october 2013
understanding Luxembourg Current affairs • Business • Lifestyle
Tech
Cloudy forecast Food
Less meat
Is English being killed?
LUXEMBOURG LANGUAGE EXPERTS ARE ON THE CASE
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EDITORIAL
étienne Schneider LSAP Lead candidate
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Election 2013
Take a deep breath Text by Duncan Roberts
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Cover photo Julien Becker shot the European Court of Auditor’s Jeremy Gardner, Prisma’s Carole Miltgen and CRP Gabriel Lippmann’s Lindsey Stokes in Esch-Belval. Thanks to the Fonds Belval for its kind assistance. Note to our readers The next print edition of Delano will be published on November 13. For daily news updates and our weekly what’s on guide, visit www.delano.lu.
W
ith just over three weeks to go before polling day, Luxembourg’s snap national election on October 20 is poised to go down to the wire. Under normal circumstances Jean-Claude Juncker and his CSV party would be a shoe-in to safely land enough seats to form a government with the party of its choice from among the high-placed runners up. And normally that would be the socialist LSAP with whom it has been in coalition for the last nine years (and for all but five years since 1984). But the political crisis before parliament’s summer recess has thrown the election wide open, and the CSV can no longer count on a walk over following accusations that prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker should bear responsibility for mismanagement at the secret service. The problem for the CSV is that although Juncker managed to skilfully avoid a vote of no confidence in parliament last July, the implication of the accusations levelled by the opposition is that Luxembourg is a “CSV state”. That may be discomforting enough for a good proportion of its traditional support to abandon the party at the polls this time around. On the other hand, Juncker has been at the helm for close to 20 years and his experience and enduring popularity will stand him in good stead. After all, he is not accused of being corrupt or of mishandling the economy
and voters still think he is the most competent politician in the country. Nevertheless, Juncker looks grey and tired after more than 30 years in the government. He has done his country, and Europe, great service, but maybe it is time for a change at the top. But who could replace Juncker? Xavier Bettel may be popular and has a good track record of getting things done quickly as mayor of Luxembourg City, but running the national government is quite a different story. Étienne Schneider may not be everyone’s cup of tea--and, by the way, Catholic Luxembourg can be proud that two of the three lead candidates in the election are openly gay--but he has made quite an impression in the 21 months since he took over as minister for the economy. Witty and smart, Schneider has enough experience of the civil service to be able to repel its machinations and rid it of sluggishness, and he has established a good network of contacts abroad in his efforts to attract business to Luxembourg. He could be just the man to drive through the reforms Luxembourg needs to drag it into competitiveness while maintaining its sense of social justice. He might just be the man to deliver the “breath of fresh air” that he says the country needs in order to modernise..
october 2013
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CONTENTS
current affairs
lifestyle 24
64
october 2013 Less meat
Part-time vegetarians may be on to something.
Election guide
62
Delano presents a primer to this month’s poll. 08
16
Summer snapshots
Fundraisers and more 14
Accessible cuisine
Down to earth cooking show 70
Raise your glass
Autumn is wine time 80
Kids
Still time to get out of the house
Welcome back
ISL greets newbies and new building 22
Academic milestone
Uni turns 10
Business
Regulars
32
56
Cloudy forecast
Think Local
The tech trend that keeps rolling into Luxembourg. 40
Nicolas Delaby Why the French project manager wants you to vote in the Grand Duchy
Social elections
Important for bosses and staff 42
Private bank blues
Five events to watch this autumn 46
Skype in spy scandal
What it did to help the NSA 50
Training
Specialised courses more popular
82
coverstory
Is English getting killed? As the language of Shakespeare has grown more prevalent in Luxembourg and across Europe, some despair that standards are slipping. Is it a crime against the tongue? The Grand Duchy’s language experts are on the case.
my other life Laurent Mailliet An aircraft technician helped revive the Vespa in Luxembourg
october 2013
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SUMMER SNAPSHOTS
From left: Helen Nesbit, KC Cassily, John O’Donohue and Nuala Doyle during the Irish Club’s midsummer charity ball at Le Sud Christian Walter and Stephen Moynihan
From left: Aisling McInerney, Hilary Fitzgibbon and Carole Miltgen
Irish Club of Luxembourg
Best of…
Summer get-togethers
From left: David Winters, Anita De Viell, Gilian Arcone and Didier Wasilewski
British Chamber of Commerce
Since our last edition, Luxembourg’s international community took advantage of the warmer weather to celebrate, network and raise money for worthy causes. The Irish Club of Luxembourg held its annual mid-summer ball, yielding more than €6,000 in a charity auction; while golfers took to the greens for the British Chamber of Commerce’s yearly golf tournament and prize giving dinner (photographed by Steve Eastwood). In July Rugby Club Luxembourg marked four decades of play and growing interest in the sport in the Grand Duchy during its 40th anniversary gala ball; Metz beat out 10 teams to win this year’s six-aside cricket tournament and barbeque organised by the Grand Duchy’s Optimists Cricket Club; while August proved to be a fine time to meet faces new and old for members of expat group InterNations (photographed by Charles Caratini). And on August 31 Kick Cancer Into Touch held its 12th annual touch rugby to benefit cancer care organisations (photographed by Jessica Theis). Here are just a few of the highlights. More photos from all these events are available at www.delano.lu. AG
Diarmuid O’Leary, Ireland’s ambassador to Luxembourg
Claudine Schmitt taking the Delano sports trivia quiz with Darren Robinson
Delano’s Luciana Restivo, British Chamber chair John Johnston and Golf Club de Luxembourg head pro Michael Phal Sebastian and Torben Moeller Poulsen, and Gareth Pugh (on right)
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october 2013
SUMMER SNAPSHOTS
John Verrinder at this year’s six-a-side cricket tournament organised by Optimists Cricket Club at Pierre Werner Cricket Ground
From left: Tim Andrews, Sandra Linn Berg and William Heath
Members of Optimists Maidens Cricket Club, from left: Vicci Hand, Lise Jensen, Paula Correia, Laura Ellingworth, Francesca Ellingworth and Kerry Fraser
Optimists Cricket Club
Hapal Videe and family
From left: Graham Goodhew, Sophie Mansell and RCL president Steve Karier
Kristina Cox and Martin Campion
Rugby Club Luxembourg Dario Pala and retiring senior coach Enda Horan during the Rugby Club Luxembourg’s 40th anniversary celebration at the Cercle Cité
Members of the current RCL senior squad
october 2013
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SUMMER SNAPSHOTS
Samuel from Luxembourg and Virginie-Céline from France
From left: Patricia from Peru, Ute from Germany, InterNations organiser Özlem Goksu from Turkey and Anne from Germany at the group’s mid-summer get-together at Gloss Bar & Club
InterNations
Peter from Finland and Siobhan from Ireland
From left: Elisabeth from France, Nadine from Haiti and Juan from Venezuela
The 12th annual Kick Cancer Into Touch tournament in Cessange Guillaume from France and Ana from Portugal
Paul Evans
Kick Cancer Into Touch
More than €1,500 was raised for Kriibs Krank Kanner and Omega 90 Joe Lister (on left)
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october 2013
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CURRENT AFFAIRS
Felix and Claire tie the knot
Charles Caratini
Prince Felix of Luxembourg and Claire Lademacher were married in a civil ceremony in the Lademacher home town of Königstein in Germany on September 17 and then celebrated a church wedding in Provence in France on September 20. The second son of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Felix is expected to settle with his new wife in the south of France where they plan to run a wine estate owned by the Lademacher family--he has just finished a masters degree in bioethics.
Pont Adolphe replacement under way
Sun Glitters Luxembourg musician Victor Ferreira, who records under the name Sun Glitters, has become the first electro artist to sign for Los Angeles based label Mush Records. A new album, Scattered Into Light, is promised for 2014.
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october 2013
Real estate prices soar
Julien Becker
Marc Theis
Lea Linster
Cour grand-ducale
will be added to the bridge, which incorporates the tram lines and two lanes for motorised traffic as well as pavements for pedestrians on either side each measuring 2.10 metres in width. The extension and strengthening work conforms to UNESCO criteria and will maintain original features designed by architect Paul Séjourné. Anyone interested in the work can visit an exhibition pavilion on boulevard Roosevelt (opposite the Casino) that is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12 to 6 p.m. (except Wednesdays 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.). www.mtp.public.lu
David Laurent
Work on the construction of the provisional replacement bridge connecting the upper city with the station area in the capital is well under way. The provisional bridge is being built some 30 metres to the west of the Pont Adolphe, which will be enlarged and strengthened in order to accommodate the tram connection from the station to the boulevard Royal and beyond to Kirchberg. The Pont Adolphe, which entered service in 1903, has already been widened from its original 16 metres to its current 17.20 metres to allow more traffic to traverse the Petrusse valley that it spans. A further 1.50 metres
Marie-Paule
Prost-Heinisch Luxembourg’s most famous chef was the victim of a burglary over the The formidable director of the Fondation summer. Among the items in a safe Cancer has stepped down, citing stolen from Linster’s flagship restaurant differences with the charity’s board. in Frisange was the Bocuse d’Or trophy Prost-Heinisch was the foundation’s head she won in 1989--she remains for 24 years and among other achievements the only ever woman winner. launched the annual Relais pour la vie.
Housing policy may not be the highest priority of voters at the forthcoming election, but some 57 percent of the electorate thinks it is a concern. That concern was underlined by new figures released by Statec in September showing that the price of apartments in the Grand Duchy rose by 2.8% in the second quarter of 2013 compared to first quarter prices and were up a significant 5.1% compared to the same period in 2012. Indeed, since hitting a low in the second quarter of 2010, the cost of buying an apartment has risen by almost 20%. www.statec.lu
CURRENT AFFAIRS
"Thank you, Mr. Snowden"
Julien Becker
Luxembourg’s European Commissioner Viviane Reding on the increase
following Edward Snowden’s revelations. Maison de l’Europe, Luxembourg, September 19.
Charles Caratini
Delano.lu revamp
Irrgarten upgrade One of the main traffic bottlenecks into and out of Luxembourg city, the so-called Irrgarten roundabout between Hamm and Sandweiler, could be subject to an upgrade. Minister for infrastructure and sustainable development Claude Wiseler has said that a survey on traffic at the roundabout was conducted before the summer holidays and that traffic planners would use the results to try to improve traffic flow both approaching and on the roundabout itself. In an answer to a parliamentary question from deputy Jean Colombera, Wiseler also said that the problems did not stem from a design failure as the deputy had suggested, but merely from over capacity.
