo. 93

NATURE Big decisions

PERSONAL SAFETY STUDY

Just how safe is Luxembourg City? www.delano.lu/news/ world-s-safest-city HAVE A COMMENT? Delano is always looking for reader feedback and guest contributors: news@delano.lu

MEDIA Unsafe donations

A Luxembourg pornography giant has landed in hot water--again--over illicit campaign contributions in California. 62

MY OTHER LIFE Sleight of hand Delano’s photographer wasn’t the only one hitting the exits at the Massive Attack show.

There are 3,000 people from 27 Latin American countries calling Luxembourg home. Delano asks seven of them to share their experiences crossing the Atlantic, about cultural stereotypes and expat life in the Grand Duchy.

EUROPE Brexit talk

LIFESTYLE

THE JOURNAL Dispatches from Delano writers

DELANO DIGITAL HIGHLIGHTS

How a police detective manipulates photos to reveal the truth.

They may be small, but here’s what to consider before making the leap and adopting a guinea pig, hamster or rabbit. 98

MY FAVOURITES Sipping a pint

New Zealander and microbrewer Mark Hatherly shares three spots to enjoy a good Guinness.

TEAM TALK Meet Delano’s journalists and photographers: www.delano.lu/TeamTalk

April 2016

Baigal Byamba (CC BY 2.0) YouTube screenshot Will Bakker (CC BY-SA 2.0) www.pixel.la

UPFRONT

CURRENT AFFAIRS 110,499

The population of the City of Luxembourg at the end of 2015. There are 160 different nationalities in the capital, with nonLuxembourgers now making up close to 70% of the population.

IN BRIEF SPEED WARNINGS Luxembourg’s first fixed speed cameras begin operating on 16 March. Ten cameras have been installed throughout the country.

SYRIAN DONATION At the Syria Donors’ conference in London in early February the Grand Duchy’s government pledged to provide 7.5 million euros per year to humanitarian projects helping displaced from the war. SAFEST CITY Luxembourg City topped the “personal safety” ranking in Mercer’s annual quality of living survey. It placed 19th overall. April 2016

BETTEL MEETS NOBEL WINNER

Prime minister Xavier Bettel and culture secretary of state Guy Arendt took time to meet Nobel literature prize winner Svetlana Alexievitch during her recent visit to Luxembourg. Alexievitch attended the Luxembourg City Film Festival for a literary discussion and a screening of local director Pol Cruchten’s film based on her book Voices from Chernobyl.

"I THINK THIS REFORM WILL BE A BIG STEP TOWARDS REDUCING THE P OVERTY RISK OF SINGLE PARENTS." Étienne Schneider on the government’s tax reform, 29 February 2016

The government unveiled details of its long planned tax reform at the end of February. The new measures are aimed at easing the burden on the middle classes, increasing competitivity and creating a more just system of taxation. Under the new system, tax brackets will be thoroughly overhauled. Lower income households will be taxed far less, while the threshold for those paying 39% tax will be raised from 41,500 euros to 45,897 euros. New top rates of tax at 41% and 42% will be introduced on gross annual incomes of 150,000 euros or 200,000 euros respectively. Single parent households will also receive some relief with a doubling of their tax credit from 750 to 1,500 euros per year. And married couples will no longer have to declare a joint tax statement but can file separately. At the same time, the government has also confirmed that the 0.5 percent temporary austerity tax introduced in 2015 will be annulled in 2017 amid guarantees that no new tax will take its place. Other changes include an increase in tax free payments for elderly care and the amount that can be written off for mortgages will double from 672 to 1,344 euros.

MCULT Christophe Olinger Sven Becker

CANCER RELENTLESS Cancer claimed 1,164 lives in the Grand Duchy in 2014, according to figures released by the ministry of health. It is the highest cause of death among males.

TAX REFORM UNVEILED

CLAUDE MEISCH The minister for education gives an update on the

ASSELBORN ATTRACTS VIPS

The stars were out in force for the premier screening of documentary Foreign Affairs and a photo exhibition by Pasha Rafiy about foreign minister Jean Asselborn. More at: www.delano.lu/Asselborn16

Marion Dessard

OPENING NIGHT A. Jean Asselborn and Jean Olinger B. Director Pasha Rafiy (on left) C. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier (on left) D. Jean-Louis Schuller and Robert Garcia

CATCHING UP WITH…

new international school in Differdange opening in September. Interest in the new Differdange International School (EIDD) has not waned since its opening was announced last year. The first public (and thereby free) school of its kind in Luxembourg will start welcoming students in both primary and secondary classes this coming school year in two main language sections (French and English). For weeks, eager parents have been calling the school to know how to apply, and over 150 people turned up to each of the two information meetings held at the end of February, a majority of whom were non-nationals. The education minister, and former mayor of Differdange, Claude Meisch is not surprised. “We’re offering a model that doesn’t exist here yet but for which there is a strong need. Our wish is to diversify our educational offer and create a system that can welcome everyone, at any age. As it is today, 3,000 students living in Luxembourg cross the borders every day to attend schools in neighbouring countries, mostly because it’s the only real choice they have.” The EIDD will join the small club of the 12 currently accredited European schools in the EU which follow the European schools syllabus but are part of national school networks. In the upcoming school year only about 160 students will be admitted (in temporary buildings) and new classes will then open each year. Once the new campus is completed in 2020, there will be room for 1,400 students. Applications for 2016-2017 open in March (see website for precise dates). “The selection won’t be done on a first-come first-served basis,” says Meisch. “It’s a school for all. The two main criteria will be motivation and to some extent geography. Those living in the Differdange area will be given priority.” “Of course, the question of creating a school similar to the EIDD in the centre of the country will soon arise and I also strongly encourage secondary schools in general to open international sections. The demand for it is far stronger than for the classic secondary school. Hopefully, when there will be three times as many applicants as spaces at the EIDD, it will be a clear enough message.” www.eidd.lu Text by NEEL CHRILLESEN Photography by LALA LA PHOTO April 2016

CURRENT AFFAIRS

SNAPSHOTS

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

CHARITY QUIZ HELPS CANCER FOUNDATION

ra City Radio’s music and local knowledge quiz was a sold out affair at the new Bar National (inside the Théâtre National du Luxemburg) in February. Presenters Sam Steen and Ben Andrews alongside news reader Mark Wheedon hosted the quiz; presenters Natasha Liati-Jones and Kirsty Sutherland, as well as station manager Lisa McLean helped

out with the logistics. As Sam and Ben pointed out, the real winner was charity with €600 raised for the Fondation Cancer--Ara City Radio enters a team each year for the charity’s Relais pour la vie event. Money raised from other events organised by the English-language radio station will be added to the final contribution. www.aracityradio.com

BRAIN TEASERS A. The quiz was held at the newly opened Bar National B. Jean-Marc Feltz, Adam Walder, Patrick Cameron, Diane Elcheroth and Alexandra Ingvarsson C. Andrew McCabe and Inès Sauter D. Jeanne Yelverton E. Nicolas Boatwright and Karin Duffner F. Sam Steen and Ben Andrews G. Natasha LiatiJones H. Lisa McLean of Ara City Radio I. The winning team of Natalie Gerhardstein, Delano’s Duncan Roberts & Stephen Evans, and James Gorst

MORE QUIZ PICS: H

April 2016

WWW.DELANO.LU/ ARACITYQUIZ16

CURRENT AFFAIRS

TAX JUSTICE IN LUXEMBOURG In light of the LuxLeaks revelations, the Collectif Tax Justice Lëtzebuerg wants a “fundamental rethink” of the Grand Duchy’s economy.

espite the similarity in names, the Collectif Tax Justice Lëtzebuerg, which launched in January, is not formally affiliated with the Tax Justice Network, a global coalition of campaign groups lobbying against multinational corporate tax

April 2016

avoidance. “It’s rather a homegrown effort to encourage more discussion not only on the issues of tax justice but in the wider sense the usefulness, the raison d’être, the continued viability as well, of the financial and the economic model that we have in Luxembourg,” says Luc Dockendorf, a civil servant who is one of the collective’s co-founders. “Luxembourg is highly dependent to a large extent on the financial sector. And we’re not saying, per se,

that’s a bad thing,” he explains. “But we want to question the difficulties, both from the fact that the economy should be more diversified, but also from the inherent difficulties in certain types of financial services, especially the offshore variety.” While many of the group’s members had been concerned by the Grand Duchy’s “tax haven” label for several years, it was the publication a year and a half ago of a leaked cache of “comfort letters” from Luxembourg’s tax office to clients of the consulting firm PwC that propelled the Collectif Tax Justice Lëtzebuerg project into being. (A trial over the theft of those papers starts on 26 April.)

Sven Becker

THE JOURNAL

WHAT KIND OF MODEL? “We need to have a fundamental rethink as to what economy we want but also what society we want. What is the societal model that you want to have. Are you ready to live in a society that makes part of its money in ways that are less than honest, if I may say so.” Companies “profit a lot from the services that states offer, from an educated, healthy, safe population, from good infrastructure, from overall political stability, from security services, and so on and so forth, so they should be willing to pay their fare share into that,” argues Dockendorf. The collective has 29 founding members, about three-quarters native Luxembourgers, plus another 200 or so people have signed its appeal for a public debate, which is not an official petition but rather an open call for a conversation about the Grand Duchy’s future. Aside from one gentleman who, for a short time, thought the group were secret agents sent by the City of London, reaction so far has been mostly positive. “We’re really a diverse group of citizens coming together over a complex topic. So I think people were very happy to give us the benefit of the doubt.” Collectif Tax Justice Lëtzebuerg started holding a series of public conferences in late January, with the events taking place (usually in French) every six weeks or so. But

no direct advocacy is planned right now. Instead of coming out with a list of “red lined” demands, Dockendorf says, “we want to build this conversation.” www.taxjustice.lu

Reported by AARON GRUNWALD

SOFT LANDING AT CENTRAL STATION How the CFL and City of Luxembourg want to give a “Parachute” to refugees and others who need to be pointed in the right direction.

aniel Frising of Luxembourg’s state railway company, the CFL, says: “Railway stations are a common place for those who are excluded from society to converge.” Which is why the CFL and Ville de Luxembourg (City of Luxembourg) have launched a two year joint venture project, officially the Pôle social et d’orientation (social orientation centre) but dubbed “Parachute”. The purpose of the project is to provide information and guidance to disadvantaged people in Luxembourg, such as the homeless, adolescent runaways and refugees seeking asylum. The CFL began working with other humanitarian organisations in Luxembourg through the Streetwork project a number of years ago; however the decision to launch a pilot programme with the Ville de Luxembourg is a fairly recent one, says Frising. “In regards to funding the project, the CFL pays for all the infrastructure and working costs, whilst the Ville de Luxembourg provides the services and salary of Fabien, the project’s social worker.”

Parachute is run out of an office at the Gare centrale (central train station), which was inaugurated on the 1st of March by Corinne Cahen, the family minister, and François Bausch, the infrastructure minister. The office, near the police post and intercity bus stops on the southwestern side of the station, is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon and 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. “The purpose of the project is to provide information on social institutions that support the disadvantaged in Luxembourg City, not to offer a sanctuary,” explains Frising. “Of course we can offer a cup of coffee and the use of sanitary facilities, but our primary function is to provide information on where to find social assistance.” Parachute provides a free orientation guide listing contact information on Luxembourg support institutions. People can also speak with the city’s social worker or use one of the office’s computers. The programme has links with other social organisations--such as Asti, Caritas and Interactions--allowing them to put clients in direct contact with those associations that would be able to serve their needs. In the future, the CFL hopes to extend the project to other railway stations, such as those at Esch-Alzette and Ettelbrück. “We currently have a working partnership with the Fonds national de solidarité,” adds Frising. “We hope that in the future other organisations will be interested in sponsoring the Parachute project, April 2016

Benjamin Champenois (archives)

“I think what the LuxLeaks revelations in November 2014 did was that they, and I’m speaking from my own personal point of view, really showed the size of this thing, the scope, the fact that this didn’t appear to be an exception,” Dockendorf told Delano during one of his lunchtime breaks. “But that multinationals were really using these tools, these tax rulings and company constructs, as a matter of policy. Doing it as a default rather than an exception. Just the volume of the money that was involved probably pushed a lot of people to realise, this isn’t sustainable at all.”

CURRENT AFFAIRS

THE JOURNAL

CONTINUED

be it in the form of donations or direct action.” The project does not currently need volunteers, but commuters and travellers using the railway station can always be of assistance. “If they notice someone in need of help, they can come to the Parachute office or advise a member of CFL staff or the police. We will then ensure that person is given the support they need.” daniel.frising@cfl.lu

Reported by ALIX RASSEL

LIS TRACKS INEQUALITY Why is there a “Luxembourg Income Study” in New York?

he headline of a 22 April 2014 New York Times article, “The American Middle Class Is No Longer the World’s Richest”, explained that middle income households in the US were no longer wealthier than those in Europe and Canada. How did researchers know? Data from the Luxembourg Income Study, an independent research centre with offices on the University of Luxembourg’s Belval campus and at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Comparing socioeconomic data is not always easy, since the information is often collected by national agencies using differing methods. Having comparable data, at first for one specific study, was the brainstorm of researchers from Luxembourg, Sweden and the US in the early 1980s. “Basically what they started as a project is still living after 30 years,” explains Thierry Kruten, the centre’s operations director in Luxembourg. “It started with data coming from seven countries; we have data from 55-something countries now.”

April 2016

LIS collects data from national sources (primarily official statistical agencies such as Statec in Luxembourg) then standardises the figures and loads them into a special IT system, says Kruten. Researchers send in their queries for the LIS to process, since they cannot download individual datasets, which contain highly personal details. The data covers demographic details like the age and marital status of household members, but also things like how long they have held the job and how much they make. “We have a very detailed level of income information,” including wages, benefits and taxes, “so we can really get an idea of what is the household income” in each country. That in

turn sheds light on questions of inequality and social inclusion. Other archives measure household wealth. “Someone with exactly the same income could have a totally different situation regarding his wealth situation. This is the type of data that we’re collecting, harmonising and putting at the disposal of the research community.” About 1,300 researchers regularly used LIS data last year, reports Kruten, all of them from academic institutions or international bodies like the International Labor Organization, International Monetary Fund, OECD and World Bank (but no commercial outfits). Those institutions are also the sources of LIS’s funding (along with 20% coming from the Luxembourg government), which guarantees the centre’s independence, he reckons. Academics usually look at several sources of data for their studies, so there is not a signature LIS paper to point to, but Kruten is proud that “we have a lot of famous researchers who work with our data”. In fact, “Paul Krugman has moved from Princeton to CUNY to join the LIS centre” referring to the 2009 Nobel prize winner in economics (pictured, right). Traditionally LIS has been run by one director, a CUNY professor, but that will change when Daniele Checchi, an Italian economist, arrives in September as the new head of LIS in Luxembourg. The outfit has simply grown too much for one chief to run both locations. www.lisdatacenter.org

Reported by AARON GRUNWALD

Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office

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MAKING A RACQUET WITH CHINA Luxembourg’s Table Tennis Federation is the European hub for an effort to boost one of the Middle Kingdom’s most popular sports.

Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Tennis de Table

eople have been playing table tennis for more than a century now and it became an Olympic sport in 1988. There are an estimated 100m active players and 500m fans worldwide, but China--with the highest percentage of female and male winners in table tennis world championships--is the key player in the game. Officials in that country realised, however, that what came with the players’ dedication to sport was an increasing gap between sports and academia. One of the more obvious problems was the lack of prospects for retired players, says Martin Ostermann, sports director of the Luxembourg Table Tennis Federation (FLTT). So Chinese officials started building a network of table tennis colleges that could spread their own knowledge of the sport, as well as close the gap between sport and education. The project, known as the Chinese Table Tennis College-Europe, launched in 2014 and links up 28 European associations with Chinese counterparts, says Ostermann, who is the point person on the European side of the partnership. The first part of the programme is a series of training camps involving 180 players from all over the world, with retired players sent from China as coaches. The camps were provided for players who were born in 2000 or younger, and their own coaches were invited too. “The aim of this is to educate young European players with the knowledge and experience that the retired players have gained during their careers.” There have been five such confabs so far, with four camps planned for 2016. For existing table tennis coaches, there is a three-day coaching course, April 2016

which involves 27 coaches from 15 countries. These coaches are invited to learn about the education and philosophy of table tennis, led by a lecturer from China. The FLTT organised this activity for coaches in Luxembourg last December with the Grand Duchy’s sports ministry, education ministry, national Olympic committee and Lunex University. Collaboration is also taking place on an academic level. The Shanghai University of Sport and Lunex University in Luxembourg have teamed up for a student and teacher exchange. “The aim is to educate students in different fields of sport. It’s much more than just playing the sport; there are so many careers in the industry too. We want to highlight the importance of sports education by introducing courses such as sports medicine, sports science, sport physiotherapy and sports management.” Needless to say, Ostermann is a big fan of the sport himself. He wants to share the sport’s excitement

and just exactly why the programme is a big deal on the international front. “On a small scale, the ball speed at a top level can be 180 kilometers per hour; it’s an extremely fast sport that requires body and mind. But on a national level, the CTTC-E project is really important for Luxembourg. As the founding member of the EU, we’re at the centre of this collaboration between China and Europe.” www.fltt.lu

Reported by MARINA LAI

CHILD WELFARE ADVICE The British embassy has published a guide to child protection in Luxembourg.

nspired partially by crime author Ruth Dugdall’s novel Nowhere Girl, the British embassy has published a 20-page pamphlet on child protection in Luxembourg. The novel, which centres around a case of child abduction and human trafficking in Luxembourg, was the basis for discussions among local child protection experts, parents and British embassy staff after a reading by Dugdall upon its launch in November 2015.

The embassy has established close ties with many local organisations dedicated to child welfare, but even so British pro consul Evelien d’Hertog explains that the pamphlet was a response to the challenge of eliciting clear information on local legislation and support networks in the field of child protection. The pamphlet covers a wide range of areas, including child abduction, domestic abuse, child sexual exploitation, separation and divorce, child poverty, drug and alcohol misuse, sexual health, internet safety, mental health and a number of other emotional issues including eating disorders and bullying.

Outgoing ambassador Alice Walpole says that the information provided in the pamphlet is not exhaustive and may not be applicable in all cases. “But we hope that it will at least provide a useful starting point for people facing often difficult and distressing situations. It cannot, of course, substitute for professional legal or medical advice.” Indeed, while the embassy’s consular team can offer advice and provide information and contacts, it does not usually pay consular visits to children and does not give an opinion on what is best for the child’s interest. In any case, the assistance provided is guided by the principals and provisions of several institutions, including the UK Human Rights Act and the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child, while also respecting Luxem bourg’s own child protection legislation. This means that decisions affecting children must be made with the child’s best interest as the primary consideration, and that rights are applied to children regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, language, disability, opinion or social origin. Furthermore, children’s views must be considered when decisions affecting them are made. Luxembourg has a pretty good record on children’s rights. The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child is incorporated into Luxembourg law (it was ratified in March 1994), which means it is enforceable in domestic courts. It allows children, with the assistance of legal representatives, to bring civil or administrative cases, if they feel their rights are being violated. Or they can submit complaints directly to the neutral and independent Ombuds-Committee for Children’s Rights (www.ork.lu), which was established in 2002. Children in Luxembourg also have an independent right to free legal assistance regardless of the financial situation of their parents, and may be appointed a legal counsel by the juvenile court. In addition, various legal provisions protect children’s ability to give evidence in court in child-friendly conditions. www.gov.uk

Reported by DUNCAN ROBERTS

QUICK BIO Born 1978 in Caracas, Venezuela.

AINHOA ACHUTEGUI

Education Lycée Français in Vienna. Obtained a master’s degree in philosophy and theatre, including a cycle in project management. Career 2004-2006: director of the Werkstätten- und Kulturhaus (WUK) in Vienna (the youngest artistic director in Europe). 2006-2013: director of the Centre des arts pluriels d’Ettelbruck, CAPe. February 2014: took over from Claude Frisoni as director of the Centre culturel de rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster (which changed its name to neimënster shortly after her appointment). February 2015: named president of the mouvement Luxembourgeois pour le Planning Familial et l’Éducation Sexuelle (Planning familial) as successor to Danielle Igniti.

WHO’S WHO?

" SOCIETY HAS BECOME PORN-CHASTE…"

The Venezuelan born director of the neimënster culture and conference centre, and president of Planning familial, is perhaps Luxembourg’s most high profile Latin American. She has been in the spotlight recently for her audacious speech to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Planning familial, but it is as the director of neimënster that Ainhoa Achutegui is best known in Luxembourg. The 38-year old was formerly in charge at the Ettelbrück arts centre, where she spent seven years trying to boost arts and culture in the northern town before being appointed the successor to Claude Frisoni at the Centre culturel de rencontre Abbaye de Neumünster. Achutegui was born in Venezuela (her grandfather was a Spanish Republican exile of the revolution), but the family moved to Vienna when she was just five. She became the youngest artistic director in Europe when she took charge of the Werkstätten- und

Kulturhaus (WUK) venue--a punk neimënster, as she has described it. It was in Vienna that she met her husband, a Luxembourg architect of Portuguese origin. Since taking over from Frisoni, Achutegui has not revolutionised the artistic approach at neimënster, but has sharpened the focus of the cultural programme on what one might call the fringe--minorities and controversial subjects. At the helm of Planning familial for a year, Achutegui has spoken out against the overexposure to sexuality in society, particularly the ease with which youngsters have access to pornography. She has also hailed the change in law to allow abortion and is also campaigning to get contraception for women reimbursed under national health insurance schemes. April 2016

CURRENT AFFAIRS

April 2016

HUMAN RIGHTS

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

Photography by JULIEN BECKER

AMNESTY SPOTLIGHT ON ARMS TRADE INADEQUACIES A report published by Amnesty International Luxembourg takes to task the country’s financial sector over its failure to put in place regulations, policies and procedures to effectively curb financial support for arms-related activities.

HUMAN RIGHTS IN NUMBERS IN 2015:

he Grand Duchy’s financial sector was under scrutiny again in January when Amnesty International Luxembourg unveiled a report titled Banks, arms and human rights violations. However, Amnesty International Luxembourg’s director, Stan Brabant, explains that the study’s aim was not to stigmatise the Grand Duchy, nor the banks chosen as a sample in the report. “We consider Luxembourg is one example of a problem that is probably broader. Colleagues in other European countries, such as Switzerland and the Netherlands say that what we have reported is probably not very different from what they see.” Indeed, the report stresses that its findings and recommendations are applicable to other countries in the European Union and elsewhere. Produced by local volunteer members, Brabant says the report was a bottom-up exercise and that Luxembourg was chosen because the banking sector has a strong presence, employing around 70,000 people. “It was a good place to start the exercise,” he says. Some banks, and the Luxembourg government, may tend to disagree after reading the report’s findings and recommendations. But Brabant and Amnesty International Luxembourg president David Pereira defend their choice. “Banks and other financial institutions have a crucial role to play in the global efforts to stem the manufacture, transfer and use of internationally banned weapons, or the use of authorised conventional arms to commit serious human rights violations and crimes

151

121

Countries committed torture or other forms of ill treatment

human rights activists died in detention or killed

under international law,” says Pereira. “Around half a million people each year lose their lives as a result of insufficient regulation of the arms trade. Several million more are injured.”

in the banking sector’s due diligence policies and procedures in relation to the arms sector, as well as a lack of transparency in their policies and practices in this area.”

SERIOUS GAPS He is backed by Gabriela Quijano, business and human rights legal adviser at Amnesty International’s global secretariat. She said that while states have obligations and responsibilities under international law, banks may also incur liability when they provide financing or investment that supports activities related to internationally banned weapons and arms used to commit crimes under international law and serious human rights violations. “Luxembourg’s banks are not living up to that responsibility,” Quijano said upon the report’s publication. “Our research revealed serious gaps and weaknesses

"AROUND HALF A MILLION PEOPLE EACH YEAR LOSE THEIR LIVES AS A RESULT OF INSUFFICIENT REGULATION OF THE ARMS TRADE."

DAVID PEREIRA AND STAN BRABANT Hope report will kick-start robust debate

DAVID PEREIRA

The report recommends a strict prohibition of financial activities related to arms whose manufacture, stockpiling, transfer and use would violate international law. Its authors say that the Grand Duchy should take all appropriate measures to ensure the effective implementation and enforcement of this prohibition, and in particular define professional obligations applicable to banks and April 2016

CURRENT AFFAIRS

HUMAN RIGHTS

CONTINUED

60 MILLION people displaced from their homes worldwide

sanctions for non-compliance with such obligations. “Luxembourg’s banks must know, and show, that they are not financing weapons banned under international law or arms used for the commission of serious human rights violations or crimes,” said Quijano. The report also identifies significant gaps in the banks’ internal control procedures for arms-related trans actions. The deficiencies, including inadequate customer due diligence and lack of training for employees, tally with the observations made by the CSSF, Luxembourg’s Financial Sector Supervisory Commission. “This report has laid bare the lack of safeguards that would prevent banks from financing internationally banned weapons or arms used to commit or facilitate serious human rights violations or crimes under international law. We hope our findings will kick-start a April 2016

robust debate among the financial sector, the authorities and the general public, in Luxembourg and abroad, on how to address this serious challenge and to ensure banks are not complicit in such violations,” says Brabant.

NOT PLAYING BALL Seven banks were contacted by Amnesty International, but only Banque et Caisse d’Épargne de l’État, Banque Raiffeisen and BGL BNP Paribas replied to a request and met with the researchers. ING Luxembourg provided written answers while KBL European Private Bankers provided some basic information by courier, but, says the AI report, they failed to respond to further requests. Banque Internationale à Luxembourg “expressly refused to meet AI and take part in the study,” while Banque de Luxembourg first indicated it would take part but did not follow up on invitations to meet or requests for

countries in which armed groups committed human rights abuses

information. “We were not impressed by the transparency of the banks. Four were great, but three clearly did not play ball. I was a bit surprised, because Amnesty is the leading human rights organisation in the world, so when you get a letter from Amnesty, saying no… is a bit stupid really.” “The feedback we have had so far to the published report has been somewhat polarised. We got very positive reaction from members and NGOs, and the media, and some individuals. It is probably a bit too early to say how the sector has reacted, we will meet them in a few weeks. The government’s reaction was a little bit contrasted. They were not terribly happy. I mean, it’s never pleasant to have Amnesty highlighting you. Luxembourg does a lot of positive things in terms of human rights, but this is a bit of a grey zone.” Indeed, the report points out that Luxembourg was among the first

countries locked up prisoners of conscience

countries to sign and ratify the Arms Trade Treaty, and in its annual report published a few days later Amnesty also saluted the Luxembourg government’s handling of the refugee crisis during its presidency of the European Council, and especially its efforts to remind some member states of their human rights obligations. Nevertheless, Brabant reports that Amnesty received very little factual feedback to the report from the Luxembourg authorities. “It was mostly emotional.”

"WHEN YOU GET A LETTER FROM AMNESTY, SAYING NO… IS A BIT STUPID REALLY." STAN BRABANT

The report suggests that the banks surveyed often appear to have an incomplete understanding of their legal obligations and human rights responsibilities. Only two of the seven

countries passed laws recognising same sex marriage or relationships, bringing the total to at least 20

banks contacted by Amnesty provided the organisation with a published policy on financing and investment in the arms sector. “Even in cases where international obligations are not yet implemented into domestic law, banks operating in Luxembourg must comply with existing international standards. Business enterprises should respect human rights, independent from the state’s own human rights obligations and laws,” the report states.

ARTICULATE HUMAN RIGHTS But Luxembourg businesses are eager to expand into some markets that may involve dealing with governments whose human rights records are among the worst in the world--at least according to the annual report released by Amnesty International in early February, just two weeks after the Luxembourg specific report. Brabant was critical of the government’s international relations

policy, saying that recent visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and China by the ministers of finance and the economy failed to elicit any clear mention of those countries’ questionable human rights records. He also mentioned the recent failure of prime minister Xavier Bettel to bring up human rights at a meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin as “a missed opportunity.” However, there is evidence that some Luxembourg government officials are doing their bit for human rights. Brabant cites visits to Iran and Egypt as examples. “We see some government representatives manage to articulate both Luxembourg’s attractiveness as a place to do business, but also point out questions of human rights. Amnesty is grateful for that. So it can be done, it’s not contradictory. From what we hear and what we see, it doesn’t weaken a country’s position--on the contrary, their counterparts expect these questions.” April 2016

Sources: Amnesty International; UNHCR; Front Line Defenders

CURRENT AFFAIRS

EUROPE

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

PLEASE DON’T GO! As a founding member of the EU, part of “old Europe” as some call it, Luxembourg is supporting David Cameron’s efforts to keep the UK in the Union. But the Grand Duchy is still keen to press ahead for even greater union with other founding members.

f, as a recent poll by Lord Ashcroft published in British newspaper The Sun suggests, 55% of Luxembourgers want the UK to remain in the European Union, then its leading politicians are certainly on the right side. The poll suggests that up to 60% of EU citizens want the UK to stay in the EU and reject a so-called Brexit in the referendum on 23 June. The date of the referendum was set by prime minister David Cameron the day after he managed to negotiate in Brussels a deal that he felt would be persuasive enough to convince British voters to vote to remain in the EU. Later, Reuters reported, Cameron would wrote a personal letter of thanks to European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, the former prime minister of Luxembourg, thanking him and his legal and negotiating team for their “creativity” in crafting the deal. The letter, which Reuters said it had seen, was sent on the Wednesday after the summit. Reuters said “the warmth of the personal letter… contrasted with the acrimony that marked Cameron’s vain effort to block other EU leaders from appointing Juncker chief executive 18 months ago.” The letter was one of 30 that the British prime minister sent, including one to all 27 other EU government leaders as well to Donald Tusk, the permanent president of the European Council and to Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament. Cameron addressed Juncker as “Dear April 2016

Jean-Claude” and said he was extremely grateful for the commission president’s personal commitment to the success of the negotiation. “I know very well how challenging this negotiation was and how much creativity and professionalism it demanded of you and your staff in the commission,” Cameron wrote. “The contribution you personally, and the commission collectively, made to this historic agreement was absolutely essential to its success.” Cameron signed off his one-page letter to the commission chief by hand: “With thanks and best wishes, Yours, David.” Indeed, Reuters reported that those present after the summit concluded in Brussels late on Friday 19 February said Cameron seemed to go out of his way to find and thank backroom members of the EU negotiating teams. “He seemed really pleased, and relieved,” the news agency quoted one EU official as saying. “So he should be. I wasn’t sure we could do this.” The letter to Juncker underlines the efforts to which Cameron is willing to go to get the UK to stay in the EU. Cameron certainly seems to have patched things up with Juncker, whom

he had severely criticised as being too committed to a federal Europe to lead the commission during a lengthy election and process in 2014. The right wing British press also had it in for Juncker at the time, some suggesting that he had a drinking problem while with the Sun newspaper even labelled Juncker “the most dangerous man in Europe”. But Reuters reports that “sources close to the negotiations since Cameron won re-election last year on a pledge to secure EU reforms say the two quickly patched up their differences after other leaders brushed aside Cameron’s objections to appoint Juncker.” But Juncker is not the only Luxembourger on Cameron’s side--or at least willing to back his efforts to keep the Britain in the EU. Luxembourg prime minister Xavier Bettel told Parliament in his briefing after the Brussels summit that a Brexit would have enormous ramifications, above all financially, for Luxembourg as well. “That can really be in nobody’s interest,” he said. And foreign minister Jean Asselborn told Delano before the EU summit that “a so-called ‘Brexit’ would not only have a negative impact on the Grand Duchy, but on the EU

A. BATTLING FOR BRITAIN Jean-Claude Juncker and Xavier Bettel both want the UK to stay in the EU

SIP/Thierry Monasse

B. FACING THE PRESS Xavier Bettel at the Brussels summit

as a whole. The links between the UK and its fellow EU member states--including Luxembourg--have evolved over the last decades in an intense and complex way. Undoing this without a clear sense of direction is certainly very dangerous.” However, like Bettel, Asselborn was insistent that European treaties must remain unaltered, and that any exemptions given to the UK must be consistent with EU primary law. This is something of a sticking point among the two camps in the referendum debate in the UK. Some legal experts claim that the so-called “emergency brake”

on migrants’ benefits secured by Cameron may be struck down by the European court in Luxembourg. The Telegraph reported Steve Peers, a professor at the University of Essex, saying it was a “long shot” for the plan to survive any challenge. Juncker, on the other hand, has come out to say that, “I do believe decision will hold up in court, as it respects basic principles of treaties.”

CLOSER UNION Meanwhile, Luxembourg appears to be pressing ahead with its fellow founding members, Belgium, France,

Germany, Italy and the Netherlands for even closer union. Foreign ministers of those countries met in Rome in early February to discuss what they called the “very challenging times” being faced by the EU. Regarding the refugee crisis and terrorist threats as the main issues, the ministers pointed out that Europe is successful when member states “overcome narrow self-interest in the spirit of solidarity”. In this spirit, and with a view to Britain’s plea to “remain resolved to continue the process of creating an ever closer union among the people of Europe”. April 2016

CURRENT AFFAIRS

IN FOCUS

Photography by SVEN BECKER

NOT EVEN 3 SONGS, NO FLASH 11:23 P.M. Press photographers who have managed to obtain a valued photo pass are used to restrictions when entering the front of stage pit at a rock concert. The standard rule is “3 songs, no flash”, meaning snappers have around 10-15 minutes of jostling with competitors from rival media to get a good shot of the artist using only the lighting provided. But just a few hours before the show by Massive Attack hosted by den Atelier at the Rockhal in February, several photographers were informed that the band’s management had limited access to only a few snappers, and that their accreditation had been cancelled. So our man Sven Becker had plenty of time to seek out other themes at the venue on which to train his lens. Here he waits in the smoking area provided by the Rockhal outside the venue. The sign does not apply to punters using the smoking area--all main doors at the venue bear the same legend. But the show divided opinion, and many fans did leave the concert early or chatted with friends over a drink at the bar or outside with a cigarette. The show itself was the sixth time the group had played Luxembourg and marked the second date of a lengthy European tour following several shows in the UK. DR Xxxxxxxx April 2016 2015

April 2016

UPFRONT

BUSINESS

LESSONS LEARNED FROM THE FINANCIAL CRISIS “We avoided a great depression and as a result we have a tendency to underestimate the gravity of the position after the Lehman Brothers collapse,” according to Jean-Claude Trichet, who was president of the European Central Bank between 2003 and 2011 and governor of the Bank of France for the decade prior to that. “Had the central banks, governments and parliaments of the advanced economies not had the capacity to act swiftly and boldly, we would have had the very cruel experience of a great depression.” Trichet was speaking at a conference held

at the Philharmonie in Luxembourg in February entitled “Economic, fiscal and financial governance of the euro area: Lessons from the crisis”. The event was organised by the European Stability Mechanism and European Financial Stability Facility, the EU’s two sovereign debt bailout agencies, also located in Kirchberg. Trichet then went on to provide six reasons why he believes we presented the worst signature in the advanced economy. These are detailed on the Delano website. WC www.delano.lu/news/lessons-learned-financial-crisis

The number of automated parcels stations to be set up in Luxembourg by Amazon. Customers will be able to order online with the retailer and pick up their packages by using a secret code.

"THE LEVEL PLAYING FIELD MUST ALWAYS BE MAINTAINED." Xavier Bettel, the prime minister, to the Chamber of Deputies, referring to negotiations with London over the UK’s EU membership.

April 2016

Luxembourg has the world’s third most costly taxis, according to the Swiss bank UBS. >>> EU and US negotiators unveiled “Privacy Shield”, a data protection scheme to replace the “Safe Harbour” deal struck down by the EU’s top court. >>> Fast Track Diagnostics, which makes lab kits to test for diseases such as Ebola and malaria, won the €15,000 first place prize in Luxembourg’s Export Awards. >>> Luxembourg’s government launched SpaceResources.lu, which is a “framework” for the commercial mining of mineral-rich asteroids. >>> Last year 31% of Luxembourg internet users downloaded “a virus or other computer infection,” said a Eurostat report. >>> Retailer Ikea used loopholes in tax havens, including Luxembourg, to avoid paying more than €1bn in tax, said the EU’s Green Party. >>> Banque Internationale à Luxembourg was ordered to pay €250,000 plus interest to an unnamed French woman for letting her invest in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, Bloomberg reported. >>> 45% of single parent households had incomes below the poverty line in 2014, said Statec; 8 out of 10 are headed by women. >>> A EU court in Kirchberg said Coca-Cola could not trademark the shape of its bottles, as it was not distinctive enough. >>> The trade group Efama said 2015 was a “record year for European investment funds with all-time high net sales of €725bn,” up 11% over 2014.

World Economic Forum/swiss-image.ch/Monika Flueckiger Dustin Iskander (CC BY 2.0) Archives

TICKER

AGENCY NOT BLUE

Nvision’s work for the bottled water brand Rosport (known for its “Blue” brand of sparkling water) earned five nods at this year’s Media Awards.

CARTE BLANCHE

Full list of winners: www.delano.lu/MediaAwards2016

WHY WE NEED TO TALK

Patricia Pitsch and Jan Hanrion

INDUSTRY HONOURS A. Mike Sergonne of Nvision collecting a prize for the agency’s “The Legend” campaign for Sources Rosport B. Ierace | Dechmann + Partners was recognised twice for its work on behalf of ING C. Xavier Bettel, the prime minister, and RTL’s Nathalie Reuter, who hosted the awards ceremony D. More than 850 people attended the event

A quarter of millennials will live until they are 105. But they are only saving enough to live until they are 75. At the other end, the most senior of us have recently seen our defined contribution pensions cease to exist; they became too expensive for our employers to keep topping up. We now live in a world of 0% interest, possibly even negative interest (yes, now the bank can start charging you for holding your money). The traditional savings account is not enough to ensure the value of our money grows anymore. On top of a huge retirement shortfall, we are all living longer. We are sleepwalking right into a collective nightmare, which will only hit us once we are old and there is nothing more we can do about it. And it’s not just the young. Most people of any age don’t feel secure about pensions: will the money saved in their pension actually be there when they finally do retire? After what has happened in the finance sector, can we really blame them? The asset management industry--which pools money into certain investment areas to produce much larger returns for investors--is the only way we can plug this gap. But a sea of problematic, sometimes fearful, communication has led to the industry barely speaking with its end investors at all. Most funds never talk to the people whose very money they hold. Regulation has gone so far that the fear that they will not be appropriately understood prevents them from doing so. Industry jargon--terms that we all use, but which mean nothing outside of the

sector--makes us seem unfriendly, unapproachable, but more importantly, irrelevant to the world today. This could not come at a worse time. This is why we launched FundsTV on 29 February. It will attempt to explain in clear terms how investment funds are linked to pensions, how we deliver value, and how it all works. We are a group of volunteers from the sector itself who feel it is important to open the dialogue with the people outside it, and that’s you. We want to broaden the understanding of the fund management industry and turn the fear back into trust again. This is the first site for top leaders to share ideas, in a jargon-busting, straight talking kind of way. It is not investment advice; it’s education and conversation. And it won’t be all one-sided. We will talk about the good, the bad and the ugly. But at least we will be honest. This is a philanthropic platform--think TED-with a thought leadership edge. Our videos will never be more than 15 minutes, and our articles no longer than a page. You will understand the power of your pension in 15 minutes. You could learn why so many investment funds are located in Luxembourg in less than 10. You will see why our capital cities wouldn’t exist today without the power of real estate funds. None of this fancy stuff happens without you guys. So check us out. Rana Hein-Hartmann is Europe director with the recruitment firm Funds Partnership and founder of FundsTV. www.fundstv.net April 2016

Annabelle Denham (archives)

FundsTV strives to finally connect the asset management sector with individual investors in a meaningful way, says Rana Hein-Hartmann.