Charles Caratini
The bankruptcy of a retail company that led to the closure of 17 stores in the centre of Luxembourg city was “foreseeable” says minister for small and medium size businesses Françoise Hetto-Gaasch. She blamed the “aggressive rent policy” employed by the business owners, Fred Castera und Pascal Einhorn, for the closure of brand names shops such as Marc Jacobs, Gucci and Kenzo. They would offer landlords rent well above and beyond the going rate in order to obtain prime location stores in the upper city. But their business model also left the company with outstanding VAT and social security payments running into hundreds of thousands of euro. At least 70 employees lost their jobs when the stores closed.
Rue de Strasbourg clean-up?
The Council of the European Union
Bankruptcy leaves shops empty
in awareness of data protection
Delano’s website has been given a new look by the web development team at publisher Maison Moderne. The site is much more user friendly and accessible. Drop down menus allow readers to target the page they want within seconds, while the home page incorporates a greater number of news articles and new features such as a “personal business” section dedicated to advice on finance, employment, housing, etc. The site also includes the return of the restaurant section, with a direct link to Maison Moderne’s highly regarded Explorator dining out guide, as well as cinema listings courtesy of Utopia group and a new Jobs section. The Community pages are also more accessible and now give local clubs and associations even more visibility on the website. And, of course, our Ten Things To Do This Week what’s on guide selection continues to head the front page, and is still available as the main feature in Delano’s weekly newsletter. The newsletter itself has also undergone a makeover, with the Ten Things… complemented by even more content from the website. www.delano.lu
Following a meeting with residents and business owners it looks as though the local authorities and the police are taking complaints of lawlessness on the rue de Strasbourg seriously. A week after the meeting in September the police announced that they had increased the number of officers patrolling the station area--adding three new foot patrol offices to the beat--and also strengthened their presence around the area of the street’s primary school. Residents and business owners had complained that drug dealing and prostitution was rife in the street and argued that the authorities were doing too little to prevent criminal behaviour. An online petition attracted the signatures of hundreds of people, many saying that they lived in fear and that they didn’t want their children to be confronted with drugs and criminals while going about their every day business.
Challenges for the future The most important topics for Luxembourg’s future development.
Affordable housing – 58% Economic productivity – 41% Social cohesion – 40% Modernising the education system – 40% Diversif ication of the economy – 37% Multi-national coexistence – 32% Pensions system reform – 31% -60
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A survey conducted by TNS Ilres on behalf of 2030.lu shows that close to 95% of Luxembourg residents believe some sort of reform is necessary in order to preserve the quality of life the country currently enjoys. Some 78% said they thought sacrifices would have to be made.
october 2013
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CURRENT AFFAIRS
PTO president Cara Davila (left) and Seray Sayinatac and Francesca Marzi, social event co-chairs
ISL board member Michelle Unger and Margot Parra, ISL development manager
International School of Luxembourg
Sense of community
Philip Keech, ISL Upper School deputy principal, speaking with Delano contributor Neel Chrillesen
Enjoying the BBQ lunch and listening to student concerts
There was music, a lot of talking and long lines in front of the barbecue when the International School of Luxembourg held its “Welcome Back Festival” under a sunny sky in September. A far cry from the usual “Sign up Sunday” in the cafeteria but with the same goal: presenting ISL’s activities and the various clubs and resources in and around Luxembourg. “It’s important for us to welcome new families and make them feel at home at once,” says ISL director Chris Bowman. The many families, “veterans” and newcomers alike, were also able to tour the new, and impressive, Lower School building, inaugurated days earlier--just in time for the school’s 50th anniversary. A bit of jealousy even emanated from the Upper School students when they discovered the premises, even though their own already well-appointed building has also been upgraded this year. The event was organised by ISL’s very active parent teacher organisation. 09_adresse_internet Board president Cara Davila reports that the BBQ raised more than €2,000 for the American Women’s Club of Luxembourg’s Make a Wish Foundation donation drive. NC
Geoff Thompson and ISL director Chris Bowman
Testing out activities offered by The Little Gym
More photos from the event at: www.delano.lu/news/sense-community Photographed by Luc Deflorenne Presenting the art of origami
The new Lower School building has its very own and well-equipped gymnasium Parents get a tour of ISL’s impressive new Lower School building
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october 2013
BMW i
Sheer Driving Pleasure
ENTER THE CARBON AGE. We had a bronze and then an iron age, followed by countless technological discoveries over the centuries. Now the BMW i3 is boldly introducing a new age in personal mobility, the carbon age. Enter carbon fibre components that offer greater solidity and less weight, countless technological innovations, a high-performance motor and energy management, sustainable materials and responsible production techniques. E-mobility as seen by BMW i is an absolute revolution that will engulf our roads from late 2013 with the new BMW i3. To see what this means in terms of dynamics and the sheer pleasure of driving, nothing beats a test drive. So be amongst the first in the world to get behind the wheel of the avant-garde electric vehicle that offers up to 300 km* of genuine autonomy. Book your test drive now on www.testez-la-BMW-i3.lu
BMW i3. BORN ELECTRIC. The BMW i3 will be available exclusively at your recommended BMW i partner: Arnold Kontz • 184, Route de Thionville • L-2610 Luxembourg Tel. 49 19 41-1 • bmw@arnoldkontz.lu • www.arnoldkontz.bmw.lu * Depending on the version you choose.
Environmental information : www.bmw.lu
0-0.6 L/100 KM • 0-13 G/KM CO2
COVERSTORY
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Language pros Lindsey Stokes, Jeremy Gardner and Carole Miltgen   october 2013
COVERSTORY
Communication
Is English being killed? As the use of the language of Shakespeare has grown increasingly common in the Grand Duchy, some charge that the average level and the quality of English has actually sunk‌ by nearly criminal proportions. Others plead that the accusers are bearing false witness. Should non-native speakers really be in the dock? Or is social networking the true culprit? Is the problem limited to European institutions or prevalent in the financial sector as well? Luxembourg language experts are on the case. Text by Aaron Grunwald Photography by Julien Becker
october 2013  
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COVERSTORY
Actual Jeremy Gardner writes: “‘Actual’ is sometimes used to refer to something that is happening now. However, in English it means ‘real’ or ‘existing’.”
I
t started two years ago with a Word file shared internally. Jeremy Gardner, a British interpreter and translator at the Euro‑ pean Court of Auditors in Kirchberg for 22 years, had grown frustrated with the quality of English used in EU documents. “When I joined English was nominally one of the working languages, but certainly at the court it was hardly used at all.” As the union has expanded, the language of Shakespeare has become increasingly prominent. Yet, in his view, the general quality of English has diminished in parallel, with two problems specifically arising. First Gardner accuses EU bodies of more or less institutionalising the “ francophonisation” of English. Gardner has seen “curiously an increase in number of errors, many of which at superficial glance are Gallicisms: expressions and words that look like they come from the French being used by people who don’t speak French or speak very little French” such as Eastern Europeans.
Native confusion Second was the emergence of “Euro-English” or jargon that is difficult for outsiders to decipher (see boxes). While he does not “imagine people sitting on buses reading our reports”, the court is meant to act as the European institutions’ spending watchdog and “if the taxpayer can’t understand our reports, then there’s no point in our writing them. This is my view.” Thus Gardner came out with A brief list of misused English terms in EU publications, the 15th version of which was published in May, in an attempt to lay down a little language law. At first “no one really noticed it”, but since the beginning of the year he’s been interviewed by press from France, Germany, the UK and the US, among other countries, and the report is now a smartly produced PDF and popular download. And his indictment has been well received by court colleagues:
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nearly one-quarter of Luxembourg-based staff attended an internal seminar Gardner held in the spring. The question also arises in the financial world. US-born Troy Bankhead, head of marketing and communications at document management firm Kneip, does “see a danger” of miscommunication in multilingual Luxembourg, although not necessarily between those that speak English as a second language. He has witnessed internal meetings where, for example, Dutch, French and Germans “all understand each other perfectly when they speak English”, but Bankhead and his British colleague end up having to ask for clarification. “The way they construct sentences is very Dutch or very French or very German. If you’re not a native speaker, you understand a lot better because you’re immediately translating back into your native language.” “Working with other firms sometimes you receive drafts [of legal documents] that I would say is not good enough or the standards are not the same,” says Fabien Morelli, a French-born attorney at law firm Linklaters. He believes lawyers at his practice have an advantage since Linklaters is based in Britain and English is the firm’s lingua franca. But sometimes “when we are dealing with firms abroad, like in France, Italy or Spain, you receive deeds that really need an upgrade,” charges Morelli, who went to law school in the
Jeremy Gardner Wants English to be used correctly in EU documents
COVERSTORY
Comitology Axis
“The use of the word ‘axis’ that is often found in EU documents (e.g., ‘priority axes’) appears to derive from the French (presumably from the meaning ‘general direction’ cited in the Petit Robert). This use does not exist in English, where the word is used primarily in geometry, anatomy and politics (‘the Axis powers’).”
US, and during his studies worked as a legal translator for North African asylum seekers. “It’s really, really--in these kinds of situations-sometimes complicated to understand what they want. But it’s part of our job to upgrade” all documents in any event. Nevertheless it can be time consuming “ just to be sure that we correctly understand what they mean”.