BUSINESS

SNAPSHOTS

Text by AARON GRUNWALD

Photography by STEVE EASTWOOD

FARAGE SAYS: "I’M PRO-EUROPEAN!"

e’s not against Europe, he’s just anti-EU; he likes the European Commission president personally, he just doesn’t agree with him; he’s not against all migration, he just wants it to be managed by sovereign countries. And he hopes the upcoming British referendum marks the beginning of the end for the European project. So said Nigel Farage, British MEP and head of the UK Independence Party, speaking to the British Chamber of Commerce for Luxembourg. “I am not anti-European; I’m pro- European!” Farage said, pointing to his German wife and bilingual kids. Farage admitted that he liked JeanClaude Juncker, the European Commission chief and frequent target of UKIP criticism, “as a person”. But “nobody in Europe has ever given their consent” for sovereignty “to be handed to a group of unelected old men in Brussels who have absolute power.” So Farage’s campaign goes beyond a mere Brexit: “I don’t just want Britain out of the European Union, I want Europe out of the European Union.” www.bcc.lu

April 2016

MORE HIGHLIGHTS: WWW.DELANO.LU/ FARAGETALK16

BREXIT SPEECH A. Nigel Farage takes an audience question B. Andrew Notter, Mathilde Bigot and Mina Fujihara C. Eoin McIntyre and Kenneth Hughes D. Nigel Farage outside La Table du Belvédère restaurant in Kirchberg, before addressing the British Chamber of Commerce in February E. Francis Hoogerwerf, Alison McLeod, chair of the BCC, and Kenneth Holmes F. Jan Chrillesen and Aude-Marie Breden G. Luxembourg MEP Frank Engel, who introduced Farage and served as audience Q&A moderator, with Patrick Birden and Martine Mergen H. Maximillian Vickers, Graeme Keay and Lachlan Keay I. Ross Thomson and Wayne Codd

IN A CHANGING WORLD

FAMILIES ARE FORMED AND REFORMED

TAILORED FINANCING IN MARCH SPECIAL FOR YOUR MORTGAGE Call 42 42-2000, visit a branch and go to bgl.lu

RATE The bank for a changing world

Offer subject to terms and conditions, available in branch, and acceptance of your dossier. BGL BNP PARIBAS S.A. (50, avenue J.F. Kennedy, L-2951 Luxembourg, R.C.S. Luxembourg: B 6481) Marketing Communication March 2016

BUSINESS

April 2016

MEDIA

Text by KASIA KRZYZANOWSKI

Photography by SVEN BECKER

WHEN EXPATS ARE GEOBLOCKED The geographic restrictions on online content are a constant irritation to those living in another country. Could that be changing?

5 SECRET TIPS Local expats share how they watch content from home

e’ve all seen or heard this type of annoying message when trying to watch a TV show, film or sports broadcast, or listen to a radio programme online: “We’re sorry, but this content is not available in your region.” It means we’ve been geoblocked. What exactly is geoblocking and are there ways to work around it? The classic example of geoblocking is when internet users are prevented from accessing online content owing to their geographic location, detected automatically using their internet protocol address (a type of ID number which is usually based on a specific area) or other information, usually for copyright and licensing reasons. The much-bemoaned case of Netflix providing different libraries of films and TV shows for different countries arises because of differences in content licensing. But the term can also be used to refer to other restrictions based on geographic location, such as website visitors being redirected to an online store for their country, which may offer a different selection of products, or the rights to a football match being provided only to a limited number of broadcasters in certain countries.

HEAD TO LOCAL PUB This latter situation is what drives many to catch a game at The Tube, an English-style sports pub in the centre of Luxembourg City. “Luxembourg-based TV shows only the occasional game, but for bigger English premiership games you need Sky and BT Sports,” explains the owner, Paul Simpson, from Scotland. “It’s very expensive to have the subscriptions but as a bar we can afford four satellite boxes.”

1 “TOM” FROM ENGLAND

Watch live matches: "You can use an aggregator website to find live streams of football matches and other sports from around the world."

The majority of customers are expats wanting to watch games from their home country, from Premiership football, Six Nations rugby or the American Superbowl, to more “obscure” sports such as the Handball World Cup, and the pub does its best to show them all. Simpson explains that even with a paid subscription to the two sports broadcasters, it isn’t possible to watch online without resorting to virtual private networks or unofficial streams. “Friends sometimes say ‘I’ll just try to stream the game at home’ but it might cut out or be low quality. That’s why a lot of people come out to pubs to watch.”

THE GREY MARKET Despite drumming up business for

the pub, Simpson finds the restriction of online streams to be unfair. “If you pay, it shouldn’t matter where you are, you should be able to watch anywhere,” he says. A fellow expat, “Dave” (not his real name), from England, agrees. “The most annoying are the events, like cricket, that are geoblocked from UK providers while no one here is offering any chance to view. I’d like to be able to pay the BBC licence fee and watch as normal.” He uses a VPN server to mask his geographic location and watch English TV online from home. A recent study by the European Commission showed that around 70% of Europeans download or stream films for free, both illegally and legally. But it appears that many would be happy to pay for

GEOBLOCKED MATCH Many sports fans head to a local pub to catch international broadcasts they could not view at home

April 2016

BUSINESS

MEDIA

CONTINUED

2 “FIONA” FROM IRELAND

Use your satellite from home: "We brought our Irish sky box with us only because we were bringing everything. It turns out it works here. We just plugged it in and activated our Sky subscription from Ireland."

cross-border content if this was an option. “I’d far prefer fully legal solutions than fixing things on a ‘grey market’,” says Dave.

CROSS-BORDER RIGHTS Another expat, Klaudia, from the Czech Republic, is often frustrated that she can’t watch content from home, particularly artistic productions from the national public broadcaster. “There is no option to pay for it; it’s just blocked,” she says. “It’s public TV, it’s not private, so I don’t see why when I cross the borders I’m not part of the public any more.” “Andrzej” (also not his real name), from Poland, holds a similar view: “I think lots of content is artificially divided into markets, April 2016

“RICARDO” FROM SPAIN

Get a free browser extension: "A simple way to view content from different countries is to use the free browser extension ‘Hola, a better internet’. It allows you to appear to be visiting the website from any country you choose."

due to various regulations, such as state licensing of TV programmes. But I see little sense in it if I have been a valid subscriber to some content and then choose to use it from another country.” Taking a similar stance towards access to legal content, the European Commission recently released a draft regulation that addresses this issue for travellers within the EU. Expected to be introduced in 2017, the regulation would make the cross-border portability of online content services a right for EU citizens, meaning that subscribers to these services would still be able to have full access to their content while travelling to other EU member states, even if the service is not available there. But

the commission is very clear that this only applies to temporary travel, not long-term residence in another country.

EU PROPOSAL However, there is another draft regulation currently in the works that should help meet the strong demand for cross-border content within the EU. The new proposal, due to be published later this year, will be partly based on a recent public consultation on extending the EU Satellite and Cable Directive, which facilitates copyright clearing and cross-border provision of services, to online broadcasting. It will also offer EU citizens access to a wider range of European films and other content

4 “ANDRZEJ” FROM POLAND

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by supporting the negotiation of cross-border licences, developing licensing hubs, promoting financing of subtitling and dubbing, and the development of new online tools. Nathalie Vandystadt, European Commission spokesperson for the digital single market, explains that this is not aimed only at expats, but at all EU citizens: “People are living abroad more and more, but this is also about cultural diversity and legal content,” she says. The push for better access to cross-border content seems also to be driven by the widespread use of workarounds by many tech-savvy consumers, including expats, who mask their location to access TV and films from other countries if they are unsatisfied

KLAUDIA FROM THE CZECH REPUBLIC

Take the risk out of buying online content: "I use Paypal to buy books and music online. It’s safer because if you don’t get what you ask for, you can ask Paypal to block the money."

with the local offering. Earlier this year Netflix extended its services worldwide, simultaneously entering 130 new markets. But at the same time, it announced a ban on VPNs and other technical means of watching its content from countries where it is not offered. And although preliminary details of the upcoming commission regulation focus on the wider promotion of European cultural output, it also appears to be an attempt to respond to consumers who are not happy to just sit back and accept geoblocking. In a speech last November, Andrus Ansip, the vice president of the European Commission in charge of the digital single market, said: “According to a recent survey, 22% of Europeans think it

is acceptable to download or access copyright-protected content illegally when there is no legal alternative in their country. This clearly shows how important it is to give people a legal alternative, by improving cross-border access.” Vandystadt confirms that the proposal will help the market respond to consumer demand, but not at the expense of artists and creators. “We insist that copyright is part of the solution,” she says. The challenge now will be for both the public and private sectors to develop new offers that are acceptable to both end consumers and copyright-holders, while quickly catching up with the behaviour and demands of today’s connected citizens. April 2016

BUSINESS

Text by AARON GRUNWALD

Photography by SVEN BECKER

SEARCHING FOR HIGHER STANDARDS A new group of headhunters in Luxembourg want the government to introduce rules for the recruitment sector.

NEED FOR REGULATION “Some recruitment companies do not even have an office in Luxembourg,” says Sébastien Pourbaix, head of the Federation Recruitment, Search and Selection, which is calling for the introduction of government regulation of the sector. “So they know nothing about the Luxembourg market; they don’t even know about their clients; everything is done by telephone. They don’t meet the candidates.” Today, anyone can simple get a VAT number, Pourbaix says, and then “you can be a recruiter on your sofa.”

as he heard horror stories from jobseekers? “Everyday,” says Sébastien Pourbaix, managing director of the recruitment firm Xpertize Luxembourg. “It’s important for a candidate to know where his CV is sent,” he explains. But there are many dubious job agencies in the Grand Duchy, “and I would say, a lot of black sheep are just sending CVs to clients without even talking to the candidate. So if you put your CV on Monster and you apply to a company, then the company can tell you, ‘but we already received your CV through a recruitment company’. Sometimes CVs are sent to the [current] employer of the candidate. Then you can imagine what happens.” That is one reason why his firm has joined the newly launched Federation Recruitment, Search and Selection (FR2S). Luxembourg’s headhunting sector is unregulated, says Pourbaix, who is president of the FR2S. “That means that anyone who wants to start a company can do [it] without being necessary good or experienced. This [contrasts] with the interim business, which is regulated.” FR2S is part of the 98-year old Business Federation Luxembourg (better known as Fedil), an umbrella outfit for construction, industry and services sector trade groups, which also houses the FES, the federation for temporary job recruiters.

SEARCH FIRMS Pourbaix estimates there are 60 to 70 recruitment firms for permanent positions in Luxembourg, and two dozen or so have signed up for the new federation. The FR2S plans to take action in three main areas. The April 2016

SÉBASTIEN POURBAIX Employers and jobseekers should expect added value from recruiters

first is to work with national authorities such as Adem, the state employment bureau. They hope to exchange information about difficult-to-fill vacancies. The group will also lobby for a minimum level of government regulation, for example, a requirement “to prove that you are able to do this job in a proper way before you start” by demonstrating previous experience and awareness of ethical standards. In addition the recruitment agencies want to improve the image of their industry. “It’s important for the market to understand what we do.” Finally they plan to set out best practices for

dealing with both clients and candidates, and to combat shoddy firms. “It is important for us to support candidates who had bad experiences. Because until now they have had no platform where they can complain or just inform that such a company or bad practices exists.” So they will offer advice to jobseekers; eventually they could start a mediation service. Pourbaix says: “We want to get this federation [going] because we want to outline good practice. And it includes good relations and the ability to bring added value to clients, and to candidates, by the way.”

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BUSINESS

FUNDS

Text by STEPHEN EVANS

Photography by MIKE ZENARI

BLOCKCHAIN: FRIEND OR FOE? One of the technologies behind virtual currencies like bitcoin has the potential to drastically alter the investment fund sector.

intech is the buzzword of the moment, but where are the new business applications coming from? Blockchain might be one. Some think it could threaten the livelihoods of many Luxembourg financial businesses. “In a world in which computers think billions of times faster than individual people, I humbly submit that we may not necessarily need fund managers, fund accountants, fund distributors, correspondent bankers, custodian bankers, or, I regret to say, transfer agents,” consultant and controversialist Dominic Hobson told the Irish Transfer Agency Summit in Dublin last September. He went on to say that blockchain (see box, page 40) could be central to this. The new technology enables ownership to be transferred without the need for intermediaries. “Using this technology, participants can transfer value across the internet without the need for a central third party. The buyer and seller interact directly without needing verification by a trusted third-party intermediary,” Serge Weyland, co-chair of the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry’s Digital/FinTech Forum, tells Delano. It enables lists and accounting ledgers to be maintained online, with all changes visible to all users. Digital events are recorded cryptographically, meaning they cannot be tampered with. Also, so called “smart contracts” written in computer code could trigger events such as payments when certain requirements are met, like on the completion of a task or when a certain date is reached. April 2016

Hobson talked of blockchain being central to “a shared fund distribution utility” which could “maintain a register of fund holders, open and operate beneficial owner, end-user accounts, centralise order flows, automate and standardise reference data, transfers, and commission payments, provide asset-servicing, such as income collection and distribution, settle subscriptions and redemptions on a gross basis, in real-time, in central bank money.” Other financial firms could be affected too, particularly payments specialists, clearing and settlement houses, and stock exchanges.

REAL DANGER? So is there real danger, or is this mainly consultant hyperbole? “Rather than a threat, this new technology probably represents more of an opportunity for Luxembourg,” says Steven Libby, the other co-chair of the Alfi Digital/FinTech Forum. “Blockchain technology has huge potential and will have a profound effect on the financial sector, but we are still at the earliest stage,” he adds. Xavier Buck, the president of the Luxembourg ICT Cluster and a fintech consultant, says there are signs of “too much excitement” around this technology and that “it will take a while before new players start taking big slices of the cake.” Customers, regulators and the wider market would need to be comfortable before that could happen, he reckoned. But he sees practical applications around the corner. When a bookmaker takes a bet they then seek to hedge this exposure to lock in profit or avoid the full scale of potential loss. “At the moment bookmakers use banks to help them match their bets,” states Buck, “but there is interest from the industry

FINTECH

MARC HEMMERLING AND ANDREY MARTOVOY Many questions remain wide open

April 2016

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agents and custodian banks do similar things. Could some of Luxembourg’s major businesses be about to be undermined? The global financial industry is getting involved. For example, in the banking sector Citi has built three separate internal blockchains to test international payments and trading uses. USAA is reportedly looking at how blockchain technology can decentralise back-office operations. Barclays are working with Safello, which operates an online bitcoin exchange, to test combinations of traditional banking and blockchain. Nasdaq is investigating applications for capital markets, including equity management in its pre-IPO trading marketplace. PayPal has started to accept bitcoin payments, and IBM is thought to be looking to creating its own digital currency payment system to be used with central banks. These players want to be on top of developments and, the more cynical minded would say, some might be mainly interested in diverting or even blocking progress that threatens their business.

to create their own blockchain based solution that would be cheaper, more efficient than banks, and have greater reach.”

CROSS-BORDER PAYMENTS Payment system incumbents are also set to come under pressure. Buck thinks the first movement will come in the area of remittances to developing countries, where money wire transfers currently cost up to 10%. Much of this is due to the unreliable nature of transferring information, particularly in rural areas. Blockchain has the potential for a clear, trusted, cheap solution open to anyone within a mobile communications network. For the moment at least solutions SERGE WEYLAND AND STEVEN such as these will be peripheral. LIBBY “Bitcoin transactions cost about the Luxembourg’s role as a hub could serve same as Visa,” noted the consultant blockchain world well David Birch speaking at the 3 February April 2016

Private Banking Group Luxembourg conference on fintech. Blockchain was invented to record transactions of bitcoin, and is also used by other virtual currencies. “It is not going to happen because credit cards are so simple,” comments Buck on the potential for replacing current methods of retail payment. However, it is probably closed systems run by and for users that probably have the greatest potential. The bookmaking case is a clear example, but why couldn’t this work for much of the financial sector? Stock exchanges put buyers and sellers in touch, and when this creates prices, the exchanges communicate this information. When financial securities are traded, the share and bond certificates stay in a secure vault somewhere, and ownership is reflected in ledgers held by clearing and settlement organisations. Transfer

TRANSPARENCY, PERFORMANCE “Someone may argue that blockchain enables quicker and cheaper transactions; however, one of its most valuable attributes appears to be transparency,” noted Andrey Martovoy, newly appointed fintech adviser at the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association (ABBL). However, “at this stage of technology development, the issue of scalability, as in the case of bitcoin, remains relevant.” “Blockchain could be a solution but security and performance are major questions,” agrees Marc Hemmerling, a member of the ABBL’s management board with responsibility for IT questions. “Visa and Mastercard can perform 20,000 transactions per second, but at the moment blockchain can manage just a handful,” he adds. “Existing banks confront huge technology challenges daily,” says Buck, pouring more cold water on the idea of a quick revolution. “Global regulations are a major concern, and systems have to be adapted reliably to so

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to cut financial crime are seen as a prime target for rationalisation on a shared ledger. Rather than firms working away at this fiddly, sensitive process, databases could be mutualised and shared in a highly secure fashion. “Luxembourg is uniquely positioned to take an active role in these developments by using its expertise as a hub for global distribution,” reckons Weyland.

" INNOVATIONS WILL APPEAR IN AREAS WE HAVEN’T THOUGHT ABOUT YET"

April 2016

many changes,” he adds, “which means a major move to blockchain will take a while.” There are also questions over the cost and environmental impact. “It has been estimated that the energy requirements to run bitcoin are in excess of 1GW and may be comparable to the electricity usage of Ireland,” said a report by the UK government’s chief scientific adviser--“Distributed Ledger Technology: beyond block chain”--released last year. Rather than talking about disruption, Libby sees opportunities if the industry can adapt. “One of the obvious use cases for blockchain in the asset servicing industry is for record keeping and settlement of fund subscriptions and redemptions,” he says. Reconciliations would disappear once there is a shared ledger that all parties agree upon. Know your customer rules designed

HOUSE OF FINTECH Luxembourg is seeking to embrace innovation, and a lot of heat is being generated. Industry working groups have been established, and there are initiatives such as public-private cluster the House of Fintech. “Innovation and disruption in the financial markets” is the kick-off panel discussion on the first day of this month’s Alfi Spring Conference on 8-9 March. Later in the day, the debate “Blockchain--A real disruption for the investment management industry?” “Within our Digital Banking and FinTech Innovation Cluster, we have been working with representatives of around 40 banks,” says Hemmerling. “The aim is to explore possibilities together and raise awareness with European and Luxembourgish legislators and regulators.” As well, around 120 firms which can be defined as fintech are thought to be currently working in Luxembourg, with about a dozen dealing directly on blockchain solutions. The financial services regulator, the CSSF, has sought to be encouraging, and was the first supervisory authority in Europe to grant a payment institution licence to a virtual currency operator. These are early days. “Blockchain is a type of distributed ledger, and other technologies may emerge as well,” comments Martovoy. “I think it is unlikely that existing players will be able to move their existing systems to blockchain,” says Buck, “but innovations will appear in areas we haven’t thought about yet.” It will be for start-ups and insurgents to make these work, and potentially disrupt the market.

WHY REVOLUTIONARY? Blockchain enables reliable lists to be shared between any number of users. This sounds dull but it could have major implications. For example, once a transaction takes place, the parties involved can record the details on blockchain, and all participants can see what has happened. Information can be changed or deleted, but everyone will see what has been altered and by whom. The technology was developed for bitcoin, an online currency which exists because users have perfect trust in the lists of transactions they can see and believe in. This could be revolutionary because this technology threatens many businesses which make their money keeping trustworthy lists, and matching people with shared interests. Credit and bank cards are one example. Many Luxembourg financial institutions earn a living from, basically, keeping real time lists of transactions: clearing and settlement companies, the stock exchange, transfer agents, custodian banks, etc. There are other ideas, such as tracking the authenticity and origin of items such as art works and precious stones.

XAVIER BUCK Don’t expect a rapid revolution

BUSINESS

FUNDS

Text by SARAH PITT

Photography by MIKE ZENARI

RUNNING A PORTFOLIO LOCALLY There are a small number of fund managers based here in the Grand Duchy. Three of them speak with Delano about what is different about performing the role in Luxembourg.

uxembourg is widely known as a financial centre but why is it not known as an asset management hub? How does it compare to bigger metropolises such as London and New York where there is a higher concentration of investment fund experts? According to Yves Kuhn, chief investment officer at Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, “while Luxembourg certainly has a significant fund administration sector as part of its strong financial centre, there are clear differences between it and larger centres such as London, which is clearly an asset management hub. In London, a fund manager is able to pay more attention to assets and less to administration, which allows the manager to focus on performance on a global scale. To run a fund in Luxembourg, you need to have asset management knowledge, but also a lot of administrative knowledge.” Kuhn oversees the private bank’s investment strategy and drives the asset allocation for client investments. He also has substantial experience as a fund manager. Having worked for 12 years in London and four years in Switzerland, he is able to compare Luxembourg’s situation to that of established fund management hubs. Kim Asger Olsen is of the opinion that “Luxembourg offers administrative and operational services in and around the asset management industry rather than inside it as such.” Olsen founded the asset management company Origo in 2009, which merged with Almagest April 2016

KIM OLSEN The number of portfolio managers in the Grand Duchy continues to decline

Wealth Management last September. He is known as a speaker on economic and geopolitical issues and publishes his own blog called “Economics: A closer look”.

A SHRINKING MARKET? Olsen considers that portfolio management, excluding property, in Luxembourg is a shrinking market. “Over the past 15 years, Luxembourg has lost competence in this area, beginning with the dot com bubble and accelerated by the financial crisis and the removal of banking secrecy. In my view, portfolio management

is where the financial sector has suffered the most.” Considering the positive aspects of the regulations, Mikko Ripatti says that “Luxembourg has been able to create a very comprehensive ecosystem for the investment fund industry with a very solid legal and regulatory framework. Naturally Luxembourg is more focused in the administration and international distribution of investment funds.” Ripatti was previously a fund manager at FIM Asset Management based in Helsinki before starting at DNB Asset Management in Luxembourg last June

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from the others due to language barriers,” observes Olsen. Fund companies set up funds in Luxembourg because they know that they are recognised all over the world as high-quality investment products. The Grand Duchy leads the way in investor protection and has a highly experienced and responsive regulator. Olsen finds that one of the reasons preventing Luxembourg from becoming an asset management hub is that the much tighter regulations favour larger companies.

as senior portfolio manager. He thinks that the differences between running a fund here and elsewhere are slight. “There might be some variations depending on the type of fund you run, but as a general rule I would say the differences are not that big partly thanks to modern communication technologies. Of course more investment conferences take place in London, for example. Luckily Luxembourg is very well located and it is easy to travel to other European cities if needed.” Kuhn compares the differences in terms of the kinds of funds run out of the Grand Duchy. “Luxembourg’s April 2016

fund sector has a significant retail fund administration component. There are fewer asset classes available here. In London or New York City you can find a wider range of investment possibilities and specialised asset classes. In general, due to the abundance of resources, pure asset management is still more in the limelight in London or New York.” In some respects Luxembourg is considered to be at a disadvantage. “The mv management here are French, whereas the language of the financial sectors across the globe is English. This results in a segmentation

A FUTURE HUB? “If you want the industry to be agile, to grow and to attract talent, you need to support the small companies administratively and lighten their regulative burden. Personally, I would like to see more people have the guts to set up a small company that will create jobs. But I have the impression that everybody here believes that big is good,” states Olsen. On the other side, Kuhn reckons that “more and more asset managers have a presence in Luxembourg, as it is becoming seen as the gateway to European fund distribution. The fact that fund administration and distribution is becoming increasingly competitive--in particular due to margin pressure through digitalisation--steers Luxembourg towards integration further up the asset management chain. This will ensure sustainable growth.” Ripatti is also positive regarding the future of asset management in Luxembourg as long as it remains reactive to changing circumstances: “Fintech or technological advances are bringing a lot of changes also to the asset management industry, but I think the Luxembourgish fund industry is very aware of that and everybody is working hard for continued future success.”

LUXEMBOURG FUND SECTOR According to the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry, there were more than €3.5trn in net assets under management in Grand Duchy domiciled funds at the end of last December, an increase of 13.29% from 1 January 2015. That makes Luxembourg the largest investment fund centre in Europe and the second largest investment fund management market in the world after the US. The Grand Duchy is the largest global distribution centre for investment funds, with its funds offered in more than 70 countries around the world. www.alfi.lu

MIKKO RIPATTI There are few dayto-day differences in running a fund in Luxembourg

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HAHN AIRPORT SALE The region’s airports continue to add flights. Will capacity grow too?

he local low cost airline hub Frankfurt Hahn is up for sale, and an agreement could be announced soon, the German press are reporting. Two or three groups of investors are thought to be interested, and they are “mostly or exclusively Chinese” said the 22 February edition of the Rhein-Zeitung newspaper. Other details are equally vague. Will the airport remain a low cost airline specialist? Will there be a move towards air freight services? Could the airport be closed and redeveloped for other uses? This is a political question too, as Hahn is owned jointly by the Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse state governments. A move away from current services at Hahn would appear unlikely given passenger numbers in excess of 2.7m last year. This figure was 9% higher than 2014 and the trend continued with an 11% increase in January 2016. Airport management have spoken about serving 50 destinations this summer. But is this growth sustainable? The magazine CargoForwarder Global reported that Rhineland-Palatinate state could be willing to pay €25m to the purchaser to offset operating losses.

CHARLEROI AND LORRAINE These are good times for air travellers in and around Luxembourg. The second terminal at Charleroi airport is to be enlarged as current infrastructure is creaking under the weight of nearly 7m passengers last year, an 8% year-on-year increase. Work is due to start in March and be completed at the end of the year. The investment is less than originally planned, however, as the European April 2016

Commission ruled as illegal perceived state subsidies for this project. Also, runway upgrading work is on-going at Lorraine Airport (formerly Metz-Nancy-Lorraine airport), 90km to the south of Luxembourg City. A relative minnow with 257,661 passengers last year, it remains to be seen if this new investment will lead to more services.

FINDEL This is not to forget the moves at Findel itself. There are now daily flights to Lyon with the airline Hop! and Lot Polish Airlines has opened

FRANKFURT HAHN AIRPORT More passengers checking-in

a service to Warsaw. Ryanair is still rumoured to be considering services to Luxembourg, and a direct links to the east and west coasts of the US are also said to be under investigation. Not to forget Luxair, with a new spring connection to Prague, and more services planned to Stockholm and Copenhagen in 2016. A record 2.7m passengers used Findel last year, an 8.8% increase on 2014. Given that capacity is put at 3m there are moves to reopen Terminal B by 2017 or 2018. This extension has been in mothballs since Terminal A opened in 2008.

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BUSINESS

LEGAL

Text by KASIA KRZYZANOWSKI

Photography by MIKE ZENARI

BREAKING THE CODE Expats arriving from countries with the common law tradition can often get confused by the continent’s Napoleonic code. A look at Luxembourg’s legal system.

rom the absence of juries in the courtroom to paying your own legal fees even if you win, many aspects of Luxembourg’s legal system can come as a surprise to expats from English-speaking countries, where common law is the norm. For instance, the aggressive cross-examinations by lawyers and gasping juries that we all know from American courtroom dramas are nowhere to be found here. “The courtroom process before the civil and commercial courts, and especially with respect to labour law cases, is normally very unspectacular,” explains Philippe Ney, who studied law in both Strasbourg and Glasgow, and now is an employment attorney with Kleyr Grasso, a law firm in Luxembourg City. “Although witness statements are commonly used in labour law cases, they are in principle already written down beforehand and exchanged between the parties before the hearing.” In common law systems, lawyers present the case and their arguments before the judge, who acts as a referee, making the final decision based on precedent, or how previous judges ruled on similar cases. However, in Luxembourg’s civil law system, it is the judge who has “a real role to play,” as Henri Eippers, spokesperson for the Luxembourg Judicial Administration, describes it. Lawyers can only direct their questions to the judge, who may choose to ask it to the witness, with the witness facing the judge to answer. And instead of a final judgement announced in the courtroom: “Decisions are made after the hearing and explained in April 2016

writing, which takes about three weeks,” explains Eippers. With differences between the two legal systems affecting all areas of law, misunderstandings and surprises can be a common experience for individuals and businesses coming from common law countries. However, an understanding of the basic organisation of Luxembourg’s civil law and how it functions can help expats avoid any potential bumps in the road.

DIFFERENT SOURCES The differences between the two systems go much deeper than courtroom procedure, to the main source of law. The Grand Duchy’s legal system is derived from the Napoleonic code, the French civil code created in 1804 (when Luxembourg was ruled by Paris) to replace the earlier feudal laws and customs used across France. In the civil law system, used in 150 countries worldwide, comprehensive codes are designed to cover all situations and the role of the judge is to investigate the case and apply the right codes to decide it. The common law system is an older, English development, dating to 1066 when the ruling monarchs began to unite the country, drawing on different customs and traditions to create one “common” law. Now used in 80 countries and encompassing much of the English-speaking world--including Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand and most of

the UK and US--common law puts the emphasis on jurisprudence, or previous cases. “Judicial cases are the most important source of law, which gives an active role to the judge in developing rules,” explains Amélie Bagnès, a lawyer at Loyens & Loeff who deals with many companies from the US. “To ensure consistency, courts refer to precedent cases set by higher courts which dealt with the same issue. By contrast, the Luxembourg jurisdiction is based on civil law and judges have a more limited role of applying the law. Previous decisions are used more as guidance.” Despite this fundamental difference in the source of law, the two systems can at times appear similar. “Civil law is codified but judges are still annotating it; the law can’t say everything that needs to be said,” notes Louise Benjamin, founder of Benjamin Law Firm in the capital. She studied at Cambridge and first qualified in the UK before being called to the Luxem bourg Bar in 2008. Ney agrees: “It’s difficult to draw a clear line because in grey zones where the law gives no answers or is not clear, we would rely on case law.” Both lawyers also note the strong influence of EU law, which is applied in member states regardless of whether they use common or civil law. “The difference between the systems is more important for lawyers,” concludes Benjamin. “We might come to the same decision but by very different routes.”

" THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SYSTEMS IS MORE IMPORTANT FOR LAWYERS." LOUISE BENJAMIN

PERSONAL BUSINESS

April 2016

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" ALL HEARINGS ARE PUBLIC AND ANYONE CAN GO BE IN THE AUDIENCE." HENRI EIPPERS

April 2016

UNEXPECTED BUREAUCRACY Due to the differences between the systems, expats can sometimes come up against some unwelcome surprises. “The fact that even if you win in court you still pay your own costs is outrageous, in my opinion,” says one expat, who prefers not to be named. Ney acknowledges that this is the case. “You cannot submit an invoice from your lawyer and expect the other side to pay,” he explains, noting that this can help to encourage settlements. The length of cases is another sore point, with a regular case involving a dispute between an employer and employee taking three years on average for the full and final judgement including the appeal procedure, according to Ney. The level of bureaucracy can also be difficult for expats to deal with. “English-speaking clients often complain that the system is bureaucratic and slow, that they need stamps,” states Benjamin. “Clients never understand the notary system; here everything is at the notary or needing a certificate such as the extrait du casier judiciaire, which doesn’t even exist in England,” she says of the document that can be roughly translated as a “police record certificate”.

These surprises can affect companies as well as individuals. One that often comes up with foreign firms is the principle of the accepted invoice between traders, which assumes that all the terms of an invoice have been accepted by the recipient if they do not contest it within four to eight weeks. “This is one of the most important means of proof in commercial matters in Luxembourg,” says Bagnès. Another difference is on who holds the burden of proof. “In the US there is a process during the court proceedings called discovery where, once granted by the judge, parties must exchange all documentation, so the judge has the full picture of the case. But this doesn’t exist in Luxembourg,” explains Bagnès. This can make things difficult for the accusing party. “The claimant has the burden of proof. He may ask the judge to force the other party to produce documents, but it is rarely granted and restricted.” But some companies do come across unexpected positives. “A pleasant surprise is that they can do a lot of work in English,” says Benjamin. Companies setting up in Luxembourg can use English as the binding language of their statutes, and can even choose to use the pound as their company currency, a level of choice not offered in the UK.

CONTRACTS AND PROCEDURES How should ordinary citizens navigate the legal system when facing a problem, for example with an employer or a landlord? An important thing to keep in mind is the court’s emphasis on contracts and procedures rather than on the individual specifics of a case. In a dispute with your landlord, for example, a tenant may want to stop paying rent until the complaint is addressed, but this would provide grounds for termination of the contract. “The deadline for payment is written in the contract,” explains Eippers, meaning that late payment could allow the landlord to ask for a court order to evict the tenant, or to request seizure of the tenant’s salary.

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BUSINESS

LEGAL

CONTINUED

In the case of being dismissed by an employer without reason, there is a specific procedure to follow. After receiving notice, an employee has one month to ask the employer for their reasons, and the employer then has one month to reply in writing. “The reasons must be real and serious and concrete examples must be provided by the employer,” notes Bagnès, otherwise the employee would be entitled to compensation. If no reasons are provided, the dismissal would be automatically considered wrongful by the judge. In these types of cases, both employee and employer have the option of defending themselves in court, although in practice most use a lawyer.

"EVEN FOR REGULAR CITIZENS, THE CIVIL LAW SYSTEM COULD BE CONSIDERED AS AN ADVANTAGE." AMÉLIE BAGNÈS

April 2016

MORE ACCESSIBLE? Efforts are made to make the legal process accessible and transparent to all. “All hearings are public and anyone can go be in the audience,” says Eippers. As in other areas of Luxembourg life, there are three official court languages, Luxembourgish, French and German, and all three could be used in one hearing, depending on the participants. “An interpreter is provided for people who don’t speak one of these languages,” explains Eippers. The final decision is written by the judge in French only, but will normally be translated for those who don’t understand the language. Beyond the courtroom, Luxembourg’s legal system can be accessible to citizens in other ways. “Even for regular citizens, the civil law system could be considered as an advantage,” says Bagnès, with clear and accessible provisions and less room given to case law. Ney agrees: “Here, as a citizen you can even defend yourself without a lawyer depending on the level of jurisdiction and the type of claim, and you can find all the laws on the internet [in the Official Journal of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg]. With case law, it would be much more difficult to prepare on your own because of the difficulties in getting access to the source.”

THE JUDICIARY Luxembourg’s court system is organised into a two-tiered pyramid, with cases against individuals and companies in one tier, and cases against any level of administration in a separate tier. There are three magistrate’s courts (justices de paix) located around the country that deal with civil and commercial matters of lesser importance, two district courts that deal with civil, commercial and criminal matters, and at the top, the Supreme Court of Justice, located on the St. Esprit Plateau in Luxembourg City, which is home to the Court of Cassation, Court of Appeal, and Public Prosecutor’s Office. Most minor matters would be heard in a magistrate’s court, but all complaints against an administration are heard in the separate Administrative Tribunal, above which is the Administrative Court. At every level, the principle of double degré de juridiction applies, which means that it is always possible to appeal the judge’s decision and have the matter adjudicated in the next level of court, with an exception made only for small amounts (less than €1,250-2,000 depending on the tribunal).

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BUSINESS

Text by AARON GRUNWALD

Photography by JAN HANRION

A BLOOMING MARKET

GET THE PICTURE

71%

Number of floral shops in Luxembourg selling cut flowers. (3)

42,707 TONNES Flowers made up 4.8% of the total tonnes flown by Cargolux last year.

€60 SPRING FLOWERS

Between Easter and Mother’s Day, springtime means big business for European fresh flower sellers. (1) (2) That is certainly the case in Luxembourg, where annual consumption of cut flowers per person “is nearly twice the number than” the rest of the Greater Region, according to Andreas Löbke of CO Concept, a marketing consultancy in Luxembourg City. It is also a busy time for one of the Grand

April 2016

Duchy’s major employers. “The transport of flowers is a small, but very important part of our product portfolio,” says a spokeswoman for Cargolux. The Findel-based freight airline flies from growing hubs like Bogota, Nairobi and Quito to Amsterdam, where major flower auctions are held. “We generally have increased demand for flower transportation” surrounding Mother’s Day. Across Europe roses remain the most popular flower for

Amount spent annually on cut flowers per head in Luxembourg, compared to €38 in Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland, €30 in Belgium and €28 in Lorraine. (3) The average across the entire EU is €27. (1)

MOTHER’S DAY

Celebrated in Ireland and the UK on 6 March; in Belgium, Germany and the US on 8 May; in France on 29 May; and in Luxembourg on 12 June this year. (5)

Sources: (1) International Florist Organisation; (2) International Trade Centre; (3) CO Concept; (4) Cargolux; (5) timeanddate.com. All figures are from the most recent year available.

Luxembourg consumers who buy cut flowers-69% of men and 74% of women. (3)

Or takeaway. Access the Paperjam Guide universe wherever you are on guide.paperjam.lu

BUSINESS

MEDIA

Text by AARON GRUNWALD

UNSAFE DONATIONS How a Luxembourg firm’s overseas lobbying effort backfired.

Luxembourg media company has made illegal political campaign contributions in California for the second time, according to an NGO in Los Angeles. In documents filed with California state authorities, the Aids Healthcare Foundation says that MindGeek--which is based in Luxem bourg City and runs several of the world’s largest adult entertainment websites--improperly paid penalties on behalf of a political campaign committee and industry executive. That amounts to another illegal contribution, since the fines should not have been paid by a firm headquartered in the Grand Duchy, the foundation believes. “There is little difference between MindGeek’s actions and a convicted embezzler who uses embezzled funds to pay off a fine for embezzlement,” Michael Weinstein, president of the Aids Healthcare Foundation, stated in a press release.

LOCAL REFERENDUM The complaint stemmed from the long history behind “Measure B”, a local referendum also known as “the County of Los Angeles Safer Sex in the Adult Film Industry Act” (see timeline). The measure was backed by the Aids Healthcare Foundation, which is both an advocacy group and operator of healthcare clinics and research programmes. The referendum was opposed by a campaign outfit called “No on Government Waste”. This committee was linked with the Free Speech Coalition, a pornography industry trade association. A press release dated 10 September 2012 on the FSC website, for example, is titled: “The Free Speech Coalition is pleased to introduce the ‘No on Government April 2016

Waste--No on Measure B’ campaign staff.” Indeed, both organisations were headed by the same woman, Diane Duke. Measure B was passed by voters in 2012 and requires adult entertainment performers to use condoms while making porn films in Los Angeles county. According to California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, a government agency, the anti-Measure B group illegally took $343,293 from foreign sources during the campaign. The foreign donor was, ultimately, the Luxembourg-based company, which at the time was called Manwin and now is MindGeek. On its website, MindGeek said it had more than 100m daily visitors and more than

1,000 employees. It listed office locations in Luxembourg City-Centre and in Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, the UK and US.

"THERE IS LITTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MINDGEEK’S ACTIONS AND A CONVICTED EMBEZZLER WHO USES EMBEZZLED FUNDS TO PAY OFF A FINE FOR EMBEZZLEMENT." MICHAEL WEINSTEIN

In December of last year, the Fair Political Practices Commission issued fines of $61,500 for breaking state rules; this included $32,000 against the campaign committee and Duke personally, and the rest against MindGeek.

JANUARY 2012 Roughly 90% of all adult movies made in the US are produced in Los Angeles County, according to an Associated Press report.

MEASURE B

APRIL 2012 More than 230,000 Los Angeles County residents sign an initiative, supported by the Aids Healthcare Foundation, calling for porn actors to wear condoms. This results in “Measure B” being placed on the county’s ballot in the autumn.

The watchdog’s “investigation did uncover the true source of the funds and the decisions to make such payments came from foreign headquarters and personnel, a violation of California law”, Jay Wierenga, communications director of the Fair Political Practices Commission, told Delano. The fine was nearly the maximum allowed by law, he explained, to “send a message that foreign money in California elections wouldn’t be tolerated”.