“Whose English is it?” The head of the European Parliament’s translation unit takes a different tack. “A question that can be asked is ‘whose English is it?’ ” argues Janet Pitt, a Briton who has supervised the parliament’s 1,200 translators in Brussels, Luxembourg and Strasbourg since 2010. “Our texts should in principle be comprehensible, accessible, pleasing to the UK [and] Irish public since, as an institution producing legislation, the ultimate clients of each language unit are the citizens in the relevant member states.” At the same time, she asks: “Should we take account of internal coinage, which is very often extremely useful in conveying meaning rapidly but which might sound arcane outside the institutions?” “Should native English speakers attempt to correct wrong usage, with a view to maintaining the ‘purity’ of the language?” Pitt probes. “Here, I would consider that it is necessary to tread a middle path, accepting that the
“Not only does the word not exist outside the EU institutions, but it is formed from a misspelt stem (committee has two ‘m’s and two ‘t’s) and a suffix that means something quite different (-logy means the ‘the science of’ or the ‘study of’). It is therefore highly unlikely that an outsider would be able to deduce its meaning, even in context.” “The official term is ‘committee procedure’.”
language evolves and is enriched by input from other languages and cultures but also helping our colleagues to speak reasonably correct English and certainly to write clearly and unambiguously.” “Overall there is perhaps a tendency towards a more bland form of English”, Pitt concedes, but “we certainly do not speak globish”. Native Luxembourger Carole Miltgen has not seen a notable decline in the quality of professional English in the Grand Duchy over the past decade. But then again the material she sees is “written by lawyers and are highly technical documents so the quality is very high”, notes the CEO of project management firm Prisma, which last year translated three million words of financial documents between 14 languages. Even in reports with plenty of errors, “you know what they’re saying, so I can change it fairly easily,” says Lindsey Stokes, who proofreads documents written by scientists at the Gabriel Lippmann public research centre in Esch-Belval, and previously was a translator at web giant Amazon in Luxembourg. “There’s just a little hiccup in how they’re using” a word or phrase, or they’ve translated something more or less literally from their native tongue. While she has read and appreciated Gardner’s memo, Stokes judges her mission differently. She wants to make documents “comprehen-
“It’s a very widespread, natural human tendency to panic about declining language standards” Professor Julia de Bres
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COVERSTORY
Economic operator
“Eur-Lex has 1,057 hits for ‘economic operator’. The term is not used in English in this way, but I take it that these are simply companies or businesses.”
Control
“To control does not usually mean ‘to audit’, ‘check’ or ‘verify’ and ‘a control’ is not normally ‘a check’ or ‘an inspection’. Its most common meaning is ‘to exercise authoritative or dominative influence over; direct’.”
sible and easy to read” but not to create communications standards. Stokes also doesn’t expect high level researchers to write perfectly in another language. “That’s not their job anyway.” Yet most of the time the quality of a document she reviews “doesn’t shock my English heart”. Miltgen reckons that overall quality “depends if you speak English every day” or if you mainly inhabit another linguistic culture. People who work in an English-dominant office will simply speak and write better English, and those who spend their days in a more French-speaking environment will naturally have a better level of French.
Language police Gardner’s guide has also attracted several challenges to certain inclusions on his forbidden list. English does not have an Académie Française type institution to officiate the language, he stipulates. “That is the main problem; that is the subject of numerous comments from people protesting one word or another.” “Is English in Luxembourg and in Europe different than elsewhere?” questions Professor Julia de Bres, a sociolinguist at the University of Luxembourg who teaches a course “on the varieties of English” found in the Grand Duchy and across the continent. “I would say, for sure, it certainly is.”
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She cites census figures showing that about two percent of Luxembourg residents are native speakers, while more than 20 percent use English as a main language at their workplace. But the New Zealander says complaints of poor English are exaggerated: “Language is just what people say. There is no standard people should aspire to when they’re speaking.” “Language doesn’t exist outside of the context that it’s used it,” her testimony continues. “You have to judge it in the context of people’s understanding, not with reference to an objective standard that you import from another context.” While some say Europeanised English creates misunderstandings, de Bres “doubts that is really the case.” “There might be a debate about English in Luxembourg, but go across the border and Germans are worried about English influence. It’s unfounded. It’s a very widespread, natural human tendency to panic about declining language standards. It’s just as invalid [in Luxembourg] as it is anywhere else.”
No “purity” “It’s unrealistic to think that you can keep any language somehow ‘pure’,” believes Bankhead. “Even today amongst native English speakers there is no purity.” Working with a British deputy CEO, “I’ve had to adapt many
COVERSTORY
Troy Bankhead No language is pure
Normally
“’Normally’ means ‘as a rule’, ‘usually’, ‘ordinarily’ or ‘in a normal manner’ (e.g., ‘act normally!’). In EU usage, it often expresses something that should happen.”
Porcine animals
Listed in European Commission and European Council documents, “porcine would only be known to specialists”, says Gardner. Normally they are called “pigs” in English.
Source: "A brief list of misused English terms in EU publications", by Jeremy Gardner
conventions to what he would call ‘proper English’.” “Languages are like sponges,” observes Audrey Detollenaere, a client relationship manager at translation firm Peters & Clark, and also a former Amazon translator. “They tend to absorb other expressions and words from other languages.” “Where I see a difference is when people communicate in email; in email there are a lot of mistakes,” primarily in basic spelling and grammar errors and the over-use of acronyms and shorthand expressions that are unclear, says Miltgen. She has witnessed this same problem during presentations. These days “if you go to a conference, you need a PhD in abbreviations”. Detollenaere, originally from French-speaking Belgium, states that increased use of mobile devices and social media are a big reason why English, and pretty much every other language, seems “worse” today. “Because people are kind of lazy and it’s easier to make mistakes [in a text or on Twitter] and they don’t pay too much attention.” Many of her Spanish friends, for example, “tend not to write correctly”, at least on Facebook..
Transpose
“In English ‘to transpose’ means ‘to put in a different order’ and it is normally used in mathematics and music. It is not a legal term and does not (even in places that have civil law systems, like Scotland, Louisiana and Quebec) have the meaning attributed to it in EU jargon (= to enact the provisions of a directive in national legislation.)”
Download Gardner’s guide at:
ec.europa.eu/translation/english/guidelines/ documents/misused_english_terminology_ eu_publications_en.pdf
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CURRENT AFFAIRS
Higher education
Research attracts talent As the University of Luxembourg celebrates its 10th anniversary, vice-rector of research Ludwig Neyses talks about its growing reputation. Text by Duncan Roberts Photography by Luc Deflorenne
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ike all seats of higher learning worth their salt, the University of Luxembourg has ambition to be a key player in various fields of research. Its new vice-rector of research, Prof. Dr. Ludwig Neyses says that in areas such as biomedicine and security and trust, but also increasingly in education and European law and in business and finance, the university is doing just that. “And we are a key player for and in the country,” he adds. “All these fields are intimately linked to the economic development of Luxembourg.” Even areas that would not appear to have an immediate economic impact are vital for the long-term development of the country, Neyses argues. Aware of the university’s research reputation not only in his own field of biomedicine, but also from reading articles in such renowned publications as Frankfurter Allgemeine and The Economist, Neyses jumped at the chance to take up the post left vacant by Prof. Lucienne Blessing. He has worked and studied across Europe and in the United States--since 2001 he has been the chair of medicine/cardiology, Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences, the University of Manchester--but says the University of Luxembourg compares very well with other institutions. “People here are willing to listen and there is material to shape,” he explains. Neyses is determined to continue attracting research talent. “Very good people are the lifeblood of the university,” he says. He believes the university is succeeding for a number of reasons. “Firstly, because we have created an environment in which they can thrive; secondly, because they can shape things in a new university and bring in their own ideas… whereas in some of the older institutions it is difficult to move things.” The launch of the university’s new openaccess platform, Orbi, in the spring of this year is also bringing added value to research conducted at the university and has already attracted interest from other university libraries. “It is early days, but first indicators are OCTOBER 2013
Prof. Dr. Ludwig Neyses University is a lighthouse, not an ivory tower
that our citation and visibility is really increasing. And that has a positive spin on our impact.” In addition, the university has what Neyses calls “an excellent external funding situation”, attracting large amounts of money from national research funds in Luxembourg and a rapidly growing number of grants from the European Commission and European Research Council. Indeed, third party funding has risen by over 25% over the last year. “And we have substantial internal funds, which are very competitive, but do provide unique opportunities for our people. And, of course we have very competitive salaries, and we are not afraid to say that.” The university also enjoys the luxury of having six endowed chairs from external sources--four from private companies and one each from the cities of Luxembourg and Esch-Alzette. “That is very high for the size of the university and for its young age, and truly a success and a testament to our rooting in local society. The motto would be ‘we are not an ivory tower, we are a lighthouse’, and I think we show that.”.
Research in figures
Total publications (2012): 465 refereed journals 391 refereed conference proceedings 241 book chapters 32 authored books 32 edited volumes Growth of third party funding (million euro): 2009 – 12.63 2010 – 16.27 2011 – 20.12 2012 – 27.09
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current affairs
Elections
End of an era?
The circumstances surrounding the calling of the snap election mean that, for once, the results of Luxembourg going to the polls on October 20 are anything but a foregone conclusion. Text by Duncan Roberts Photography by Olivier Minaire
I
s Luxembourg about to undergo a political revolution? Will the electorate decide, on October 20, that it has had enough of the conservative CSV party that has ruled (with one brief exception) in one form or another since the end of the Second World War? Can the country contemplate life without JeanClaude Juncker, prime minister since 1995, at the helm? Current opinion polls seem to suggest that the race will be tight, but that the CSV will once again prevail as the strongest party in parliament. The problem it then faces is with whom should it try to form a coalition? But that is also a dilemma for the possible coalition parties--the three main players were all, to a greater or lesser extent, responsible for forcing the snap election and for severely criticising Juncker and the man who until then was thought to be his natural successor, Luc Frieden. Negotiations to form a coalition will require players on both sides to swallow some pride should the Grand Duke nominate Juncker to form a government. The most obvious alternative to a CSV led coalition would be a grand coalition featuring the “socialist” LSAP as the dominant party together with the liberal DP and Déi Gréng. That is, according to a Politmonitor poll published mid-September, the most popular combination among those voters who want a change of government.
Broad coalition? That would be a remarkable achievement for the Green party, which has only been represented in parliament since 1984 but has been polling just under 12 percent of the popular vote since 1994. Even more so given the decline of its sister party in Germany, which
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october 2013
Poster boys Xavier Bettel is the most likeable politician in Luxembourg, while Étienne Schneider lags behind
suffered losses in September’s elections across the border. But could such a broad coalition work? The DP and Greens have, of course, been working in tandem in Luxembourg City since 2004 and DP poster boy Xavier Bettel has spoken of his admiration for LSAP leading candidate Étienne Schneider. He did, however, also question whether Schneider truly represented the socialist aspect of his party. Bettel, who is president of his party but only one of four leading candidates at the election (the DP chose one for each electoral region), has also stated that he will see out his mandate as mayor of Luxembourg City. That may be a difficult commitment for Bettel to keep if the most “likeable” politician in the country (according to opinion polls--Juncker still leads, just, in the “competence” polls) leads his party to a position in which he is obliged to enter government.