SECOND COMPLAINT But the story does not end there. In February the Aids Healthcare Foundation accused MindGeek of illegally paying the entire penalty--in effect reimbursing the trade group and its former executive for the cost of

paying their share of the fine. In a formal complaint to the California watchdog, the foundation argued: “It is the FPPC’s duty to protect Californians from foreign entities like MindGeek that openly flaunt one of the state’s most important campaign laws.” The Aids Healthcare Foundation sent Delano a scanned copy of a $61,500 cheque from MindGeek to the state, but Wierenga would not confirm its authenticity. The communications director explained that he was limited by California regulations on what information he could disclose. Wierenga did state: “We’ve received that complaint and, as with any and all complaints, it is taken under review by the Enforcement Division to

JULY 2012 The Free Speech Coalition, a porn industry trade group headed by Diane Duke, helps form the “No on Government Waste” committee, which opposes Measure B.

SEPTEMBER 2012 Manwin, a Luxembourg-based adult entertainment firm, provides more than a third of the funding for “No on Government Waste” committee, partially through Manwin subsidiaries in Cyprus and the US.

determine if it has merit and, if so, then an investigation would begin and a case would be opened. If the complaint is deemed to not have merit, it would be dismissed.” Later he added “that every complaint that asks for ‘reconsideration’ has to, per regulation, go up to the executive director for a decision on whether to reconsider and that process is still underway.”

"WHY SUCH A COMPANY IS NOT ALLOWED TO CONTRIBUTE, I DO NOT UNDERSTAND." FABIAN THYLMANN

“Any contributions in relation to the payment of civil penalties were made in accordance with the rules

AUGUST 2014 The Los Angeles Times reports the number of adult films made in Los Angeles County has “plummeted about 90%” since Measure B was enacted.

NOVEMBER 2012 Voters pass Measure B by 57% to 43%.

OCTOBER 2013 Founder Fabian Thylmann sells Manwin to members of his management team; the firm is renamed MindGeek.

April 2016

BUSINESS

MEDIA

CONTINUED

set forth by the California Fair Political Practices Commission last year,” Eric Paul Leue, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, told Delano. “There’s absolutely no merit to Aids Healthcare Foundation’s latest complaint. Its intended effect is entirely political, and not factual. The FPPC will dismiss it quickly.” In one of several subsequent emails, Leue stressed that: “The FSC itself was never a party in the complaint, fine, or settlement.”

"THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NO MERIT TO AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION’S LATEST COMPLAINT. ITS INTENDED EFFECT IS ENTIRELY POLITICAL, AND NOT FACTUAL." ERIC PAUL LEUE

Delano was unable to locate Duke to request comment (Leue said that “Ms. Duke moved on from the FSC after nine years of outstanding work, and is no longer available for

comment. Any questions about this should be addressed to FSC”). However Duke conceded her involvement in documents filed with the California political watchdog in December.

"FOREIGN ENTITY" At press time, MindGeek had not returned Delano’s messages seeking comment. Fabian Thylmann, the company’s CEO until 2013, answered Delano’s first email in six minutes. He is no longer involved with MindGeek, so only agreed to speak from his personal perspective and not the firm’s. Thylmann conceded that the company had made administrative errors but blames the complexity of California’s rules. “I have to say simply: multiple US-based companies of Manwin, MindGeek now, do a lot of business in California and other parts of the USA.” “The fine to me seems a technicality. We made the mistake of sending the money from one of the

JULY 2015 The Aids Healthcare Foundation files a complaint with California’s Fair Political Practices Commission against the anti-Measure B group’s foreign funding.

DECEMBER 2015 The FPPC issues fines of $61,500 against Measure B opponents for breaking state rules; this includes $32,000 levied against the “No on Government Waste” committee and Diane Duke personally. MindGeek pays the entire fine. Duke leaves the FSC at the end of the month.

April 2016

foreign entities. We should have done so from Manwin USA, Inc. or another one of our US entities,” Thylmann said. “Those US companies were fully based in the US, had [a] US workforce, over 200 people worked in the US for Manwin, US customers, paid US taxes and were impacted directly and indirectly by the law in question. This is the company that contributed, in my eyes at least, wherever the cashflow originated. So why such a company is not allowed to contribute, I do not understand.” Thylmann also stated: “The new case, from what I read, sounds like MindGeek in the US did pay the fine, but they argue that it is a daughter company of MindGeek SARL in Luxembourg. But I can hardly imagine that a company in the US, doing business in the US, paying taxes in the US and having customers in the US, is not allowed to pay this just because it is owned by a foreign entity?”

FEBRUARY 2016 The Aids Healthcare Foundation files a new complaint with California state authorities, stating that MindGeek illegally paid the full fine. The FPPC says it will investigate.

NOVEMBER 2016 A statewide referendum, also spearheaded by the Aids Healthcare Foundation, will determine if the same condom rules should apply to porn production across all of California.

LOS ANGELES The county of Los Angeles has an area of more than 12,000 square kilometres (making it nearly five times bigger than Luxembourg) and a population of about 10m people, including the 3.8m or so who live in the city of Los Angeles.

Benjamin Champenois Neon Tommy/Rosa Trieu (CC BY-SA 2.0) Aids Healthcare Foundation Paul Keller (CC BY 2.0)

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BUSINESS

AGENDA

TEN EVENTS

Delano presents a selection of upcoming business and networking events for Luxembourg’s international community. Advance registration and fees may be required, so consult the website indicated for full details. Events are held in English unless otherwise noted. GLOBAL RISKS

BENELUX DAY 2016

Mon 14 March

Thu 17 - Fri 18 March

Amcham

OWASP

During this luncheon Jonathan Wood of Control Risks presents his consultancy’s “RiskMap 2016” which outlines “major risks that organisations may face in the year ahead”. Parc Alvisse Hotel, Luxembourg-Dommeldange, 12:00

Conference and training workshops put on by the International Open Source Security Association. Entry is free, but space is limited and advanced registration required. Maison du Savoir, University of Luxembourg, Esch-Belval, all day

www.amcham.lu

www.owasp.org

ANALYTICS ADVANTAGE

SPEECH SKILLS

Tue 15 March

Mon 21 - Tue 22 - Wed 23 March

www.paperjam.club

Toastmasters

Tommy Lenhert of SAS hosts a workshop where “the era of analytics will be rendered approachable and a clear view on strategic adoption will be shown in practice and results.” Neimënster, Luxembourg-Grund, 14:00-17:15

US ROADSHOW

Mon 18 - Thu 21 April

Chamber of Commerce www.cc.lu

Tue 12 - Wed 13 April Alfi

www.alfi.lu

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry hosts three seminars for hedge fund specialists on the “reserved alternative investment fund” on America’s east coast. New York City and Greenwich, Connecticut

ANNUAL MEETING

The official trade mission to the former Yugoslav nations features “Doing business with Luxembourg” seminars, locally arranged one-to-one meetings, and networking events. Zagreb and Belgrade

WOMEN & WEALTH

Wed 20 April

Wed 13 April

The Network

British Chamber of Commerce

Women “shape the rules that govern the global economy. But overall men still do more risk-taking. Why is that? Many say they lack confidence about investing.” Venue to be announced, 19:30

www.bcc.lu

This is the chamber’s annual general meeting; after all the formalities have been concluded, members will take part in a networking cocktail. EY, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, 18:00

ASSET SERVICING

www.district59.eu

Bossuet Gaveliers, Casemates and Green Heart Club are three of the Toastmasters public speaking groups in Luxembourg that each meet two evenings a month. No need to be a native Anglophone. Click on “Go to…” on website for venues and times

CROATIA & SERBIA

www.thenetwork.lu

NEWCOMERS COURSE Sat 30 April

Amcham

www.amcham.lu

Wed 13 April Alfi

www.alfi.lu

This “leading edge conference” on asset services provides best practices for depositories, management companies and other executives. Speakers include Martin Dobbins of State Street. RBC building, Esch-Belval, all day

An orientation course for recently arrived employees and family members from non-EU countries. The six-hour class is free (including lunch) but advanced registration is required. Chamber of Commerce, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, 09:30

your FARE real estate partner sales · rentals · commercial · residential www.FARE.LU · t. 26 897 897

April 2016

YOUR EVENT IS MISSING? If your organisation’s upcoming event belongs on this page, let us know the details: news@delano.lu

Maison Moderne archives Mark Ittleman (CC BY 2.0) European Commission

Looking into the future of financial services

www.horizonconference.lu

TUESDAY, 14 JUNE 2016 From 8.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m.

The sixth edition of the Horizon Conference will put the spotlight on innovative ideas and disruptive trends, and illustrate their importance as drivers of growth. With PIERRE GRAMEGNA, the Luxembourg Minister of Finance, as guest speaker

Organized by

Media sponsor

Conference sponsor

PHILHARMONIE LUXEMBOURG

BUSINESS

Text by TONYA STONEMAN

Photography by LALA LA PHOTO

SLEIGHT OF HAND Police detective Tom Schmitz manipulates photos to reveal the truth.

hen Tom Schmitz isn’t following clues to track down criminals, he follows his intuition out of the world of crime to places that you’d have to see to believe. Thankfully, he’s an amateur photographer and spends his spare time making that possible. A native Luxembourger, Schmitz grew up in Wiltz, the picturesque town in the north of Luxembourg that has been hosting a well-known open-air culture festival every summer for the past 63 years. He went to study in Belgium and met and married an English girl from Southport, with whom he has two daughters. In 1996, he joined the military and was stationed in Diekirch. He became a gendarme in 1999 with the last group to be commissioned before they merged with the police. Today he is a criminal investigator who deals predominately with burglaries and property crime. The work is fairly routine: thieves break in through windows and doors, steal mainly 18 carat gold and valuable jewellery, then exit the homes within five to ten minutes. “It’s difficult to catch the burglars,” Schmitz says. “They get in quickly. But when we have a lead, things get interesting. The major concern is people’s feeling of violation. Most victims have more of a problem with that than they do with the theft.” To escape his work routine, Schmitz travels to beautiful places with his camera. He doesn’t sell his photographs--just puts them on his website for others to enjoy. “I was always interested in photography,” he says. “But I really discovered it as a hobby in 2010. I bought a Nikon D700 and taught myself.” For Schmitz, photography is “the whole package”. He enjoys scouting April 2016

MY OTHER LIFE

out a location, getting there, working with his camera and trying to publish in a digital format what he saw with his naked eye. “Landscapes are interesting and huge. There’s a dynamic range you have to cover that is not possible in a single shot,” he explains. “A mountain range will have dark patches, while the sky above has parts that are very light. You can get a technically good shot, but technology has its limitations. Pictures don’t get what I see with my own eyes, so I have to play tricks with them.” By blending a few photographs into one, he can overcome digital barriers and capture the dynamic range involved. The result is stunning: fairytale pictures of Luxembourg in the fog with pale sunlight reflected on rooftops, mysterious photos of nature parks that could only exist in the pages of a JRR Tolkien story. Castles, and rock formations and blazing skies and roads that seem to lead to eternity. The images are surreal, but not artificial. Pictures that, in the hands of this artisan sleuth, will make your eyes play tricks on you.

TOM SCHMITZ Photography is the whole package tomschmitzphotography.lu

UPFRONT

LIFESTYLE TIME OUT The importance of a good night’s sleep has been in the news recently and was even the subject of Delano’s health column in our February edition (page 82). But what about taking a power sleep during the day? Help is at hand with Relax Time, a siesta salon with zero gravity chairs and shiatsu and hydro massage beds that not only allow customers a quick sleep but also help relieve aches and pains in specific problem areas of the body. Where: Relax Time, 26 rue du Curé, Luxembourg-Centre Info: www.relaxtime.lu

PEDAL POWER Tour de France winner Andy Schleck has opened his own cycling shop in Itzig, and the word is that it is a topnotch retail space with great service. The shop, in a converted barn, sells bicycles from just three brands-Trek, Cervelo and Focus--as well as clothing and accessories, and there’s even a café. Schleck works there full time alongside a team of salesmen and mechanics providing after-sales service. He has also incorporated a cycling school. Where: Andy Schleck Cycles, 3 rue des Prés, Itzig Info: www.asc.lu

BAR NATIONAL Ture Hedberg has opened the Bar National inside the Théâtre National du Luxembourg. The bar will now not only serve drinks on nights when there is a TNL performance, but will host its own events when the theatre is “dark”. A veteran of the nightlife scene, Hedberg’s ventures, from The Playground and The Elevator in the 1990s to Konrad Café, have all enjoyed a cult following. The new venue promises to be a cool alternative live venue. Where: Bar National, 194 route de Longwy, Luxembourg-Merl Info: on Facebook

April 2016

EMBRACING THE IRISH

e all know that there is no escaping St. Patrick’s Day. No matter where you are in the world, Ireland’s national day is a ubiquitous celebration that requires expats from the Emerald Isle, as well as anyone with the merest sniff of Irish heritage, to drink copious amounts of Guinness, wear a stout-branded top hat and dye their hair green. “The merest sniff of Irish heritage”, by the way, means any non-Irish citizen who has even unwittingly heard U2 on the radio, watched a film in which Brendan Gleeson has made perhaps the most fleeting appearance, or gleefully cheered on the Irish rugby team against the English or the French. Nobody, it seems, is exempted from celebrating Paddy’s--and not just on the 17th of March either. Oh no, when an Irish person asks “what are you doing for St. Patrick’s?”, they are not referring to the day itself but to a week long visit to the pub during which the drinking is only interrupted by a full Irish breakfast or a bowl of stew. Luxembourg, of course, embraces the Irish celebrations like any other city. The Pyg, The Black Stuff and Urban have been the focal points for the informal craic for many years. And the Irish Club of Luxembourg hosts its own event, helpfully on Friday 18 March, at the scout hut in Cents. The party features live music by Danny Boland and Eileen Hogan & Clan, and guests can also enjoy Irish food, including smoked salmon, and drinks. But such is the love of Ireland in Luxembourg that even in the provinces locals are celebrating. Betzdorf for instance is hosting a concert by “Ireland’s newest balladeers” The Kilkennys on the 17th at its Syrkus culture centre. In fact, Irish culture abounds in March. Comedian Dylan Moran performed to a sell-out crowd at the Esch theatre, while den Atelier hosted a double bill featuring Kodaline and All Tvvins. And, of course, Dudelange holds its very own Zeltik festival on 12 March, including Irish traditional band Beoga, and the brilliantly named dance troupe The Danceperados of Ireland (yes, they are based in Germany). Lala La Photo Steve Eastwood

VEGAN CHOICE Benito Florio’s new venue serves vegan food “in its purest state”, Rawdish opened in early February and aims to provide customers “with the best taste while minimising our impact on the environment.” So the kitchen uses local ingredients as much as possible. Diners can choose between a base product (rice, lentils, pasta, etc.) and a choice of toppings. There is also a selection of cold press juices. An online order and delivery service is in the pipeline. Where: Rawdish, 9-11 avenue de la Porte-Neuve, Luxembourg-Centre Info: www.rawdish.bio

GRAND DUCHY FILES

Perfect weekenrdioto let fantasy run t

so what better way grind from time to time,ek fandom and watch ily da the e ap esc to ed e of ge We all ne wn and party, enjoy a slic than to let your hair do a steamy opera?

Diary

FRIDAY 15.4 - 10 P.M.

SAMPLE LOCAL WINES

PACKAGE FREE GROCERIES

Luxembourg’s first packaging-free organic grocery store is scheduled to open in the summer. Ouni (Organic Unpackaged Natural Ingredients) meaning “without” in Luxembourgish, will be run as a cooperative and membership is still open. The location has not yet been finalised, but Delano will keep readers up to date. www.ouni.lu

National Institute of Health/Wikemedia Commons Lala La Photo

DOGS ON SHOW

The popular International Dog Show takes place at Luxexpo over the weekend of 26 and 27 March. Hosted twice a year by the Luxembourg Canine Federation, the show attracts pedigree entries from all over the world eager to display their best behaviour and perfect grooming to the audience and a panel of international judges. www.uchl.lu

If you don’t yet know the secret to enjoying life in Luxembourg, then head to the Spring Fair at Luxexpo and sample a selection of wines from the Moselle valley. The fair is a veritable treasure trove for anyone interested in locally produced wines and vintners are more than happy to let visitors have a free tasting (a “happy” customer, after all, will order more). www.luxexpo.lu

NIGHT TRAINS

Transport minister François Bausch has unveiled plans for two late night train services. The trains will operate at weekends up to 3 a.m. and will run between the capital city and Troisvierges (via Ettelbruck) and also to EschAlzette via Bettembourg. www.cfl.lu

VIDE-GRENIER SEASON A new season of the vide-grenier second-hand sales starts on Sunday 3 April. Organised by the Ville de Luxembourg, the sales allow individuals to set up a stand and sell unwanted second-hand items. This year registration criteria has changed to allow more people to participate-bookings can be made only one month before the next vide-grenier and individuals

can only register for one sale each season. The videgrenier takes place on place Guillaume II every first Sunday (apart from May, when it is on the 8th) from April to October. www.vdl.lu

DANCE TO THE NOUGHTIES… …at MillenniuMadness, the latest decade night run by party crew Hootenanny--a collective of DJs, VJs and lighting wizards who have already created memorable 80s and 90s nights and now focus on the 2000s. Where: Rockhal, Esch-Belval Info: www.rockhal.lu

CASINO REOPENS, WITH CAFÉ

The Casino contemporary art forum will house a new café when it reopens after refurbishment on 23 March. Ca(fé)sino will be a chic brasserie serving “elegant French cuisine with a modern twist”. It will be open for Sunday brunch and will host themed evenings on Thursdays. www.casino-luxembourg.lu

SUMO ON SHOW

SATURDAY 16.4 - 3 P.M.

LET OUT THE INNER GEEK… …at the annual Luxcon festival. The celebration of science-fiction and fantasy features guest stars and speakers, conferences and games and, of course, Cosplay. Where: Schungfabrik, Tetange Info: www.luxcon.lu

Luxembourg graffiti artist Sumo has a new show of work at Wildgen, Partners in Law on boulevard de la Pétrusse. Titled Bubblelicious, the show runs until 29 April and can be visited by appointment on tel.: 40 49 60 1. www.wildgen.lu

SUNDAY 17.4 - 5 P.M. SEE STEAMY OPERA...

…in the form of Richard Strauss’s Salome. A co-production with Deutsche Oper Berlin, and with the OPL, this features Catherine Nagelstad in the title role and Michael Volle as John The Baptist. Where: Grand Théâtre, rond-point Schuman, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg Info: www.theatres.lu April 2016

LIFESTYLE

SNAPSHOTS

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

Photography by LALA LA PHOTO

Epic receives premier

MORE PREMIER PICS: WWW.DELANO.LU/SUNSET SONG

cclaimed British director Terence Davies was in Luxem bourg in early March to attend the premier screening of his film Sunset Song starring Agyness Deyn, Kevin Guthrie and Peter Mullan. Co-produced by Iris Film, much of Sunset Song was shot in Luxembourg. It also features a clutch of actors from the international community and technical crew including costume designer Uli Simon, make up by Katja Reinert, production manager Solveig Harper and music by Grammy award winner Gast Waltzing. Davies says the novel by Lewis Grassic Gibbon from which the film is adapted is “both symbolic and rhapsodic. It is a work of epic intimacy set before, during and after The Great War. Yet it is delicate.” The film was in competition at the Luxembourg City Film Festival and also nominated as best co-production at the Lëtzebuerger Filmpraïs.

April 2016

POST SCREENING A. Actors Gavan Guilfoyle, John Molloy, Julian Nest, Ann Comfort and director Terence Davies B. Nicola Hudson, Emma Paxton, Claire Jordan, British ambassador Alice Walpole, Dorothy Germaine C. Emelie Franco and Alex Schumann D. Producer Nicolas Steil with Denise and René Nuss E. Pucky from Le Fin Gourmand and Katarzyna Ozga F. Ricardo Vaz Palma, Daniel Texter, Graham Johnston G. Director Terence Davies H. Bernard Michaux and Patricia Peribanez I. Aude-Laurence Clermont and Finn Bell A

Indoor & outdoor furniture

Opening hours : Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. 69, parc d’activités Mamer-Cap • L-8308 Capellen │ Phone : 26 30 30 1

kichechef.lu

COVER STORY

LATIN AMERICA

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

Photography by MIKE ZENARI

Passionate and open-minded-Latin Americans in Luxembourg Close to 3,000 people from 27 Latin American countries live in the Grand Duchy, according to figures from January 2015. These communities vary in size, from over 1,500 Brazilians to just one citizen of Belize. And while these expats from across the Atlantic have very different stories and cultural backgrounds, they share much more than just a vague geo-political label. The seven people Delano spoke to are all open and welcoming, have a sense of adventure and simply seem to love life.

here are basically two reasons why a foreigner ends up living in Luxembourg. They either come here for work or for love. Carolina Lazlo falls into the latter category, even though she now heads up her own architecture company based in Limpertsberg. She met her husband “the only Luxembourg windsurfer in the Bay Area” while studying at Berkeley, having left her home town of Barquisimeto. The couple had two children, one born in San Francisco, and lived in Venezuela for a couple of years before coming to Luxembourg. Argentinean communications director Fernando Salvador also met a Luxembourger, though he was closer to the Grand Duchy at the time--in Brussels, to be precise. But he too took his future spouse to live back in his native country (the son of a diplomat, he lived there from the age of two months). “We tried living in Argentina, but that lasted ten months. Buenos Aires is a great city to visit but working there is different, especially for northern Europeans,” he explains. Angela Sontag reveals that her love was already living in Luxembourg when they first made contact through online dating site Meetic. The Colombian trader met her future husband faceto-face when he came to visit while she was studying in New York. “It was love at first sight, and after several months traveling April 2016

back and forth, we decided to get married and start our life as a couple here in Luxembourg.” Brazilian writer Vanessa Buffone met one of Luxembourg’s most charismatic restaurateurs and event organisers, Lucien Elsen, while in Ibiza, where she had moved to start a new life. “Luxembourg became home as well,” says the passionate diver. “Today I am part of the lake at Eschsur-Sûre as I am part of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.” Mexican waiter Denis Lazaro followed his Luxembourgish girlfriend here after they had lived together in Playa del Carmen in Cancun for a couple of years. Francisco Benavente, from Peru, ended up in Luxembourg when he fell in love with the place and its multilingual society rather than a person--although his first visit was, as a dutiful only son, to check up on his mother who had moved here with her second husband, a Luxembourger. “In Latin America when you speak more than one language you are special. But I realised that everyone spoke three, four, five or even six languages. One thing led to another and I ended up staying. Because instead of using my money to travel around Europe, which was my original excuse to visit my mum, I studied French. I did a stage at KBL, then received a job offer and asked my then fiancée to join me.” Veronica Barros arrived in Luxembourg via the circuitous route of Spain and Ireland. “I am an adventurous woman who wanted to spread her wings,” she explains. She left her native Ecuador in 2000 and spent six years in Spain before finding a job in Ireland. Two and a half years later the bank she was working for offered her a job in Luxembourg. “I didn’t think twice, just got on the plane and arrived here in May 2008, juts a few months before the crisis, which really hit Ireland badly--so it was the right choice.” Veronica’s husband found it easy to follow because he works in IT.

Veronica:

Fernando:

Vanessa:

Carolina Lazlo

a d or Fernando Salv Angela:

Denis:

Carolina:

What were the challenges you faced in settling in Luxembourg, both professionally and personally? “Every country is a different experience. In Spain I was an immigrant without papers. In Ireland I was a real expat with a job. And now in Luxembourg because the company helped me settle in, it was the easiest transition. The challenge was renting a house, which is really expensive with deposits and fees and charges. I would say you need at least 6,000 euros to start with.” “My education is South American, the culture, the books I read, the music I listened to--the way of seeing the world. Argentina and Brazil are like the United States or Australia, immigration countries. We have our own culture but it’s quite new. So we don’t understand European concepts of national supremacy or national values--the idea they have that they are losing their culture. Being a country created by immigrants, it’s really difficult to understand what’s happening now in Europe. Also, when we first meet someone, we trust them implicitly. That person doesn’t have to prove themselves. It’s the other way round here.” “The challenges are basically the same in every country: take it as it is. To survive is the goal, as well as possible. I started a family in Luxembourg, and it makes all the difference: love is like a protective dome--bad things come but do not affect you. As for my professional activities-writing poetry, children’s books [a new one will be published soon], underwater photography, translations, producing theatre… it changes with me.” “After ten years on the trading desk of the largest bank in Colombia, I had high expectations and hoped to continue my career in the same field here. However, later I realised that the core business of the banks here was different; more back office rather than front office and in addition, there was the language barrier. I decided to invest my time in volunteering and studying to get a better hands-on grasp on the local business environment at the Junior Chamber International. One day I was in the right place at the right time when a friend of my husband contacted me, because the company I work for now was looking for somebody able to speak Spanish. On the personal side, I think it was easier because my husband introduced me to his friends and they welcomed me very fast. My French lessons, websites like Just Arrived, and events helped me to blend in.” “My girlfriend helped me settle in, because I didn’t speak French. We sent CVs to a lot of restaurants and bars, and six months later I found this job at Mamacita.” “I looked after the kids while they were young, and started working from an office in the family home before eventually moving to an office in Limpertsberg three years ago that I share with two other architects. Starting alone is very difficult as an architect, because it is a very local profession. You can take the design skills anywhere, but the April 2016

COVER STORY

LATIN AMERICA

CONTINUED

Francisco:

Carolina:

Angela:

ne Vanessa Buffo Veronica:

LATIN AMERICAN DINING IN LUXEMBOURG MAMACITA What: Mexican fajitas, burgers, cocktails and more Where: 9 rue des Bains, Luxembourg-Centre

PICANHA PLAZA What: Brazilian cuisine, good wine cellar Where: 88 rue de Bonnevoie, Luxembourg-Bonnevoie

RODIZIO PERROQUET What: Brazilian BBQ, dance and party Where: 3 rue de l’Église, Schouweiler

CAFETIN BUENOS AIRES What: Argentinean grill and wines Where: 5 passage Roger Manderscheid, Luxembourg-Centre

BATUCADA What: Brazilian grill and more Where: 1 plateau du St. Esprit, Luxembourg-Centre

CHIMI CHURRI What: Argentinean and other South American cuisines Where: 15 rue Edward Steichen, Luxembourg-Kirchberg

Info: www.mamacita.lu

Info: www.rodizio.lu

Info: www.batucada.lu

MARIA BONITA What: Brazilian buffet (lunch) and grill Where: 7 rives de Clausen, Luxembourg-Clausen

Info: www.restaurantmariabonita.lu April 2016

Info: on Facebook

Info: www.cafetin.lu

Info: www.chimi.lu

SABOR DO BRASIL

What: Traditional Brazilian cuisine Where: 7 rue Glesener, Luxembourg-Gare Info: on Facebook

Francisco:

procedures are very local. I wanted to work for a company but found the language barrier a problem at interviews. So I worked on a house for my brother-in-law, working my way through the bureaucracy, apologising for speaking English. Then one project led to another and it has gone very well.” “From the beginning I realised I was faced with a very, very different environment. I decided I wanted to change job every number of years, because the way I saw it at the time, in Luxembourg everyone knew everyone else through school structure and university. So to make more social connections through work I wanted to change jobs every seven years or so, which is what happened.” Did you find it easy to make contact with other people from your country in Luxembourg? Did you seek them out? “The first Venezuelan I met in Luxembourg was another architect, who had also married a Luxembourger. Through him I met others, and the group has grown from six or seven to many more who all contribute to creating the Venezuelan stand at the International Bazaar. My husband’s mother, Cynthia Albrecht, is a standard bearer for the charity event. Every year at the bazar we have great success. We are the noisiest stand, we have music and Venezuelan rums--they are delicious.” “I met the first couple of Colombians through a common friend and at the Festival des Cultures et des Migrations, I met the Association of Colombians. It was great to meet more compatriots. Ever since I have been engaged with the association and currently I am on the board.” “I didn’t seek out other Ecuadorians, because I wanted to meet people from Luxembourg or other expats. But once I attended the Spanish parish church [in Belair every Sunday at 11.30 a.m.] I met other people from Ecuador, Spain and South America. There are lot of people from Spain coming to Luxembourg to find work as the crisis has hit hard there.” “One of the first things we did was to set up the Peruvian stand of the International Bazaar. I am approaching my 40th year there. We helped out projects in Peru from the proceeds, schools and medical clinics. But then came the internal conflict and the years of Shining Path. There was terrorism and as a direct result a lot of orphans. Someone approached us here and asked about the possibility of adopting a Peruvian child. My mother did most of the work looking into it, and we helped this couple adopt a child, and then another couple. Word spread and it started to become a lot of work, so my mother put together the people and they started the Association Luxembourg-Pérou. The association started helping Luxembourg couples adopt children from Peru through the relevant authorities--though Peru is one of the countries that has since introduced legislation that focuses on national rather than international adoption. We also helped

Fernando:

Veronica:

those orphans who had not been adopted, securing scholarships and also funding them to set up their own business.” “I know a few hundred Argentineans through the Argentinos en Luxembourg group. We meet at least once a month along with some other South Americans, especially Peruvians. They are from varied backgrounds, working in the financial sector, of course, and for ArcelorMittal which has some business in Argentina. It’s really fun to meet for an Asado [the famous Argentinean BBQ] because for us a barbecue is a real cultural tradition; it’s not just about throwing a sausage on the grill. And it is also useful for contacts, for advice and to find work. More than half Argentineans have dual citizenship through Italy or Spain, so it is easy for them to live here and find work. The European origins also mean we integrate quite easily.” How much contact do you maintain with your home country? What do you really miss about living there? Do you think you will ever move back? “I miss friends and the weather. But it is nice to see the seasons here. And maybe hospitality. When someone from abroad comes to Ecuador we receive them with open arms, but here in Europe it is different. And we have no agenda for friends--we are more spontaneous and they are always welcome in our home, we always make

Vanessa:

Angela:

Carolina:

time for friends. Here it is too formal. Luxembourg is my home now and I am really happy here and feel integrated with lots of friends. And my family is here and they have also settled. So I have no plans in the near future to return to Ecuador, but I never say never.” “I live in the present. I travel a lot, that is all. Comings & goings… I live between the three places [Brazil, Ibiza, Luxembourg], traveling around the world… I have no clue about how it works, or where it goes. I just follow the flow.” “Personally, I am fine here and for the moment I don’t think I will move back. For sure, I miss the weather; in Colombia we don’t have seasons, so the most difficult thing was to get used to the cold winter weather and the allergies in spring. I would say I very much miss the happiness, warmth and joy of life of the Colombian people. We are used to facing many problems and work hard without complaining. I can’t generalise, but I find that there are many people here with good jobs, economically stable and good health who unfortunately don’t express themselves and don’t seem happy.” “Like my friend Doris Benitez, who is also Venezuelan-Luxembourgish, says, one learns to appreciate the beauty of the different seasons. I was frustrated by the way some Venezuelans do business, for instance discovering that a printer I used had run out of ink and would not be able to print out plans she had made for another three

Denis Lazaro

April 2016

COVER STORY

LATIN AMERICA

s Veronica Barro

CONTINUED

ente Francisco Benav

Denis:

Francisco:

Denis:

April 2016

days. That’s not to say there are not good things going on in Venezuela, but it’s a chaotic way of working.” “The most difficult thing was the weather. It was killing me. The rest is good, the food and living. But at first I was sick, I stayed at home with the radiators on full. And then it started snowing… Also, there is no colour here. Everyone wears black or grey. And I miss the beach and the lagoon--the water is so blue, and it changes depending on where you are.” “Food is different. I was familiar with most of the things we eat here, but everything is prepared differently. We are used to having things a bit spicier. I never really felt uncomfortable in Luxembourg. I enjoy myself a lot here. The first two or three years was difficult, the way life is organised, the way you have to dress with the seasons. Luxembourg was a very grey city when I first got here. The houses were all cement grey, which was different to Lima with houses full of colour.” What do you think are the most common misconceptions other people in Luxembourg have about your home country? “Sometimes Luxembourgers can’t believe a Mexican would move to Luxembourg. I show them photos of Mexico and they are astonished at the beauty. Some guys talk about the drug problem and [drug lord Joaquin Guzman] El Chapo. But in the tourist areas there is no real problem. It is

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COVER STORY

LATIN AMERICA

CONTINUED

LATIN AMERICANS IN LUXEMBOURG LUXEMBOURG

173

Mexico

230

82 Cuba 29 Haiti 11 Jamaica

Dominican Republic

132

Colombia

1,648 Brazil

69 Venezuela 18 Guatemala 10 Honduras

89 Ecuador

11 Nicaragua 145 Peru

26 Paraguay

25 Uruguay 59 Chile

“Luxembourg is my home now and I am really happy here and feel integrated with lots of friends.” Veronica Barros April 2016

Source: Statec

98 Argentina

USEFUL LINKS ARGENTINA Argentina stand International Bazaar: www.bazar-international.lu/ bazaar-stands/argentina Argentinos en Luxembourg: on Facebook Embassy in Brussels: www.ebelg.cancilleria.gob.ar BOLIVIA Embassy in Brussels: www.embajadadebolivia.eu BRAZIL Luxembourg+Brazil Business Council: www.luxbrazil.lu Brazilian film festival: www.festivaldufilmbresilien.lu Brazil stand International Bazaar: www.bazar-international.lu/ bazaar-stands/brazil Embassy in Brussels: www.bruxelas.itamaraty.gov.br

Angela Sontag

Francisco:

Veronica:

Angela:

more in the north, near the border with the United States. People in the States are buying more drugs from Mexico.” “Luxembourgers have a very clichéd view of Peru--of people wearing the colourful traditional clothes and of mountains. But Peru is very varied. We have the tropical rain forest of the Amazon in the east, the Andes which run from north to south through the country, and in the west you have beaches--great for surfing by the way, although the water is cold.” “Luxembourgish friends are open-minded and curious about my country. But generally Luxembourgers don’t know much about Ecuador. They have a view of something exotic and good weather and maybe know about the Galapagos islands.” “Unfortunately when you mention you are Colombian, the first thing that people think about is drug dealing, violence and guerrilla warfare-not only in Luxembourg, but around the world. You have to take some jokes about that and you have the choice, either to get angry or to make fun of it… I don’t blame the people who have this idea because the news and media were focused on that for years. It was a reality and we can’t deny it. However, it’s very sad that 49 million of persons are stigmatised for the actions of a few. Fortunately, over the last decade the Colombian economy has been one of the strongest in the region, and we are politically very stable. Colombia has experienced a historic economic boom.”

CHILE Luxembourg-Chile Chamber of Commerce: www.luxchile.lu Chile stand International Bazaar: www.bazar-international.lu/ bazaar-stands/chile Chilean Embassy in Brussels: www.chile.gob.cl/belgica Chilean honorary consul François Colling: email collingf@pt.lu COLOMBIA Enfants Espoir Luxembourg-Colombie: on Facebook Colombian Embassy in Brussels: www.bruselas.consulado.gov.co

CUBA Solidarité Luxembourg-Cuba: www.cercle.lu/ong/cuba Association des Cubains du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg: on Facebook GUATEMALA Guatemala stand International Bazaar: www.bazar-international.lu/ bazaar-stands/guatemala MEXICO MexikaLux: on Facebook Mexico stand International Bazaar: www.bazar-international.lu/ bazaar-stands/mexico PERU Chambre de Commerce et de Tourisme du Pérou au Luxembourg: www.ccperu.lu Association Luxembourg-Pérou www.alp.cercle.lu Peru stand International Bazaar: www.bazar-international.lu/ bazaar-stands/peru Embassy in Brussels: www.embaperu.be VENEZUELA Association Internationale Bienvenue Venezuela: www.venezuela.lu Venezuela stand International Bazaar: www.bazar-international.lu/ bazaar-stands/venezuela REGIONAL Movimiento Latino Luxembourg: on Facebook

GRACIAS MAMACITA! Thank you to all at Mamacita restaurant, where the photos on these pages were taken.

April 2016

LIFESTYLE

GETTING INVOLVED

Text by ALIX RASSEL

Photography by LALA LA PHOTO

Improving the lives of families Padem’s director of fundraising and communications explains how the organisation provides assistance to some of the poorest children in the world by helping their parents.

adem’s founder and director Magali Getrey had a realisation soon after working as a volunteer in war-torn Kosovo and Afghanistan. “You do not fight against child labour without giving their parents a job.” Getrey, a French native, quit a lucrative career in the Luxembourg financial sector to work with various NGOs in conflict areas, before returning to Luxembourg in 2002 to found Padem. Since its creation, Padem has provided assistance to more than 100,000 of the poorest people worldwide. Nevertheless, it is still relatively unknown in the Grand Duchy. Pascal Hus, Padem’s director of fundraising and communications, explains that Getrey and her team soon realised that they could not consistently and sustainably enhance the lives of the world’s most impoverished children without also improving the lives of their families. Today Padem (which stands for Programmes d’Aide et de Développement destinés aux Enfants du Monde) encourages and fosters a holistic approach to supporting children through their communities and has projects in over 12 countries worldwide, with a specific focus on what is best for the

beneficiaries. One of Padem’s projects in Sri Lanka, for example, fights child labour by providing microfinance and training programmes so that parents can earn enough money themselves. Padem spends a great deal of time researching projects and interacting with the beneficiaries. Its main areas of intervention are in infrastructure, economic development and education. In 2007, in collaboration with Fondation Abbé Pierre and National Workers Congress (NWS), Padem launched a three-year project in one of the poorest areas of Sri Lanka to benefit more than 53,000 people. The project included building 90 houses and a school, installing more than 252 toilets and providing water pumps and electricity to the community. Hus recalls: “After the inauguration of the drinking water network in Sri Lanka, I saw an old man walking towards us. He did not speak English so he just shook our hands. The expression in his eyes, it’s indescribable. He had probably never had access to clean water before… I will never forget that image. Never.”

EDUCATION Padem also works on local Luxembourg projects focused on sustainability through fair trade partnerships and education. “We sell and support fair trade by selling Ceylon tea from one of the plantations in Sri Lanka where Padem has developed projects,”

says Hus. The tea is available via Padem’s website and local fair trade committees. In 2014, Padem, in collaboration with the Luxembourg government, made a commitment to teach children in local schools about sustainable development. “Everything is connected. We can live rich and happy here in Luxembourg, but there is famine and poverty in Africa. It is important to make the decision-makers of tomorrow aware of that.”

PAYROLL GIVING As well as relying on funding from donors and the government, Padem has recently partnered with payroll specialist Securex to launch Payroll Giving. That is a simple, automatic device that allows employees to donate part of their salary to a humanitarian cause on a voluntary basis and is tax deductible. In addition to financial support, volunteers are always welcome. “We adapt to the availability, skills and expectations of the volunteer,” says Hus. “Currently we require volunteers to assist with our fair trade sales, as well as communicate information on our projects. But any help is always welcome.” Teachers who are interested in Padem’s education activities can contact the organisation and discuss specific topics they might wish to address. “All of the educational workshops are free of charge,” Hus is quick to point out. “However, the lessons of solidarity and brotherhood they teach are priceless.”