While 22% of those who want to see a change in government plumped for an LSAP, DP, Green coalition as an alternative, 16% favoured a CSV-DP coalition--the same constellation that governed between 1999 and 2004. As now, the DP at the time chose as its leading candidate a popular mayor of Luxembourg city, Lydie Polfer, and she was catapulted to the role of deputy prime minister and foreign minister when the CSV decided to form a government with her party, which had gained three seats at the polls, rather than continue with the LSAP, which lost five seats. But the Juncker-Polfer government lasted just five years, and at the next election the DP suffered from a backlash and lost five seats, while the CSV gained five and entered government again with the resurgent LSAP. The 2004 result saw the beginning of the Juncker-Asselborn regime that had, until the
current affairs Expanding the electorate
A side debate surrounding the campaign has been the right of non-Luxembourgers to vote in parliamentary elections. Here is what the parties say about the issue: CSV: Would retain vote only for Luxembourg nationals, but would change constitution to allow non-Luxembourgers to take part in various referenda. LSAP: Lead candidate Étienne Schneider was one of the first politicians to suggest non-Luxembourgers should be given the vote. DP: Calls for a debate, to be held and concluded by 2016, on opening up full voting rights to foreigners. They are in favour, but want residency requirements of five years. Déi Gréng: Want all non-Luxembourgers to be automatically registered on the electoral register as soon as they have been resident in the Grand Duchy for five years. Déi Lénk: Say it is high time to dissociate any link between nationality and voting rights, and also wants a five-year residency requirement.
Bommeleeër trial and spy scandal that effectively brought it down, worked successfully together. So successful, in fact, that 56% of voters think it will continue after October 20. The LSAP’s successive ministers of the economy, first Jeannot Krecké and then Étienne Schneider, brought to the table a pragmatism and drive that endeared them to many in the business community but may have also frustrated the more socialist elements within their own party as well as the unions that support it.
Aiming to win Nevertheless, when deputy prime minister Jean Asselborn declared that he would not be seeking the party nomination as its lead candidate on October 20 the choice of Schneider as the LSAP’s face of the election was a foregone conclusion, despite his relative inexperi-
KPL: Want to give non-Luxembourgers automatic nationality, and all the rights that come with that (including being on the electoral register) after three years of residency.
ence. But while Schneider, like Krecké before him, is popular with the largely international business community, he has struggled to find favour with Luxembourg voters. September’s Politmonitor poll placed him in fourth place in terms of “competence” with a 70% positive rating, and only eighth in the “likeable” poll with just a 58% rating. That is a fall of eight percent from April’s poll and indicates he may be paying the price among certain sections of the electorate for what they see as a betrayal of Juncker. That doesn’t seem to bother Schneider, who has said he is entering the election with the aim of winning and becoming prime minister as the leader of the majority party in the government. The polls are even worse for the Green party’s François Bausch, who ranks 14th in both the competence and likeability league tables. As its author, Bausch was perhaps the most
Pirate Partei: Want non-Luxembourgers who have been living in Luxembourg for more than one year to be given the right to vote. Partei fir Integral Demokratie: Want to hold more referenda on important subjects and want to include non-Luxembourgers in that. ADR: Is adamantly against expanding rights to non-nationals.
october 2013
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current affairs
Conservative values The CSV has been in power for all but five years since WWII
vociferous critic of Juncker during the debate in the Chamber of Deputies on the report by the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the workings of the Luxembourg secret service (SREL). Although Bausch and his party have not ruled out forming a government with the CSV, the personal nature of his attacks on Juncker and the significant differences between the two parties on a number of key issues would make it extremely unlikely that a CSVGreen could govern successfully.
Minor representation With opinion polls failing to indicate a clear favourite and some pollsters pointing to a will among the electorate for change, and given the prevailing economic uncertainty in
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Luxembourg and across Europe, the election may well spring a surprise or two by giving one of the smaller parties representation in parliament. One or the other may even hold the key to power if a coalition of the centreleft is a mathematical possibility. The populist ADR looks set to struggle, however, following a spate of resignations over the past few years that has left it with just two deputies--a far cry from its 1999 heyday when it won seven seats. ADR splinter party PID (party for integral democracy) could well win a seat in the Northern constituency where the popular Jean Colombera is its lead candidate. On the left, Déi Lénk could build on the success it had at the 2011 local elections (where it won two seats on the city council in
Luxembourg and one in Esch-Alzette) and add to the one seat it currently has in the chamber. The increased popularity of Déi Lénk--its share of the vote in 2011 was up by three percent on the 2007 local elections--should negate any hopes the communist KPL had of entering parliament again for the first time since it lost its last seat in the post Berlin Wall election of 1994. The wild card in the mix is the Pirate Partei, led by the young but charismatic Steve Clement. It was at the forefront of calls for new elections even before opposition parties submitted their votes of no confidence in the government. That prescience, and its urging for a radical change in Luxembourg politics, may just swing some votes its way come October 20. .
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Capital gateway
Eurofins down under
Renminbi rendezvous Luxembourg finance minister Luc Frieden (right) met with Liu Xinhua, vice president of China’s securities regulator, as part of his campaign to make the Grand Duchy the euro zone’s top offshore centre for China’s currency, the renminbi.
The Impactory
Steel debt down ArcelorMittal’s net debt dropped 12% to $16.2 billion, due to what CEO Lakshmi N. Mittal (on right) calls “strong cash-flow performance”. The firm warns higher capital expenditures will soon push the figure back up, and drag net earnings down.
OCTOBER 2013
Labour minister Nicolas Schmit (centre) showed his support for The Impactory, a cooperative space for startups and entrepreneurs in Luxembourg and the Greater Region that already has around 120 members. Schmit said he wants to make it easier for jobs agency Adem to support jobseekers who want to start their own business, which will help reduce unemployment and boost the economy.
Ministère des Finances
Fabrizio Maltese (archives)
BCEE still top 10 Luxembourg’s state savings bank was named the ninth safest bank in the September 2013 edition of Global Finance, a magazine read by financial executives in 163 countries. BCEE will receive its award at a ceremony this month in Washington.
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Jobs impact
more than 14,000 in more than 180 laboratories in 35 countries around the world. In August the bioanalysis company said revenues for the first half of the year were up 19% over the January through June 2012 period, to €570 million. It also said first half 2013 Ebitda, or pre-charge net income, was up 27% and net profit was up 31% compared to the six month period last year. Eurofins is an independent lab that checks food and pharmaceutical products for companies who want to guarantee safety and accurate labelling. The company was founded 25 years ago in France and relocated its corporate headquarters to the Grand Duchy in 2012.
Financial Times/Creative Commons
Luxembourg’s largest food safety lab has made its fourth major investment in Australia and New Zealand in under 18 months, part of its rapid expansion in the Asia-Pacific region. Gasperich-based Eurofins Scientific acquired a controlling 81% stake in Agrisearch Services, which tests for pesticide residue in plants and animals for producers in Australia and New Zealand. Eurofins entered the New Zealand market in July 2012 through a pair of acquisitions, and the deal raises the firm’s headcount in the two countries by roughly a quarter. Eurofins says it would try to sell more testing services to Agrisearch’s customers. The firm reports that it now employs
Tourism minister Françoise Hetto-Gaasch presented the results of a year-long survey of visitors to Luxembourg organised with 38 tourist organisations. Nearly half of all overnight visitors who stayed in the capital visited at least one other region in the Grand Duchy during their trip, making Luxembourg City “a key attraction of the country”.
business
Tuition first David Laurent (archives)
The Grand Duchy’s first-ever preparatory courses for two rigorous financial professionals’ exams have just launched. Business School Luxembourg has begun a series of 11 week classes to prepare for the Chartered Financial Analyst and Association of Chartered Certified Accountants qualification tests, both of which are widely recognised around the world. Tuition director Rory Collins says such preparation has been missing in the country “and it needs to be provided in Luxembourg.” The examinations themselves are still conducted independently, and the BSL is not formally connected with either professional body. Both qualifications are helpful “for career enhancement”, reckons Collins, formerly EMEA head of risk and control at BNY Mellon. Qualifications holders can “get ahead of somebody in an interview situation.” Classes, like both examinations, are exclusively in English, and are held at the Hotel Meliá in Kirchberg. The first courses began September and a new term commences after the New Year. www.businessschoolluxembourg.lu
Dutch unit takes Luxembourg name Business School Luxembourg
SGG Group has rebranded its two Netherlands-based subsidiaries under its corporate name as part of an effort to build its worldwide brand. Cloche d’Or-based SGG, one of Luxembourg’s largest corporate and fund administration services providers, bought out its former Dutch competitor ANT last year and acquired boutique provider IMFC in 2011. Both units had originally kept their historic names, but will now operate under the SGG flag. “The move to adopt one brand for the whole group clearly underlines our global services approach,” says CEO Serge Krancenblum. SGG says it employs more than 500 professionals in 15 countries.
Average apartment selling prices
Gaming firm goes live in Luxembourg An American video game industry service provider is opening its first ever European office in Bertrange, attracted by the government’s campaign to make the Grand Duchy a hub for the gaming sector. Live Gamer, which provides behind-the-scenes services to game publishers, will run all its EU operations from the new regional HQ. The firm offers digital publishers an “e-commerce and payments platform” which capitalises on the fast growing “direct-to-fan publishing” markets led by gaming companies like Riot Games and Wargaming.net (photo), says Live Gamer president Andrew Schneider. He adds that “Luxembourg has done a great job of reaching out to the video games industry”.
West €394,043
The European Commission has denied a report in the Financial Times that the Greek government will be told to set up a special investment vehicle in the Grand Duchy as part of the privatisation programme agreed with European leaders. The paper says responsibility for the sale of state-owned real estate assets would be transferred to a Luxembourg-based holding company and managed independently from the Greek government, with the aim of boosting the underperforming privatisation process. The FT says the idea was put forward in a draft report by the European Stability Mechanism. However, a source tells Delano that the plan was in fact proposed by the Finnish government and is not part of the ESM’s recommendations. A spokesman for the EU economy commissioner, Finland’s Olli Rehn (photo, left), says “the ownership of this programme is and absolutely must remain in the hands of the Greek government”.