Community notebook

ARTISTS CHEQUE

MIDGE URE CONCERT

CANCER AWARENESS

SCHOOL OPEN DAY

LËTZEBUERGER KËNSCHTLER December’s charity concert at the Phil raised 113,946 euros, shared equally between ASTI, Caritas and the Red Cross for projects to help refugee youngsters integrate. Info: www.croix-rouge.lu

ROCK AGAINST CANCER Swiss Life’s Rock Against Cancer gig this year features 80s icon Midge Ure, who will perform in aid of Fondation Cancer and Fondation Kriibskrank Kanner. 29 April. Info: www.rockagainstcancer.lu

RELAIS POUR LA VIE The Fondation Cancer’s annual Relais pour la vie takes place at the Coque. Team lists are full, but spectators can attend to support cancer sufferers and their families. 19 and 20 March. Info: www.relaispourlavie.lu

TOUR ST. GEORGE’S St. George’s International School in Hamm is hosting an open day of its secondary school facilities on 17 March, with tours starting at 9 and 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Info: www.st-georges.lu

April 2016

PADEM For more information on Padem and how to donate visit the organisation’s website or Facebook page. Info: www.padem.org EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME Teachers interested in Padem’s educational activities can contact Padem directly on +352 621 407 890 +352 691 803 837 or email pascal.hus@padem.org FAIR TRADE TEA Padem’s fair trade tea can be ordered from the organisation and can also be found by searching for “Padem” and adding the filter “Tea” on the “Index des produits” page of the fair trade website. Info: www.fairtrade.lu

PASCAL HUS: “EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED”

MULTICULTURAL

SENEGAL SPECIAL

CHARITY QUACKERS

IMS LUXEMBOURG

MIGRATION FESTIVAL The festival takes place at Luxexpo 11 to 13 March and features cultural performances, information stands, food & drink and conferences. Info: www.clae.lu/festival

RIFF WORKSHOP RIFF presents fun workshop events focusing on the culture of a different country at the Rotondes once a month. The April edition features food, arts and crafts from Senegal. Info: www.rotondes.lu

DUCK RACE The Round Table Luxembourg hosts its biggest charity event of the year, the Duck Race along a section of the Petrusse. Ducks can be purchased online. 23 April. Info: www.duckrace.lu

EMPLOYMENT FOR THE DISABLED A conference on fostering employment for the disabled on 19 April at the EIB, featuring a keynote speech from wheelchair bound Vincent Ferry. Info: www.chartediversite.lu April 2016

Steve Eastwood Luc Deflorenne (archives) St. George’s Paolo Lobo Sven Becker (archives)

PAYROLL DONATIONS For information on how to make a direct donation from your salary visit the Securex website and search for “Payroll Giving”-information in French only for the moment. Info: www.securex.lu

LIFESTYLE

QUICK GUIDE

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

Eclectic spring

d to Luxembourg a varie Musical festival brings music . The festival s mp nte Pri al nu an e Th m jazz and pop to world programme ranging fro l week s, allowing audiences to catch as many era takes place over sev . Here are the highlights. performances as possible

A RICH HISTORY Back in 1983 a handful of concerts were held in rather less conventional music venues--den Atelier and neimënster were not even a pipe dream and the Conservatoire was still being built--such as the St. Esprit, St. Michel and Trinité churches as well as the Notre Dame cathedral and the Trois Glands. The first Printemps Musical programme had a strong classical leaning with guest artists including the Worcester Cathedral Choir and the Camerata Amsterdam. Ten years later, jazz artists such as Paco de Lucía and Chick Corea were a mainstay of the bill and venues included the Conservatoire and the Grand Théâtre. By the time of its 25th anniversary, the current venues were all involved and the programme was even more eclectic and attractive, featuring established stars such as Angélique Kidjo (photo) and Roy Ayers. Info: printempsmusical.lu Tickets: luxembourg-ticket.lu

April 2016

RUTHIE FOSTER The velvety voice of Ruthie Foster has been compared to that of Mahalia Jackson, Aretha Franklin and Ella Fitzgerald. Foster grew up on gospel, but she has made her name as a powerful singer of the blues, winning the Blues Music Awards best contemporary female blues singer gong in 2010 and releasing a string of acclaimed albums. 16 March, neimënster

LARRY CARLTON Four time Grammy winner Larry Carlton has performed with dozens of the best musicians in the world, bringing his ability to crossover from blues and jazz to pop and rock with the likes of Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Michael Jackson, Herb Alpert and Quincy Jones. His unique warm style is enhanced by bright melodies and soulful guitar solos. 23 March, den Atelier

REIS, DEMUTH, WILTGEN WITH JOSHUA REDMAN Legendary saxophone player Joshua Redman performs as a special guest of a trio of local stars of jazz, pianist Michel Reis, bassist Marc Demuth and drummer Paul Wiltgen. The trio has been praised for its dynamic sound that mixes both European melody and American rhythm. 26 March, Conservatoire

IBRAHIM MAALOUF The Lebanese pioneer of jazz and world music fusion––he produced Natacha Atlass’s latest album (see On Stage, page 89)––performs at den Atelier. He will play songs from latest album Red and Black Light, which has been described as “an ode to the woman of today and her founding, essential role in the hope of a better world.” 31 March, den Atelier

SILJE NERGAARD The Norwegian veteran of the scene, is a versatile singer who is comfortable performing jazz, funk, pop, mellow ballads and Scandinavian folklore. She will be joined on stage by guitarists Håvar Bendiksen and Hallgrim Bratberg. 8 April, neimënster

MANU DIBANGO AND SOUL MAKOSSA Saxophone player and vocalist Manu Dibango was at the forefront of the promotion of African music and its fusion with European and American styles. He is joined here by the Soul Makossa gang, named after his first big hit, to perform a programme of crowdpleasing favourites. 15 April, den Atelier

KHALIFÉSCHUMACHERTRISTANO Icons of Luxembourg’s music scene Francesco Tristano (piano) and Pascal Schumacher (vibraphone) are joined by French-Lebanese multi-instrumentalist Bachar Khalifé for a concert that showcases each individual talent while also finding common ground in harmony and rhythm. 20 April, den Atelier

ALINE FRAZÃO Singer songwriter Aline Frazão, now based in Santiago de Compostela in Spain, is one of a promising new generation of musicians from Angola. She has been writing songs since she was 15, and now combines the musical traditions of Angola, Brazil, and Cape Verde to create new and original sounds. 27 April, neimënster

THE VENUES

DEN ATELIER

Brought a breathe of fresh air to Luxembourg’s live music scene when it opened in the autumn of 1995. Now it has a reputation for attracting top name international acts. Where: 54 rue de Hollerich, Luxembourg-Gare Info: www.atelier.lu

NEIMËNSTER

The former abbey and prison has been a cultural venue and conference centre since being refurbished in 2004. It is in a beautiful setting on the Alzette. Where: 28 rue Münster, Luxembourg-Grund Info: www.neimenster.lu

CONSERVATOIRE

The capital city’s music school was recently extended due to growing demand. Its auditorium was once home to the national orchestra. Where: 33 rue Charles Martel, Luxembourg-Merl Info: www.conservatoire.lu

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LIFESTYLE

STYLE

Text by WENDY CASEY

Photography by ERIC CHENAL

s r e n g i s e d Cool let rip! ent of lightweight iter ratures require concealm While icy winter tempe cosy layers , spring permits a reveal. Fashion wr , rm wa ath ne fabrics be it on! Let’s go shopping.” Wendy Casey says “Bring

uxembourg may be small, but it is simply huge when it comes to the array of talented designers housed within its borders. Take Stéphanie Comes of Yileste for example. This Luxembourgish designer grew up with parents in the music and art scene--her father was a director of the Grand Théâtre. “From the age of five years, I saw all of these beautiful women in their long gowns; people in Luxembourg don’t really dress up for the Philharmonie in the same way these days.” But Comes’s stunningly constructed “Annie Dress” is one of her all-time favourite pieces. Reminiscent of an Audrey Hepburn gown, this “bittersweet red” dream of a midi dress is crafted in a heavy cotton/silk blend. “I have a friend who wants to get married in it,” she muses, and I can quite believe it. The drape of the fabric results in a magnificent side pleat, and showcases her talent. Comes studied both pattern making and design at the Esmod fashion school in northern France and believes that pattern making is an art in itself. “You have to think about how to construct the piece, design the pattern, line it, interline it, decide which sewing machines to use, which fabrics to use, how will it drape, how to finish it--it’s a constant learning curve.” Clearly she’s a natural, drawing inspiration from a whole host of areas including the Anonima Group (an American artist collaborative), the 60s and the freshest of today’s street styles. “A lot of our prints are repetitive geometrics from the early 60s. I’ve never been into florals--

April 2016

" PEOPLE ARE LOOKING FOR PURITY AND SIMPLICITY TODAY, SO LINEAR ARCHITECTURAL LINES AND TRANSPARENCY FEATURE IN MY DESIGNS."

if I was, they’d have to be very geometric!” Comes has celebrated several firsts recently--the first Yileste store opened in October 2015 on the Côte d’Eich, and she has just designed a range of men’s ties and ladies scarves for the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce. “They’ll be out around April and will be used as corporate gifts. It was my first venture into the world of the tie but I’ll be staying with women’s designs.” Her clients will no doubt be delighted. “We have a lady who comes in with her mother and two daughters, spanning three generations and they each buy something.”

INVESTING IN PASSION As a brand-new mother, Maddalena Oliva was researching fashion trends and styles for several hours a day. Qualified in international relations, she relished the opportunity to read up on her hobby and fast realised that it was in fact much more than that. “So I decided to invest in my passion and launched my own brand, Manalena,” she explains. With no formal experience, her love of fashion and a positively charged outlook propelled her forward and enabled her to overcome some initial obstacles. “The administrational element of launching a business was the first ‘unsexy’ challenge, but seeing my designs come to life more than made up for it.” Oliva likes to follow key fashion trends and incorporates certain elements from the world of art and nature. “People are looking for purity and simplicity today, so linear architectural lines

MADDALENA OLIVA Experimenting with special fabrics

and transparency feature in my designs. At the same time, they are demanding more interesting fabrics so I work with a lot of raw materials to create 3D effects.” Oliva enjoys experimenting with certain special fabrics such as neoprene and jacquard. “I designed a double-sided jacket in neoprene and cotton and I really like to work with silk and cotton--and I love denim! I have a very distressed coat in jacquard with pieces of wool coming out--I really adore playing with fabrics and I’m in my element at the Premiere Vision fabric show in Paris.” She likes to take traditional men’s fabrics and interpret them in an entirely different way. “My favourite piece is an architecturally inspired, two colour block coat. It has an Asian cut with

a wrap fastening. One block is a violet woollen jacquard and the other is classic beige--and it’s very long. I also adore a neo-punk inspired asymmetric leather jacket from my second collection. The leather has been distressed in a similar way to denim and it’s worn with an Asian cut T-shirt and leather pants--it’s a great look.” Oliva describes the Manalena style as “sports deluxe with classical lines,” and highlights her Tess jean as a particular bestseller. “All my designs are available on my website--it’s my window on the world.”

NOT ONLY ABOUT FASHION If on the other hand you are looking for the embodiment of Asian chic, look no further than Ha Dang. Born in April 2016

LIFESTYLE

STYLE

CONTINUED

Hanoi, Vietnam, she came to Luxembourg just over two and a half years ago with her Luxembourger husband. Her clothing label Redwood by G was launched during the Vietnam fall/ winter fashion week of 2013 to great success. Both her parents are artists and have always encouraged Ha Dang to follow her dreams. “It’s a continuous path--and the more you follow, the richer you become and the more you learn. It’s not only about fashion; it’s about art, humans, the world and a great many things.” She loves working with natural fabrics such as silks, cottons and brocade. “Brocade is April 2016

such a strong fabric in history, rich in colour and pattern--it’s so wellused in Asia. Vietnam is also rich in oriental culture and history and it’s where I look for paintings and stories to inspire my designs.” Ha Dang combines this Asian influence with the modernity of western style, and caters to women aged from 25 to 40 years. “This is a ‘mentality age-group’. It’s very difficult these days to tell how old a woman is. You really can’t tell if she’s 35 or 50,” and I for one say “hurrah” to that. Her favourite pieces include a beautiful kimonostyle “Papillion” dress, which is also her best-selling item so far. “It represents me in myself; it’s very

elegant and it’s very bold and I wore it for the cover of the City Mag.” Another favourite is a wrap-style charcoal grey coat with a three button fastening and bracelet-length sleeves. It’s rather serene and gracefully understated, much like its very talented designer. Sometimes it takes two to tango. Together with her sister, Claudie Grisius founded Vol(t)age back in 2011 and now focuses full-time on expanding and developing the brand. “I was always very interested in clothes; mixing, matching and accessorising. One day I woke up and decided to create a range of exquisite scarves--it was a kind of enlightenment.”

STÉPHANIE COMES Pattern making is an art in itself

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STYLE

CONTINUED

Called “the V-neck”, the first in the range were handmade and were quickly snapped up by eager friends and family. “The most important aspect of our clothes is the silver lining which is designed to energise and invigorate the women who wear them--one should always remain positive,” adds Grisius, a dynamic Luxembourg designer who simply exudes positive energy. When it comes to her favourite fabrics, she adores silk and velvets of varying qualities--from traditional through to soft silky velours and devoré velvets. “I love lace too--it’s very feminine and has a rock edge to it. You can dress it up or down and it can uplift an outfit.”

HA DANG Asian influence with western modernity

WHERE TO FIND DESIGNERS YILESTE

MANALENA

Where: 8 Côte d’Eich, Luxembourg-Centre Info: www.yileste.com

Info: www.manalena.com

VOL(T)AGE

REDWOOD BY G

Where: 26 rue Michel Welter, Luxembourg-Gare Info: www.vol-t-age.com

April 2016

Info: www.redwood-by-g.com

BEAUTIFUL AND FLEXIBLE The Vol(t)age spring/summer 2016 collection contains a number of really “cool” pieces. “We’ve designed a bouclé sleeveless vest with unfinished seams which is great worn with jeans and we’re pleased with our range of vests. One of my favourites is a Japanese inspired floral design in golden tones with a velvet back and there’s a capestyle jacket with wide sleeves, embellished with Indian sequins.” Many of the designs will take you from day to evening, 24/7, and are not only beautifully finished but also extremely flexible. Grisius is particularly proud of her raincoat in a bag; “It’s a waterproof, black lace fabric with grosgrain button tags and I wear mine every day. It’s such a nice thing and you can wear it over your coat or jacket. It’s so practical.” The summer collection boasts another of her favourite pieces; “It’s a very nice, flowy midi skirt-very feminine worn with heels or flats. When you walk it swishes and you feel like a princess. It comes in our snake royale print and it’s highwaisted.” Sounds divine as do all of her designs and if she had to describe the Vol(t)age style? “I would say they’re a bit eclectic and bohemian at heart, but in a mature way. They’re for grown-ups as they’re very elegant and feminine, but a little undone with some unfinished seams, so they’re not too ladylike!” A little intrigued? Then visit their brand-new flagship store and witness her seamstress sewing the “V-necks” up close and personal.

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LIFESTYLE

IN THE SPOTLIGHT

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

Photography by STEVE EASTWOOD

Can we have some more?

ctions ever put on by one of the biggest produ is r! ve Oli al sic mu rt’s Ba Lionel theatre groups. Pirate nding English-language sta st ge lon o tw s rg’ ou the Kinneksbond. Luxemb eatre Club join forces at Th rld Wo w Ne d an s on Producti

CONSIDER YOURSELF: THE PRINCIPAL CAST

Did you know?

PRODUCTION Directed by Neil Johnson, assisted by Tara Donnell. Philip Dutton is the musical director and choreography is by Allison Kingsbury and Mira Toth. Info: www.nwtc.lu and www.pirateproductions.lu

ne of the best loved musicals of the 1960s hits the Luxembourg stage in April. Lionel Bart’s Oliver!, adapted from the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, has enjoyed several successful runs in London’s West End and on Broadway. It was also made into an award winning film by Carol Reed in 1968, picking up the Oscars for best picture and best director. The Luxembourg show is a joint effort by Pirate Productions, which has been putting on musical theatre since 1979, and New World Theatre Club, which has an even longer history--indeed, NWTC’s first production was in 1968. The idea of a co-production had been bandied about for some time between Neil Johnson of Pirates and Chris Albrecht of NWTC. “New World very much liked the idea of doing Oliver! because it’s Dickens, so it has some literary merit,” says Johnson, who has landed the challenging task of directing the show. In addition, NWTC has a youth group, so with 40 kids required on stage it was ideal. “And, of course, it is a great show with a great April 2016

story and great tunes.” Open auditions were held in June 2015, which attracted over 80 kids. “It was a bit overwhelming really.” The two starring roles of Oliver and The Artful Dodger were doubled up to reduce the risk of an accidental injury bringing the show to a halt. The four boys are enthusiastic and fearless, eschewing any suggestion that they might get stage fright, even if they didn’t expect to land their respective roles, and clearly relishing the idea of singing and dancing in front of an audience. Later auditions for adult roles also attracted a lot of actors who were new to theatre in Luxembourg. “We were in the unusual position of being spoilt for choice,” says Johnson. “It’s the biggest thing we’ve ever done, with 130 costumes, a 22-piece orchestra, a cast of 90.” Johnson has pared back the production so that the stage doesn’t look too busy, but the big musical numbers will still provide for stirring theatre, and the story of the orphan, though familiar, will bring out all sorts of emotional response from the audience.

PRINCIPAL CAST Noam Golergant and Jack Guilfoyle play Oliver alternately; Giovanni Ferro and Adam Guilfoyle play The Artful Dodger alternately; Brian Parker is Fagin; Ruth Gillen plays Nancy and Jeff Konter is Bill Sykes. TRIVIA Davy Jones, later of The Monkees, played The Artful Dodger in the original London production. Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna) was also in the cast as Mr. Sowerberry. But Michael Caine allegedly cried for a week after failing to land the part of Bill Sykes. More recently, Rowan Atkinson played Fagin in a 2009 West End revival. PERFORMANCES The show will run for five performances at the Kinneksbond in Mamer--at 8 p.m. on 14, 15 & 16 April and also at 2.30 p.m. on 16 & 17 April. TICKETS Kinneksbond: tel. 263 95 160 Info: www.kinneksbond.lu Luxticket: tel. 47 08 95 1 Info: www.luxembourg-ticket.lu

ThéâTre des CapuCIns

Thursday 14Th, monday 18Th & Wednesday 20Th april 2016 aT 8 pm

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In englIsh

wITh IsaaC Bush I larIsa faBer I Jules werner I daron YaTes I gInTare parulYTe dIreCTor anne sImon

ThéâTre des CapuCins I 9 pl. du ThéâTre I 2613 luxembourg WWW.lesTheaTres.lu booking: WWW.luxembourgTiCkeT.lu I Tel.: + 352 47 08 95-1

o 88

LIFESTYLE

Text by DUNCAN ROBERTS

ON STAGE

14 shows you must see

WANTON BISHOPS Blistering Beirut blues Lebanese duo Nader Mansour (vocals, guitar, harmonica, keyboards) and Eddy Ghossein (guitar, backing vocals, banjo) have been making music as Wanton Bishops since 2011 after meeting in a bar in Beirut. Their blistering live performances have seen them dubbed the Lebanese Black Keys, but critics have hailed their broad palette and “feral and unaffected” stage presence. Where: Kulturfabrik, Esch-Alzette When: 22 March Tickets: www.kulturfabrik.lu April 2016

LIVE CINEMA Chaplin meets Davis Carl Davis makes his annual visit to conduct the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg playing a score he has composed to a classic silent film. This year’s choice is Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush on Friday and Saturday evenings and two Chaplin short films (The Floorwalker and The Count) for Saturday’s matinée family edition. Where: Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg When: 18 & 19 March Tickets: www.philharmonie.lu

VESSELS Beguiling electronica DIY Mag was suggesting that Vessels’ third album, Dilate, could be “one of the smartest and most beguiling electronic albums” of 2015. It was definitely a move away from the post-rock musings of earlier work. Reports suggest the band’s recent live performances have been “an unholy communion… band and audience feeding off each other’s energy.” Where: Rotondes, Luxembourg-Bonnevoie When: 18 March Tickets: www.rotondes.lu

LIANNE LA HAVAS Myriad brilliance British singer-songwriter Lianne La Havas has followed up her smash debut album Is Your Love Big Enough with Blood, a record that includes luscious tracks such as ‘Green & Gold’, which explores her Jamaican musical heritage. Drowned in Sound says Blood shows “myriad flashes of brilliance” and that it is a “cohesively stellar” album. Where: den Atelier, Luxembourg-Gare When: 20 March Tickets: www.atelier.lu