Centre €422,186
East €328,367
South €300,778
2013
Uni intern gains California experience A University of Luxembourg student is experiencing a first-of-its-kind internship at the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office in San Francisco. Peter Huang, who completed his master’s degree in economics and finance this year, is writing a report on the region’s venture capital industry, and helping identify technology
companies for the bureau’s investment promotion efforts, says consul general and trade office chief Georges Schmit. The posting was particularly attractive opportunity for Huang, who has “always been interested in start-ups and the venture capital sector.” His four month assignment ends in November.
University of Luxembourg
Wargaming.net
No Greek fund in Luxembourg, EU says
Average prices over the past 12 months, calculated by official statistics bureau Statec on September 19, 2013
European Commission (archives)
North €298,970
OCTOBER 2013
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BUSINESS
Paul Schonenberg, head of Amcham
Georges Schmit, Luxembourg’s consul general in San Francisco, speaking via video link
Networking
Growing tech links Technology is fast becoming the second largest part of the private sector, attendees at the annual Apsi-Amcham tech conference heard last month. “ICT contribution’s to Luxembourg’s economic environment” was organised by the American chamber; Apsi, Luxembourg’s association of ICT professionals; along with consultancy PwC, which hosted the confab. Discussing how the US and Luxembourg tech sectors work together is increasingly “a very good idea,” reckons Apsi chief Jean Diederich, pointing to comments made by PwC’s Philippe Pierre that ICT is firmly establishing itself as a “second pillar” of Luxembourg’s economy. AG
Christelle Mathieu
Younis Hijazi, Laertes Boechat and Frederic Andres
Christian Ginter
More photos from the event are available at: www.delano.lu/news/growing-tech-links Photographed by Jessica Theis
PwC’s Philippe Pierre
Presenter Gary Kneip, CEO of Data4 (on right), speaking with Peter Faure
Eva Gram
Björn Ottersten
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OCTOBER 2013
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BUSINESS
Technology
Cloudy forecast
In advance of this month’s EuroCloud Congress, Delano takes the temperature on Luxembourg’s cloud computing space. While the confab--the European cloud computing industry’s annual convention--has been held in the Grand Duchy since its inception three years ago, local organisers have reason to be seen with an extra bounce in their step this year. First, because Luxembourg has snagged the pan-European body that puts on the show from its former base of operations in the French capital. Second, and arguably more important, cloud computing appears to be taking off in the Grand Duchy, tangible evidence of the country’s attempt to wean itself off the financial sector. Text by Aaron Grunwald Photography by Olivier Minaire
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BUSINESS
Gérard Hoffmann Mobile is good for the cloud
S
imply put, cloud computing lets customers share servers, storage and computer programmes in a common data centre, at a much lower cost than building and maintaining everything themselves. If you use free email services like Gmail and Yahoo or online storage sites like Dropbox and Microsoft’s SkyDrive, then you already use cloud computing. But businesses benefit too. If you book a night on Airbnb, use The Guardian’s iPhone app, or read a magazine on the website issuu.com (such as the print edition of Delano), then you are using systems the companies have rented, in some cases by the hour, from Amazon. Some bigger firms like the cloud because they can set up a branch office without having to kit out a server closet and hire a local IT manager, which is pretty much the same reason small enterprises like the idea too. A survey of businesses in nine countries by research firm Garner found 60% of respondents plan to increase investments in cloud services, while only 6% expect to cut their cloud budget. In a separate study, Gartner forecast that worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services would grow 18% in 2013 and “exceed $180 billion” by 2015. In February trade association Eurocloud Europe--the four year old umbrella organisation for more than 20 national trade groups that represent the cloud computing industry--officially relocated its Europe-wide headquarters from Paris to Luxembourg, where it is housed inside the offices of business federation Fedil. Amal Choury, president of Eurocloud Luxembourg and CEO of Contern-based “software as a service” (which the industry calls “SaaS”) provider e-Kenz, was also elected as one of six
Mark your calendars
vice-presidents of the Eurocloud Europe group. She credited the support of government leaders for helping secure the coup. Today the Grand Duchy is home to at least 20 data centres, representing more than 40,000 square metres of net floor space, according to the government’s business promotion agency. In fact, Luxembourg for Business says there is more shared IT room availability in the Grand Duchy than in Brussels or Stockholm, which helps market Luxembourg as a cloud computing hub. A decade ago, it was not so. So the Grand Duchy’s government started a campaign to build the technology sector as a new pillar of the economy, in order to reduce reliance on financial services, which still represents more than a quarter of the economy. The initiative used tax incentives and streamlined permitting to encourage investment in tech infrastructure.
EuroCloud Congress Conference programme Tuesday October 15 and Wednesday October 16 09:45-17:05 (both days) Chamber of Commerce, Luxembourg-Kirchberg EuroCloud Europe Awards Tuesday October 15 Gala dinner starts at 19:00 Sofitel, Luxembourg-Kirchberg Luxembourg Datacentre Tour Thursday October 17 A guided visit of several facilities in the Grand Duchy Limited to 75 conference attendees More info can be found at: www.eurocloudcongress.org
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BUSINESS
Jean-François Hugon The cloud helps start-ups
Internet speeds went from sluggish to being among the fastest in Europe, providers report. “Luxembourg, in terms of cloud computing, is a very far advanced country,” says Bernd Becker, president of EuroCloud Europe and chair of EuroCloud Germany. “You have the most up to date data centres in Europe, hosting the most interesting services.” “Telindus was one of the first entrants here in Luxembourg in the cloud computing market,” states Gérard Hoffmann, board chair and managing director of the service provider. “We now have over 100 clients that have put some of their applications into the cloud, our cloud, and we consider that an important success for our company.” “The more you go into small and medium sized enterprises, family business and large business” outside of the financial sector “they opt for cheaper solutions that work great.” Cloud offerings usually let even the least tech savvy customer order and set up services on their own. “It’s not so much the machines or technology” that drives up dedicated IT costs, “it’s labour that’s expensive in Luxembourg.” Users include ABN Amro Luxembourg, investment fund association Alfi, legal and tax publisher Legitech, and the Compagnie de Construction Luxembourgeoise, and Hoffmann reports an increasing number of international firms setting up regional hubs in the Grand Duchy are using cloud-based IT from day one. When it went into cloud services in 2010, Telindus aimed to “achieve 15 percent of our business by 2015” in the sector. Hoffmann reports that today his firm is ahead of its internal projections for this year.
Sheltered environments “What we knew from the very beginning is not all IT services will go into the public cloud,” says Eric Hausman, cloud director at Dimension Data. The systems integrator--founded in South Africa and now owned by NTT, Japan’s largest telecoms firm--just marked 20 years of operations in Luxembourg. About half of its local customers are major financial services firms, while most
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october 2013
of the others are big industrial companies and in the public sector. The company started with a “private cloud” service specifically for the Grand Duchy’s banking and investment fund sectors. Dimension Data’s platform was built expressly to meet the requirements of Luxembourg’s financial regulator CSSF, Hausman explains. A private cloud takes advantage of many of the same tools that make cloud services easier and cheaper to use, but keeps data in separate systems that are not shared with other customers, for example. That helps bring IT costs down, but Hausman states that security, reliability and compliance best practices are “higher than any other cloud platform in the world” which are not designed to meet CSSF rules. More recently, the firm launched a “public cloud” service, and allows clients to mix and match which functions are placed in which cloud, and which are kept in-house. Hausman adds that--as a global firm with data centres everywhere from
Japan to India to the US--Dimension Data also lets customers buy the same cloud services anywhere in the world, and pay by the hour. The emphasis on speed and simplicity is helping Luxembourg-based eBRC--and some of its Grand Duchy-based clients--gain kudos from across the region. This summer eBRC received an award in automotive category from Eco, the German internet trade association, for helping launch car sharing application CiteeCar, which is headquartered in Luxembourg and active in Germany, explains Jean-François Hugon, eBRC’s head of marketing. “The process went from development through testing to deployment within a matter of weeks,” according to the jury statement. Hugon notes that eBRC runs IT “in a dedicated private cloud” for Cloche d’Or-headquartered mobile payments company Yapital, which garnered eBRC the title of “best case study example of cloud services for the private sector” from EuroCloud this spring.
BUSINESS
Amal Choury and Bernd Becker Government support has really helped
The company has picked up similar awards is that IT has become a global phenomenon, from regional confabs in London and Paris, not just a national exercise anymore.” a key part of its marketing strategy. In his view: “What is not acceptable is a broad monitoring of inhabitants of countries and that all that data traffic gets monitored because of a potential risk that you couldn’t even name.” Yet security and privacy issues continue to cast While Becker is concerned that the spy scana shadow. Gartner forecasts that “through 2015, dal will lead some users to be more cautious 80 percent of IT procurement professionals will about switching to the cloud, he also sees a remain dissatisfied with SaaS contract language silver lining. “When customers run their own IT, the level of security is very low compared to cloud and protections that relate to security.” And recent revelations about government computing.” Regardless of what you think about surveillance programmes like the NSA’s (see government monitoring, the cloud at least page 46) have raised awkward questions for the offers more protection against industrial espiindustry. A US trade group says it has already onage and hacking of personal data, in Becker’s seen evidence that foreign customers are cutting view, which is something that private individuals and businesses still have the power back on contracts with American providers. “That government needs to have access to data to fight against. in situations of danger is very clear to me and Since the “Prism” story broke, Hoffmann has is clear to everyone,” Becker says, noting that noticed that “customers really consider procecourt ordered phone taps, for example, have dures around continuity and data security much been around for a long time. “What has changed more important, and pay for that.”
Security casts a shadow
"The first cars were handcrafted until Henry Ford started the Tin Lizzie" Bernd Becker
october 2013
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BUSINESS
Eric Hausman Users can mix public and private clouds
“We think the cloud is really changing the world,” reckons Becker. “I always say if we think we’re living in the information century, that is wrong. The information century is about to start. Cloud computing is the industrialisation of IT.”
Future is cloudy, but mobile “The first cars were handcrafted until Henry Ford started the Tin Lizzie,” Becker says in a comparison to the automotive sector. “Historically if somebody decided to develop a new piece of software, he had to get investors before he could do the first line of code. Nowadays you can do this at low cost in the cloud.” He says most mobile
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applications are developed in the cloud, as are an increasing number of business apps. Linking powerful data centres via broadband connections with everything from small businesses to smart energy meters is “the real innovation” and means that it is cloud computing that will deliver industrial-scale IT. As for Luxembourg, Hoffmann thinks a draft bill on company failures, still under debate in the Chamber of Deputies, will help keep the Grand Duchy ahead of the competition. If passed, “Luxembourg will be one of the first countries where data remains with the original owner, even in the case of bankruptcy.” It may seem like a tiny step, but a steady stream of small measures “makes Luxembourg attractive for international business.” While the industry as a whole is “still in an early stage,” Hausman says “what is important to understand right now is the cloud is enabling business to come into Luxembourg and vice versa.” For the immediate future, he sees growth not doubling each year, but “it’s times five or ten a year in terms of usage.” “The world is moving towards mobile,” Hoffmann beams. “It’s good for the cloud, because the more mobile, the more irrelevant where you are and it’s more access in the cloud. The more people use mobile devices--and that trend is really accelerating with 4G networks and wi-fi--that will drive the cloud business.” He adds: “We can equip customers with secure mobile solutions. That is where the market is going. That’s an asset, that we have a strong culture around security when we go mobile. And with roaming costs going down, the cloud will grow.”.
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COURSE
START DATE
ACCOUNTING AND FINANCE Accounting Crash Course Objectives: - to understand the principal financial statements (Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss) and their purposes
24th October 2013
INNOVATION AND CREATIVITY New - Creative Cross-Industry Innovation Objectives: - to understand the overall scope, chances and challenges of Outside-In Innovation - to apply the basics of an efficient approach to Outside-In Innovation - to identify major stakeholders and search fields for their Outside-In activities - to transfer the received know-how and teached methodology to their company
5th November 2013
New - Strategic Roadmapping Objectives: - to understand the concept and practice of roadmapping, in terms of underlying principles, hands-on activities and discussion - to gain the knowledge and confidence to apply roadmapping methods for strategy and innovation
17th December 2013
ECONOMY New - Exploring the social, political and business environment of Luxembourg Objectives: - to understand the Luxembourg economy and the national economic news - to critically assess the economic outcomes and impact of the national policy-making process
18th November 2013
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BUSINESS
Media
Broadcaster promoted SES – www.ses.com
RTL Group will join the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s second tier market index, only months after being listed on the German bourse, and has issued an “extraordinary interim dividend” after improving profitability during the first half of the year. Text by Aaron Grunwald
ive months after its first German listing, Luxembourg’s leading broadcaster was promoted to the MDAX on September 23. The MDAX reflects the top 50 medium-sized firms listed on the exchange, ranking just below Deutsche Börse’s top 30 blue chip DAX index. RTL had been a member of the SDAX, or the top 50 small-cap firms. Many investment funds trade shares based on such indices. RTL started trading in Frankfurt in April of this year, when majority shareholder Bertelsmann, Germany’s largest media conglomerate, sold about 17% of the Kirchberg-based firm. RTL was already listed on Luxembourg and Brussels bourses. Bertelsmann still holds around three-quarters of all RTL shares.
RTL said that Deutsche Börse, which runs the stock market and the indices, made the decision based on the broadcaster’s “freefloat market capitalisation and the order book volume of shares listed in Frankfurt”. Earlier the firm had announced that gross revenues for the January through June period were down 1.3% compared to the first half of 2012, but operating profit, or Ebita, rose 9.1%. The company booked revenue of nearly €2.8 billion during the half year through June 2013, reporting Ebita of €552 million. In the light of its “strong cash flows” and successful debt management, RTL’s board of directors voted for an “extraordinary interim dividend” of €2.50 per share. In addition to its Luxembourg stations, the company operates broadcast channels in Belgium, France, Germany and six other European countries. RTL also runs FremantleMedia, the producer of the global Idol, Got Talent and X-Factor franchises.. RTL Frankfurt listing was a capital idea
Space
SES to outgrow arch-rival
The world’s number two satellite operator is poised to outperform its Paris-based arch-rival, according to a report by credit ratings agency Moody’s. SES “is likely to grow faster than Eutelsat for the first time since 2007”, Moody’s says. SES revenues are expected to gain between 3% and 4% this year, compared to approximately 2.5% for Eutelsat. Betzdorf-based SES currently has 21% of the global fixed satellite service market, by revenue, compared to Eutelsat’s 14% share. The two firms have been locked in a lengthy legal battle over the use of a key orbital position since the late 1990s. The Luxembourg company carries signals for British pay TV firm BSkyB, India’s Dish Network and Echostar in the US..
“The arrival of these channels is an important element in our positioning as a media hub in Europe” Economy minister Étienne Schneider on the decision to base “N1”, a news station serving six Balkan countries that is set to launch in the spring, in Luxembourg. Parent company United Group may relocate its other 19 pay TV channels to the Grand Duchy.
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Olivier Minaire (archives)
David Laurent (archives)
F
Are you ready for AIFMD? With ALFI, the IFBL has built a comprehensive range of modules to accompany the implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).The module “Understanding AIFMD” provides a fundamental understanding of the directive before other modules go deeper into functional specifics. The IFBL’s AIFMD courses stand out by their form and positioning, providing those who need to “do” with the next level of detail that cannot be provided in either conferences or briefings. In these and other courses the IFBL is able to provide varied perspectives (legal, operational, advisory, … ) and stimulate learning through practical, interactive discussions. AIFMD for Fund Administrators: 14th October 2013 (4 hours) Within the context of a Fund Administrator, this module offers three perspectives on the key issues and concerns (legal, operational and advisory). Interactive discussions are promoted and focus upon how the directive is being applied in practice. AIFMD for Alternative Investment Fund Managers: 18th October 2013 (4 hours) This module offers Legal, Advisory and Risk perspectives on the materials as relevant to AIFMs themselves. Concise presentations are followed by interactive discussions providing practical answers to implementation questions. AIFMD for Depositaries: To be confirmed. For further information, please contact the IFBL T. : +352 46 50 16-1 customer@ifbl.lu | www.ifbl.lu
BUSINESS
Labour relations
Lorang’s elections Luxembourg’s political circus might have dissolved the parliament ahead of the general election overshadowing other events, but the country’s social elections are very much alive and kicking. Text by Bjarke Smith-Meyer Photography by Luc Deflorenne
“ T
wenty years ago I may have hosted ten conferences in the run up to these elections,” says Pierre Lorang. “Now I host over a hundred.” Lorang is the head of the labour inspector’s employee representative division; in essence, the main man behind the assurance of employee rights in the workplace.
Pierre Lorang Social elections benefit both staff and employers
All employees vote
This year’s social elections will open on November 13 and close at the end of December. Any company that fails to submit its votes within that time will be subjected to state inspection, followed by an election re-run. Any foreign or retired worker who has worked in Luxembourg for at least six months is entitled to participate in the social elections. This year will see a total of 430,000 employees taking part in the social elections. More information about the elections can be found in English, French, German and Portuguese online at: elections.csl.lu.
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“Fundamentally speaking it’s my job to establish a dialogue between companies and their employees as the law demands,” Lorang explains. “It’s not exactly something companies can opt out of.” On November 13, any enterprise in Luxembourg with 15 or more employees will ask their workers to vote towards a company delegation, over a strict period of a month and a half. That delegation will then act as a direct line of communication between company workers and managers. “People need to be represented by their fellow colleagues,” Lorang says. “That way they know they can talk to someone who actually understands their needs. And then in turn, it’s easier for management to communicate directly with five to ten delegates as opposed to 500 employees.”
The origins of Luxembourg’s social elections date back to the end of the First World War. Its purpose was to ensure proper protection to returning veterans within the country’s predominant mining industry. But industrial diversification and globalisation has seen the old law develop to encompass all trades. This year’s elections, for example, will see the total participation of 3,500 companies, as opposed to the mere 300 that were involved in 1993. Those figures are, somewhat ironically, an indication of the country’s failure to inform workers of their rights to representation in 1993, as only a third of all registered companies participated in social elections. “Back then we would just sell a 50-cent, 20-page pamphlet to companies who wanted it,” Lorang says. “Now we actively ensure that all enterprises are catalogued and informed of their professional responsibilities.” The elections involve anyone that has worked in Luxembourg for at least six months, regardless of their nationality. And with foreign residents alone making up 44.5% of Luxembourg population, it is not surprising that the state has had to evolve to accommodate the rights of all workers. “Many companies seem to struggle with the time allocation we set,” Lorang says. “Since the elections only occur every five calendar years, not very many seem to remember how the last round of elections was organised.” Failure to comply with the election timetable simply results in an election re-run, a scenario that costs company time and money. But despite the elections’ high tempo and stressful demands, Lorang insists that the hard work pays its dividends. “Managers need to understand that the system hasn’t been put in place to fight them, but to help them develop instead,” Lorang says. “Because at the end of the day, a healthy staff gives a healthy return. And a healthy return represents a healthy company.”.
BUSINESS
Chinese expansion Luxembourg is an attractive locale in particular for China’s growing ranks of high net worth individuals to manage their international portfolios, local bankers say. This November China Construction Bank is set to open its EU hub at 1 boulevard Royal, meaning that three of the “Big Four” state-owned Chinese banks will have regional operations in the Grand Duchy (Bank of China set up shop in Luxembourg in 1979 and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China’s largest, arrived two years ago). Rumours have percolated that the fourth, Agricultural Bank of China, would follow suit, as might other heavyweights such as China Merchants and China Minsheng. At press time, none of those three banks had returned Delano’s messages seeking comment, and a spokeswoman for Luxembourg’s finance ministry said it had nothing to announce.
M&A mania Luxembourg’s central bank reports there were 141 credit institutions operating in the Grand Duchy this spring, down from 199 in 2000, a reduction in large part driven by consolidation. While stronger private banks are experiencing double digit net inflows, weaker competitors are seeing net outflows and “about one bank in six recorded a loss” last year, according to McKinsey. A report earlier this year by consultancy PwC says larger institutions will remain hesitant to do big deals for some time to come. However, smaller ones are still getting done, such as the merger of Banque Degroof Luxembourg’s Swiss unit with 233 year old Lausanne-based Landolt & Cie and the sale of HSBC Trinkaus & Burghardt to VP Bank of Liechtenstein. “The data shows that a number of Western European private banks may not be viable” and McKinsey expects M&A activity to continue.