MARIAH CAREY The diva has landed The best selling female artist of all time embarks on her first tour in 13 years and includes Luxembourg on the itinerary. The Sweet Sweet Fantasy tour sees Carey perform a selection of her biggest hits (she has charted some 18 no. 1 singles), including ‘Hero’, ‘Fantasy’, and ‘Always Be My Baby’. Early entry and meet and greet packages are available for this show. Where: Rockhal, Esch-Belval When: 26 March Tickets: www.rockhal.lu

FAT FREDDY’S DROP Groovy Kiwis New Zealand’s most famous musical sons, Fat Freddy’s Drop have developed their sound since 2009’s breakthrough album Dr Boondigga and the Big BW. The septet always had a penchant for mixing things up and for renowned live performances that turn into extended jam sessions. Latest album Bays revels in reggae, dub, soul, funk, techno and psychedelia. Where: Rockhal, Esch-Belval When: 30 March Tickets: www.rockhal.lu

DIIV Infectious nuance Acclaimed by the hip press, DIIV come to Rotondes courtesy of den Atelier. Led by founder and sometime troubled troubadour Zachary Cole Smith, the band has released a pair of fine albums, 2012’s Oshin and 2014’s Is the Is Are, that capture the zeitgeist by bringing nuance, depth and sonic experimentation to the catchy, harmonised pop song format. Where: Rotondes, Luxembourg-Bonnevoie When: 9 April Tickets: www.atelier.lu

Zachary Chick Giles Smith Alice Baxley WayneMaser

agenda for of music is high on the es via Balkan e mm gra pro tic lec ec An smooth soul to raw blu the coming month--from e annual live cinema is also on the Th p. se. moods and indie po ff is the theatre showca bill and a play by Zac Bra

MEATBODIES Sonic crunchers Chad Ubovich’s sonic wave crunchers Meatbodies come to Rotondes on the back of a clutch of positive reviews and some name-droppingly good patronage from the likes of Ty Segall, on whose label they released a home-made recordings cassette in 2012, and Eric “King Riff” Bauer, who helped produce the band’s eponymous 2014 album. Where: Rotondes, Luxembourg-Bonnevoie When: 10 April Tickets: www.rotondes.lu

LSO & RATTLE Music in colour Sir Simon Rattle returns to the Philharmonie for a second time this year to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra in a concert featuring Olivier Messiaen’s Couleurs de la Cité Céleste (colours in the heavenly city) and Anton Bruckner’s Symphony N° 8. Pierre-Laurent Aimard is the piano soloist for the Messiaen work, which is inspired by the biblical apocalypse. Where: Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg When: 11 April Tickets: www.philharmonie.lu

ALL NEW PEOPLE Braff drama Written by actor and film director Zach Braff (from Scrubs), All New People comes to Luxembourg with a cast of international and local actors, including the wonderful Jules Werner and Larisa Faber (photo). The tight, touching comedy has been called “a study of personal discontent” and looks at the contemporary 30-something generation and an interrupted suicide attempt. Where: Théâtre des Capucins When: 14, 18 & 20 April Tickets: www.theatres.lu

BALKANS FESTIVAL Rebel shout If you are not moved to dance when Emir Kusturica with The No Smoking Orchestra and Goran Bregovic with The Wedding and Funeral Orchestra share the stage, then a gypsy curse must be upon you. The two Balkan superstars, who have worked together in film, know how to throw a manic party. Support comes from Radio Zastava and Bosnian group Mostar Sevdah Reunion. Where: Rockhal, Esch-Belval When: 16 April Tickets: www.atelier.lu

NATACHA ATLAS Oriental jazz Belgian singer Natacha Atlas has created a canon of impressive work since she was the distinctive voice of world music dance outfit Transglobal Underground. Latest album Myriad Road, produced by Ibrahim Maalouf, could be described as jazz-world music fusion, mixing swing and the oriental sounds Atlas has become famous for, and featuring some great guest artists. Where: opderschmelz, Dudelange When: 12 April Tickets: www.opderschmelz.lu

UNITED INSTRUMENTS OF LUCILIN Fantastical music Luxembourg’s premier contemporary music ensemble joins forces with Mexican composer Arturo Fuentes to perform his Musique des êtres imaginaires. Adapted from Jorge Luis Borges’s The Book of Imaginary Beings, the piece features homemade sound machines as the music explores the author’s descriptions of mythological creatures. Where: Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg When: 13 April Tickets: www.philharmonie.lu

BLOC PARTY Mixed feelings British indie favourites Bloc Party play den Atelier with their two new members, Justin Harris and Louise Bartle. Guitarist Russell Lissack and Kele Okereke continue to front the band, which has just released fifth album, Hymns, to mixed reviews. Drowned in Sound called it “a listless journey” but Mixmag said it showed the group’s impressive evolution. The band retains a hardcore fan group who will surely turn out in force at the A. Where: den Atelier, Luxembourg-Gare When: 17 April Tickets: www.atelier.lu April 2016

LIFESTYLE

INTERVIEW

Text by MARINA LAI

Photography by MIKE ZENARI

o t n i g n i z t l a W y r o t i r r e t w ne Grammy nod Waltzing talks about his The multi-talented Gast rg artist--for his work with Angélique Kidjo. --a first for a Luxembou

GAST WALTZING: WWW.WALTZINGPARKE. COM

ast Waltzing started studying music at the tender age of seven, and he has since rarely been seen without a trumpet or a conductor’s baton. Composer, conductor, record label producer and jazz musician, Waltzing juggles a lot of different hats. And just when it looked as though he had reached the peak of his career, he wins a Grammy for his latest collaboration with Beninese born singer Angélique Kidjo. This was new territory for a Luxembourg musician. In fact, it’s not the first time the duo has been nominated for a Grammy (Kidjo took home a Grammy last year for her EVE album, which Gast had partially worked on). This time, however, Kidjo’s album Sings which has also been nominated in the World Music category, was arranged entirely by Waltzing and recorded with the Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg. The album combines classical European music with the sounds and rhythm of West Africa to create an unexpected yet magical blend that has been well received April 2016

all over the world. The Grammy nomination certainly comes as no surprise. Waltzing modestly says: “I’m really thankful for the opportunity that the Philharmonie has given us, they have been so open-minded and so supportive. We wouldn’t have had this amount of success without them.” Never mind winning, the nomination itself was a victory. It was the first time that a production recorded and arranged in Luxembourg by a local artist had received a nomination for what is probably the most prestigious music awards show in the world. “For me, it is an incredible honour that we got nominated for a Luxembourgish product. We had the orchestra, the arrangement and myself as the producer and conductor,” he told Delano before the Grammys.

BUSY YEAR AHEAD Classically trained, Waltzing boasts over 150 scores for television and film, but he is showing no sign of slowing down. This year he will be performing in Europe,

Australia and China and his collaboration with Kidjo continues, when he conducts her performances with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra and the Czech National Orchestra. Be sure not to miss him on 21 June this year at the Fête de la Musique in Luxembourg. Despite his adventures touring all over the world, Waltzing remains a true Luxembourger at heart. “The thing with us Luxembourgers is that when we are in our home country, all we do is complain about it. But if we go anywhere else, we know that Luxembourg is the best place of all.” When asked how he balances his career, he considers carefully. “My thoughts have to be clear, and that means taking the time to think; to allow the process to take place. Sometimes, that means lying on the couch or going out with my friends and having a good time. We go out and get a little drunk and we repeat ourselves five times, and the next day we’ve forgotten what the others have said. But the funny thing is, that process really helps me when I get stuck.”

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LIFESTYLE

NATURE

Text by NEEL CHRILLESEN

Photography by JULIEN BECKER

Small pets, s big decision

ip, fun and, according will bring companionsh for a cat or a dog, me ho ur yo o int al im t if you’re not up Welcoming an an ppier and healthier. Bu to studies, make you hald you choose? which furry friend shou

cientific studies show that having a pet is good for the psychological and physical health of both young and old. There are many animals besides cats and dogs that will enrich your home, but no matter how small, you need to choose wisely--especially if you have children. While it is easy, for example, to fall in love with a cute bunny in a pet store, appearances can be deceptive. “A rabbit is not a good choice for young children,” insists Michèle Hansen, the only veterinarian in Luxembourg specialised in rabbits and rodents. “Rabbits have the same character as cats. They’re intelligent, stubborn and know exactly what they want and don’t want. Sometimes they’re nice and sometimes they’re not. They don’t like to be carried around and will only tolerate being cuddled when they feel like it. They are also nocturnal.” Another thing to take into consideration is that rabbits don’t fare well in a cage and shouldn’t, in principle, be confined. This explains why a lot of owners have a ‘house rabbit’ which roams freely in (pet-proofed) rooms, only going into its open cage to eat or do its business. “It’s a good solution if you only have one rabbit, but if you have two, it tends to be destructive,” says Dr. Hansen, who advises keeping rabbits in separate cages no matter what. With rabbits, the male-female situation is also rather important. Females are basically in heat on-and-off all spring and autumn and can therefore get aggressive. So if you’re only getting one rabbit, choose a male and get it castrated.

TALKATIVE There’s no denying that guinea pigs (cavies) are easier pets and better suited for children. “Guinea pigs like their cage,” Dr. Hansen explains. “Even when you let them out, they prefer staying still or hiding because they don’t have any April 2016

natural defences. This means you can sit and stroke a guinea pig for hours. It also explains why they shouldn’t have a small hut in their cage to hide in, because you’ll never see them. It’s better to put the cage on a table so they can participate in the life around them.” Cavies get other bonus points for being diurnal, ‘talkative’ (they have a range of sweet sounds), non-territorial and near odourless. They are however happiest when in company. “Only keep one alone if you’re prepared to be its full-time partner. Otherwise, a female guinea pig with a castrated male is the best combination, or two castrated males, if they’ve grown up together.” Hamsters, on the other hand, prefer living alone. But they are nocturnal and don’t appreciate being woken during the day. If frightened, they attack. “Dwarf hamsters, separated in time, are generally nicer, so best for children, especially the Djungarian [Russian] ones,” says Dr. Hansen. Gerbils are also fun to observe (like mice but without the smell) but don’t expect to pick them up. “They jump around a lot, day and night, but are otherwise easy to take care of and can become quite tame. They should be kept in twos, same sex. If you don’t mind a bit of noise and cage rattling, degus are also entertaining and sociable.” As for chinchillas, they are “not the plush toys they look like and best suited for adults”. Surprisingly (and unfortunately for some parents) the best furry friend might actually be a rat. “A rat can become a great companion. It’s outgoing, it likes spending time with and on you, it eats the same as you, and it’s diurnal.” On the downside, rats generally don’t live long and non-castrated males can have a strong scent. Whatever your final choice is, make sure the pet you welcome suits your home and lifestyle--for your own sake, but also for that of the animal.

" IF YOUR CHILD WANTS AN ANIMAL, YOU MUST WANT IT TOO. A PET IS A FAMILY AFFAIR." DR. MICHÈLE HANSEN

LIFE SPANS Rabbits and rodents (rabbits aren’t considered rodents) don’t live as long as cats and dogs. Generally, rabbits live 8-10 years, guinea pigs 6-8 years, hamsters, mice, and rats 2-3 years and gerbils 3-4 years.

April 2016

Neel Chrillesen

ADULT RESPONSIBILITY “If your child wants an animal, you must want it too,” says Dr. Hansen. “Ultimately, you are responsible for it and you will have to look after it as well. For kids, feeding time, cleaning, etc. is relative. A pet is a family affair.”

GET INFO Don’t expect to get full disclosure about an animal and its needs from a pet store or even a breeder. You’re better off asking people who have experience with the same animal or reading forums on the internet.

LIFESTYLE

HEALTH

Text by NEEL CHRILLESEN

Photography by SVEN BECKER

Green tea: e not just hyp

Add green tea to your to-drink list to put a spring in your step. Try matcha if you need an extra boost.

here are few beverages that have been studied so scientifically as green tea. One of the reasons is that it’s been around since 2737 BC. Another is that its longstanding reputation for supporting physical and mental health simply can’t be denied. As green tea is less processed than other kinds, it provides the most (and best) antioxidant polyphenol--yes, even better than those in red wine! Green tea reduces cholesterol, lowers risk of cardiovascular disease and certain cancers, protects against diabetes, lessens stress and even helps weight loss--to cite just a few benefits. “Tea is good for health but green tea is in a class of its own,” agrees Marc from the Tea and More shop (www.teaandmore.lu). “Unfortunately there isn’t a real tea culture in Luxembourg and quality isn’t taken seriously, though it makes an enormous difference on all levels.” April 2016

His shop carries more than 300 different teas, but lately the demand for matcha green tea has surged. “It’s a great natural energiser,” says Marc. “You can drink it every day, preferably before early afternoon, to get a long-lasting boost in addition to all the health benefits. Many of my clients buy it because they work nightshifts. It awakens and clears the mind much better than coffee.” Matcha is Japanese green tea grown in the shade that has been ground into powder. Traditional preparation includes adding it to warm water using a small bamboo whisk, but Marc says you don’t have to go to those lengths. “A normal whisk is quite OK. In fact many just add the powder to other drinks. There are four different grades of matcha at different prices. The less expensive one is used for baking and smoothies, but for a cup of pure tea, use at least a grade over. Whatever the grade however, be sure to buy real matcha.” As for the taste of this super beverage… Let’s just say that it may take a little more getting used to than ‘regular’ green tea.

THE ART OF BREWING Green tea is less robust than black tea so requires better storage, lower water temperatures and less brewing time. Ideally, let boiling water cool for 3 minutes before adding your tealeaves and letting them brew for 2-3 minutes. And yes, for green tea, use quality tea leaves, not the tea bags from the supermarket! Drink 2-3 cups a day if you can.

Christopher Michel Wikemedia Commons

WHAT IS GREEN TEA? Like all teas (black, white, Oolong…), green tea is made from leaves from the Camellia Sinensis plant. The difference lies in how the leaves are processed. For green tea the just-harvested leaves are briefly steamed, which prevents them from fermenting or changing colour. They are then immediately rolled and dried (or “fired”). The lack of oxidation results is a greenish-yellow tea, which tastes much like the fresh leaf. In comparison, leaves for black tea are left to wither before being rolled and crushed. Oxidation continues until the leaves are black, at which point they are dried.

niessen.lu

“So, how was the walking dinner?” That is certainly the most commonly asked question the day after a work event.

FINGER FOOD • BUFFET • SERVICE AT TABLE • MOLECULAR GASTRONOMY • SHOW COOKING • MOVING KITCHEN

For your future business events or private receptions, there should only be one name on your lips: Niessen Traiteur

LIFESTYLE

o t n i t h g i r h c r a M ! g n i r p s s i h t n fu

KIDS

Text by WENDY WINN

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY Crafty kids Families can do crafts and projects together every Sunday from 3 to 6 p.m. after taking in an exhibition at the Casino Luxembourg. Info: www.casinoluxembourg.lu Touchscreen sessions One Sunday a month, from 17 April till 4 September, the Casino will hold iPad sessions showing families amazing apps for children to stimulate and teach them creatively. Info: www.casinoluxembourg.lu Ovens of clay Terra-Coop is all about community supported agriculture. Older kids might want to help learn to make a clay oven on 9 April, and everyone can come to the Open Day on 24 April. Info: www.terra-coop.lu

topolis (www.utopolis.lu) comes to the rescue, offering matinee screenings daily at 10.30 a.m., except for holidays, with films like Zootropolis and Kung Fu Panda 3. There is even something for the very youngest fans--short animated films for tots aged 2 to 6. Older kids and parents will get an early Easter treat--the Batman v Superman avantpremière at midnight on 22 March, but after that the film will start its regular run, surely to packed audiences! Besides the trusty cinema, the annual Aktioun Bambësch comes to the rescue, too. Kids who live in Lux City can register for activities from 29 March to 1 April (www.capel.lu). April 2016

The Bambësch forest is also home to a traditional Easter treat--the British Ladies’ Club’s Easter Egg Hunt takes place on 20 March (www.blc.lu), the same day as the American Women’s Club’s event takes place in Rollingen (www.awcluxembourg.com). Once school’s back on, primary schools will each have a designated day off so that kids can take part in the Octave pilgrimage to the Notre-Dame cathedral. It’s a tradition that started in 1666 and this year runs from 16 April to 1 May. During that time, you can take the kids to the sprawling market that has evolved from a few simple stalls set up to offer the pilgrims’ sustenance--we suggest trying the fried fish. Kids will probably like another kind of fishing--the kind involving plastic ducks and lots of your pocket change. Indulge them while you can, next thing you know, they’ll be fishing for your car keys.

Take a two-hour tour Guided city walks are on again every day at 12 in German and French, and at 2 in English and German. Learn everything you’ll want to tell visitors later! Info: www.lcto.lu

Dreamworks

Kids are off school for a two-week Easter holiday, which is great for them but sometimes a struggle for parents looking for ways to entertain them.

Build a TV! The Nature Museum’s Science Club has great activities for various ages-like building a tiny TV on 4 April or visiting the Science Centre in Cologne on 7 April! Info: www.science-club.lu

At ISL our mission is to provide an outstanding education and inspire our students to engage in both academic and enriching extra-curricular programmes. Our students set high expectations for themselves, enjoy school and the community is constantly rewarded by their achievements. ISL has earned its outstanding reputation through its studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; successes, its rigorous educational programme, its excellent and dedicated staff, its caring community and its engagement in global issues. With over 40 nationalities in our student body and more than 20 nationalities within our staff, friendship, international mindedness, diversity and inclusion are ways of life in our multi-cultural environment. www.islux.lu

LIFESTYLE

Text by MARINA LAI

Photography by MIKE ZENARI

Sipping a pint of Guinness

MY FAVOURITES

From a young age, New Zealander Mark Hatherly his h brewed beer at home wit xem Lu in d live g vin Ha father. he often found bourg for over 15 years, microbreweries the for ng rni himself yea er major that could be found in othbourg would xem Lu ht ug cities. He tho er culture that benefit from the craft be rld these days. wo the er ov is popular all his own homeSo two years ago, using to brew his own d rte sta he , made recipe mes of his range of beers. All the naxembourg; his Lu by ed pir beers are ins n the London first Red Bridge beer wo nge last year. alle Ch er Be al Internation Luxembourg As the president of the anising the org is he b, Clu Homebrew Homebrew first Luxembourg Open r. yea s thi ip Championsh www.homebrewclub.l

FABRIK Owned by the group who also run Hitch, Fabrik in Mersch is one of Mark’s favourite places for lunch. “I often like to enjoy a pint of Guinness with my lunch at Fabrik. The view is nice, it has a nice atmosphere and the bartenders are always well dressed to match their great looking bar.” Although he visits the restaurant regularly, it’s not just the Guinness that he’s after. “Have I mentioned the food? Because you must try their giant burgers, they’re great but be warned, they are huge!” Where: 33 rue de la Gare, Mersch Info: www.fabrik.lu April 2016

THE BRITANNIA Grateful for the big screens that show most sports, Mark can be found at the Britannia-the Brit to locals--whenever there is a big game on. As a New Zealander, he appreciates the familiarity of a good old English pub. “I watched Coronation Street so being in a pub like that just feels really homely for me. It’s not too big and very cosy, and as with all good old English pubs, the owner Alex looks after his staff and his customers very well.” Where: 69 allée Pierre de Mansfeld, Luxembourg-Clausen Info: www.britpublux.com

THE PYG “If I want a nice clean glass of Guinness, this is the place I go to. They take care of all the pipes and taps themselves, it makes a big difference in the quality of the beer. The owner, Kev, is Irish and he is extremely proud of his Guinness so you have to try it to understand just how well it is taken care of and served.” The Pyg also serves Mark’s Red Bridge beer, “it’s great for me to see my beers in bars that I regularly visit. Luxembourg is such a unique little country. As the only remaining Grand Duchy in the world, there’s so much history and tradition that still surrounds us today.” His next beer, the Golden Lady Lager, will be out later this year. Where: 19 rue de la Tour Jacob, Luxembourg-Clausen Info: on Facebook

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