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Restructuring & redundancies Banks overall employ about 8% of the Grand Duchy’s workforce, figures from statistics agency Statec reveal, so changes in the space have a ripple effect on the wider conomy, and seemingly small jobs figures can add up fast. More than 200 financial sector redundancies were announced over the summer, including those at units of Deutsche Bank, while the future of up to 210 positions is uncertain due to rationalisation at ABN Amro and the HSBC Trinkaus & Burghardt deal. The shift towards higher net worth clients will no doubt result in more redundancies, ABBL vice president Carlo Thill said in August, adding that it is “hypothetical to speculate about the number of losses”. At the same time, Luxembourg financial regulator CSSF reports that more than 26,000 people were employed by banks at the end of last year, a number that has remained relatively unchanged since the beginning of the crisis.
Market migration
Europe’s top two offshore private banking hubs are no longer helping dentists stash their extra cash, as one industry source put it to Delano. Attention has shifted to a much wealthier client base. McKinsey says that “Switzerland continues to attract significant flows from emerging markets, while Luxembourg retains its appeal for Western European ultrahigh-net-worth individuals”, or those with more than one million euros to invest. Those unfortunate to have less than seven disposable digits are bringing their banking business back to their home countries. McKinsey notes that the Grand Duchy and its Alpine competitor both “are seeking to promote greater diversification, higher quality service, superior capabilities, discretion and overall safety.” But the Grand Duchy could continue to lose market share as the proportion of wealthy families shrink in Europe and rise in Asia.
BUSINESS
Finance
Private banking blues Delano looks at five industry trends to watch this autumn that could potentially have a big impact on the Grand Duchy’s financial and job markets.
I
Union uncertainty
nternationally it is billed as “end of bank secrecy”. Since the Luxembourg’s government announced earlier this year that it would participate in automatic tax information exchange schemes with the EU and US starting in 2015, there has been much speculation--mostly from abroad--about the decline of the Grand Duchy’s banking sector. Added to that pressure, banks face new global requirements to boost their capital buffers and other European and international measures to restore confidence in the industry.
So are banks under threat? Bank earnings are certainly under pressure. Luxembourg’s central bank says across the industry pre-charge results have gone down from nearly €6 billion in 2008 to just over €5 billion in 2012. A recent report on private banking by consulting firm McKinsey states that offshore private banks saw their profit margins shrink by more than 30% during that same period and now are no longer more profitable than mainstream commercial giants. So Luxembourg’s industry is trying to focus on more profitable clients. And despite the frequent job loss headlines, bank sector employment has held roughly steady since 2007..AG
Protracted negotiations on common European guarantee and wind-up schemes are further casting a cloud over banks of all stripes. “Since the summer break, political discussions on Eurozone-wide resolution have hit a brick wall,” observes risk analysis firm Eurasia Group. “Gridlock makes it difficult to see what compromises could emerge.” With the conclusion of German elections, the pace of Eurozone talks is expected to hasten. Any new rules could have limited impact, on the other hand. Institutions in the Grand Duchy have generally kept sound books and already have cross-border backing. EY, the consultancy formerly known as Ernst & Young, notes that Luxembourg “banks’ assets are well diversified and generally high quality. Furthermore, most banks are subsidiaries of foreign companies and it is likely they will be supported by their parent organisations if need be.”
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Finance
FTT fracas The proposed European financial transaction tax is contrary to EU law, legal advisors to EU finance ministers have written in a leaked memo, but the European Commission says “we stand firm.” Text by Aaron Grunwald
L
awyers for EU finance ministers say the proposed European financial transactions tax “is discriminatory and likely to lead to distortion of competition to the detriment of nonparticipating member states”, according to a leaked advisory memo. In addition, the FTT
European Commission
Algirdas Šemeta Commission judges Tobin Tax to be legally sound
FTT likely to become “stamp duty”
The geographic reach of the proposed European financial transaction tax is likely to be revisited, but some sort of FTT is still likely to be introduced by 2015, risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a report last month. Only German withdrawal could totally scupper the levy’s introduction, reckons the firm. However “any such tax will likely strongly resemble the UK stamp duty, while possibly also taking some elements from the French FTT. As such, it is more likely to be based on the issuance (and not on the residence) principle with possible select application to equities and some derivatives.”
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proposal “infringes upon the taxing competences of non-participating member states”, the European Council’s legal service wrote last month in an internal opinion for the ministers, which was subsequently published by the Financial Times. The FTT is currently in the process of being adapted by 11 European countries--including Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Spain-with the aim of dampening risky financial engineering and providing a safety reserve for the financial sector and struggling government budgets. It is being pursued under the “enhanced cooperation” mechanism that allows nine or more member states to proceed with common rules when agreement cannot be reached at EU-wide level. The UK, supported by Luxembourg, has launched a legal assault against the levy, which
is sometimes called a “Tobin Tax”, before the European Court of Justice in Kirchberg. The European Council lawyers’ arguments focus on article 4 of the proposed regulations, which were drafted by the European Commission and introduce a “residence principle”. That means that the FTT must be paid by all parties and intermediaries in a transaction whenever at least one is based in the FTT zone. But the legal memo concludes that policy: “exceeds member states’ jurisdiction for taxation under the norms of international customary law as they are understood by the union.” “In spite of some member states not participating in the enhanced cooperation, the FTT would be applied in their territories,” the lawyers note. The legal memo is purely advisory and EU leaders are not obliged to follow its conclusions. Indeed, the European Commission has disputed the conclusions and significance of the confidential memo, saying the document only addresses a limited part of the proposal and not its fundamental principles. A spokeswoman for European tax commissioner Algirdas Šemeta tells Delano that: “The commission’s legal service carried out a very thorough legal analysis before the commission presented this proposal, and we stand firm that the proposed FTT is legally sound and fully in line with the EU treaties and international tax law. The commission legal service will analyse in further detail the [council legal service] opinion, and will come back to these issues in the council. It is important that the negotiators have the full picture to allow proper discussions.” “It is also important to note that this opinion only questions one part of the residence principle, not the tax as a whole or the procedure of enhanced cooperation,” the commission spokeswoman stresses. “As commissioner Šemeta has repeatedly said for some time now, ultimately it is for the 11 member states in question to find common accord on what they want to implement.” .
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BUSINESS
Privacy
Skype’s “Prism” role
New questions continue to emerge over Skype’s participation in America’s internet spying programme; while the Grand Duchy’s data regulator wants EU rules to have more “teeth”. Text by Aaron Grunwald Photography by Olivier Minaire
S
ince the moment more than four months ago that Edward Snowden, a former US government IT contractor, started sharing secret files with media outlets including The Guardian, Washington Post and New York Times, Skype has been in the firing line, along with many of the world’s major web and telecommunications companies. The confidential documents suggest the Clausen-based internet telephony firm, owned by American technology giant Microsoft, has facilitated mass electronic surveillance of its users by the US spy agency NSA, as well as UK intelligence outfit GCHQ. The two security organisations are reportedly accessing and archiving billions of telephone call records, emails, social media posts and other personal data as part of their counter-terrorism activities. Reports indicate that the amount of Skype user data accessed by the so-called “Prism” electronic programme significantly increased after Skype’s 2011 acquisition by Microsoft. Huge technical changes--which the company said were made to improve service--may have eased the ability of the NSA to spy on Skype users, Delano has learned. Since last year, much of Skype’s electronic traffic has been handled by Microsoft data centres, the company confirms (see box). But previously “Skype never had your data on their servers”, an industry source tells Delano, citing the use of peer-to-peer, or P2P, technology. “It was like file sharing; it had security risks, but no real corporate oversight.” In a blog post published last year, Skype executive Mark Gillett wrote that the firm was already in the process of moving its services “to cloud servers” before it was bought by Microsoft.
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Skype headquarters Says it only complies with legally valid orders
Calls between two individual Skype users continue to be handled on a peer-to-peer basis, Gillett explained, while Microsoft servers handle Skype application data, group video conference calls, voice calls made to or from the traditional telephone network, and “some” instant messages. Gillett stressed that the changes were not prompted by government pressure: “The enhancements we have been making to our software and infrastructure have been to improve user experience and reliability. Period.” “That is a significant change to the model,” Delano’s source says. “And it changes my level of concern [about the level of privacy] somewhat. Though in truth, I’m not sure that it makes much difference. Presumably [the NSA] can already access all of my email. At least Skype may offer some anonymity.” The revelations loomed large during an August 28 conference on data protection organised by KPMG and which was standing room only at the European Court of Auditors main hall in Kirchberg. Speaker Gérard Lommel, head of Luxembourg’s state data protection agency CNPD,
"I just assume Big Brother is watching at this point" Industry source
BUSINESS
Gérard Lommel Wants EU rules to apply to anyone with EU users
said the question of clarifying legal liabilities is a major goal of a draft European Commission directive that would update current EU rules, which date back to 1995. However, the new measure has been stalled in the European Parliament for months. If passed, the regulations would “give teeth” to European data protection authorities, Lommel remarked, in part by making EU rules not only apply to companies and bodies established in the union, but also those that offer services or target users in Europe. Still under debate is a provision that would allow European regulators to levy fines on offending companies of up to 2% of global turnover, a power similar to the one held by EU competition authorities. After the KPMG conference, fresh media reports claimed that Microsoft, along with other software firms, had incorporated encryption “back doors” that allowed the NSA and GCHQ to quietly access a wide number of email and chat messages, banking and medical records, e-commerce transactions and virtual private networks,
which are used by organisations to exchange internal files securely. A Microsoft representative told Delano that a blog post by the company’s chief lawyer Brad Smith “is quite clear on these points”. Smith stated: “Microsoft does not provide any government with direct and unfettered access to our customer’s data. Microsoft only pulls and then provides the specific data mandated by the relevant legal demand.” An NSA spokeswoman pointed to a US government statement, which said the fact that it deciphered communications “is not news”. GCHQ’s press office told Delano the agency does “not comment on intelligence matters”. In the view of Delano’s source, “the way Microsoft has apparently misled users about government access to information is problematic for me; more problematic than the disclosure itself, on some level. I don’t expect them to hurt themselves by defying the NSA, but if they patently lie to their users about what they do with user data, they risk losing the public trust in an even greater way.” This person concluded that: “I just assume Big Brother is watching at this point”. .
Where’s the data?
Since its 2011 takeover, Skype has moved from a pure “peer to peer” model to shifting some of its traffic to Microsoft data centres. However, it is unclear what proportion of Skype traffic is currently carried through Microsoft facilities and how much data traffic remains routed on a P2P basis, and thus would be more difficult for government spy agencies to access. It is also unclear where the Microsoft data centres that support Skype traffic are located, and so which country’s legal rules would apply. A representative of Microsoft told Delano that “Skype does not publish this type of data.”
OCTOBER 2013
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BUSINESS
Members of the “GeoCren” team try to discern which wine they are sampling at the Villar de Rohde event station
This Belgian family, the “Petit Gaumais” team, has come to Luxembourg City just once a year, to take part in Discover Luxembourg, for five years now!
Jill Medernach and Carmen Caas count how many elephants now grace the city
Networking fundraiser
Discover Luxembourg
Viktoria Valdimarsdottir gives a pointer to her “GenCreo” teammate Vladislav Gherciu at popular cigar store La Casa Del Habano
Dorothy Germaine, Katerina Kapsani and Petra Scole of The Network’s team, “Networking Women”, study products at the Danish Deli
Open wide! At this event challenge, participants had to guess which Luxlait flavour yogurt they were tasting
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Some 55 teams came out on a slightly wet Saturday to take part in “Discover Luxembourg”, an annual fundraiser. The event took them through the city and past “stations” where they faced challenges for points--the team with the most points won. This year, the honour went to The Carrots, but in truth, everyone was a winner for helping to raise money for Kriibskrank Kanner. We tagged along with The Network’s team on the five-hour tour. “It’s a fantastic cause and we wanted to be part of it,” said Katerina Kapsani, who’s been in Luxembourg less than a year. Her teammate was even more of a newbie--Petra Smole’s been here since August. While they both had much to “discover”, so did old-timers and Lux natives. “I’ve been told that Luxembourg is like a jewellery box; you open it up and keep finding treasures,” Kapsani said. On our way from a deli to a wine tasting, we took a back alley none of the women had ever seen before--a buried treasure. Not only did these women discover less trodden ways, they socialised and did what they do so well--networked! The chance to have fun, explore, meet others and help others is what has kept people signing up to Discover Luxembourg for many years now. WW
The Mueller-Hickler family, “the Snoopy Team”, tries to guess what they are touching inside the mysterious boxes at the BGL BNP Paribas event station Organiser Geoff Thompson and Luxembourg City mayor Xavier Bettel
More photos from the event at: www.delano.lu/news/discover-luxembourg
Boxing Day: stacking up the odds in their favour, this team completes the event station challenge sponsored by Streff
arendt institute
training agenda October 2013 Tue
1
2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Transparency Law of 11 January 2008
Thu
3
2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Impôt des Sociétés - appréhender les risques fiscaux et éviter les erreurs fréquentes
Wed 9
9 a.m. - 11.30 a.m.
EU Banking Union - implications of the single supervisory mechanism
Tue
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Titrisation
15
November 2013 Wed 6
2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Workshop: déclarations fiscales des Soparfis – formulaire 506A
Thu
14
9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
EMIR – a “labyrinth”: what you have to do
Tue
19
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Eligible Assets - a roadmap through the labyrinth
Wed 20
4 p.m. - 6 p.m.
Remuneration policies for Investment Managers
Thu
21
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Navigating through the AIFMD
Tue
26
9.30 a.m. - 5 p.m.
CSSF Circular letter 12/552
Thu
28
2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Anti-Money Laundering for Investment Funds
December 2013 1.30 p.m. 5.30 p.m.
Comment gérer au mieux vos contrôles TVA ?
Wed 4
9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Luxembourg Limited Partnership Modernisation
Thu
5
1.30 p.m. 5.30 p.m.
MiFID
Tue
10
2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Anti-Money Laundering - recent developments
Thu
12
2 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Geldwäschebekämpfung - die aktuellen Entwicklungen
Tue
Play by the rules
3
To learn more about our training sessions and subscribe online please visit: www.arendtinstitute.com
BUSINESS
Training
Investing in people How legal and financial services trainers are adapting to the new normal. Text by Tonya Stoneman Photography by Olivier Minaire
W
hile the post-crisis world for banks, financial institutions and law firms has grown more stable, in many ways it is still in a transformative process--which means continued change. As companies merge, downsize, and respond to a barrage of new regulations, professional training takes on new meaning. For many, the days of in-house career development staffs are gone. And old course syllabi are being modified to accommodate new policies and tighter budgets. Delano spoke with three people at the forefront of this field to find out what the trends are and how they are adapting to the new normal.
Berglind Fridriks People management is key to making partner
Soft skills Berglind Fridriks is director of her own HR consultancy for law firms. She has launched a catalogue of soft skills courses for lawyers. In her field, there are two types of clients: magic circles, or major firms, and the others who outsource training. Because the big firms have their own development teams on a global or local level, their need for outside help is limited. But the small and mid-sized firms don’t have in-house programmes, so they will look outside the firm for training. Fridriks is a strong believer in keeping things local, even though her clients come from a global network. Luxembourg, with its cross-border, multilingual workforce, is a unique field and knowing how to navigate it makes a real difference, she says. For instance, in Luxembourg, lawyers must pass a language exam in which they demonstrate proficiency in German and Luxembourgish. While there are various language courses available, finding one that coaches prospective lawyers specifically on the legalese they will need for the bar exam is difficult. They need customised training. Responding to lawyers’ specific needs is Fridriks’ forté. For example, because lawyers have heavy schedules, her courses are structured in
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a way that minimizes the loss of billable hours. She has found the best time to coach is during the lunch hour or in the morning for no more than four and a half hours. She has also noticed that lawyers need soft skills that aren’t always available to them. “The more you progress in seniority, the more you need people management,” she says. “This is a requisite core competency to become a partner.” Consequently, she has developed courses that address these needs. In the future, she hopes to offer stress and risk management skills, as well.
Shift in planning After 20 years of auditing in 30 different countries, Leslie Foster branched out and started his own firm, Governance People, which specialises in risk and compliance courses for Luxembourg’s financial sector. “The training available for my profession includes product training,
derivatives, theory-based internal auditor exams, but the practical ‘how to audit or how to control’? It’s not there,” he says. “You can find these kinds of courses in Paris or London, but they’re very expensive.” Foster has built his business model on responding to regulatory circulars and addressing their requirements. He offers very specific courses. “An internal audit must follow international standards,” he says. “Therefore a [certified internal auditor] must have the right training. In fact, the circulars are now requiring directors to have a training plan and offer their people a chance to acquire the skills required for their jobs.” In addition, regulations like the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive [see Delano, November 2011 edition] can be difficult for small to mid-sized firms to navigate. The glut of new regulations in response to the financial crisis has been good for Foster.
BUSINESS
Leslie Foster External training can make a big difference
Training resources Fridriks
+352 26 26 56-1
“Circulars also require every bank to have a whistle blower policy, so I have a course for that,” he says. “I serve as the official ‘go to’ person outside of the firm for someone with a grievance and interface with management to resolve a situation before it becomes a problem.” Foster has seen just about every scenario in his field. Having worked in cities from New York to Tokyo to London to Riyadh, he’s encountered just about every kind of obstacle. “I try to be progressive, yet interactive,” he says. “For example, an external training day away from the office can make a big difference. But I expect people to participate. It’s not just a day without work.” His goal is to help more firms integrate training into their modus operandi. “Going from ‘that would be nice to have when we have the time’ to ‘we would like an annual pre-organised scheduled way of working’. This is a shift.” Patrick Wallerand works with the Agence de Transfert de Technologie Financière, an agency
www.fridriks.com
that was created in 1999 specifically for the transfer of financial technology knowledge, i.e., training. The Luxembourg state is the company’s majority stakeholder, so it is well integrated into the local financial landscape. Like Fridriks’ firm, ATTF also offers training that will help candidates prepare for exams, only in this case they focus on the financial sector. Additionally, it offers a variety of courses that will familiarise clients with the structure of the European financial centre and help them understand the nuances of the industry. In addition to offering courses in Luxembourg, they provide free training to financial organisations in the developing world. “There was a lot of demand from neighbouring countries,” says Wallerand. “Those who were going to join the European Union in 2004 found themselves in need of certain kinds of knowledge.”
Governance People
+352 20 99 01 01 www.governancepeople.com ATTF
+352 26 86 73-1 www.attf.lu
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ATTF reaches out to countries with a proven need to acquire knowledge and who can be helped by their services. It works with underdeveloped countries, but also with emerging markets like China, Russia and Serbia; 44 countries in all.
Growing demand “We started with 10 countries,” says Wallerand. “But the government kept coming to me asking for good will, branding, opening doors, etc. Today, our coverage is the Soviet border, the Baltic, southeast Asia, Laos, Eurasia, El Salvador and west Africa.” Although the return on investment is hard to calculate, Wallerand personally visits every country to get feedback and adjust his teaching to the local situation. For him, the
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work is rewarding. “We’re all about the transfer of knowledge,” he says. “ATTF operates through partnership with [Luxembourg’s] central bank and chamber of commerce to participate in the economic development of countries across the world. We helped Mongolia work out security laws and El Salvador establish risk management procedures.” ATTF instructors are all professionals: 85% are full-time practitioners who take a holiday to deliver training; 10% are past practitioners or consultants. Most have practices of their own and, therefore, instruct in real-time, not in theory. They offer skills professionals can use now, not some day down the road. This kind of pedagogical approach is hard to find. And ATTF experts are in demand. In the past, Wallerand has been forced to cancel classes because his trainers were too busy. .
" We’re all about the transfer of knowledge" Patrick Wallerand
An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Benjamin Franklin MSc in bAnking & FinAnce
MASter in weALth MAnAgeMent
The LSF Master’s in Banking and Finance is a comprehensive programme covering both mainstream and more specialised disciplines in banking and finance. Renowned professors provide a solid academic and professional foundation in these disciplines. The programme is ideally suited to students seeking a career in corporate finance, asset and wealth management, banking and related fields, in Luxembourg or beyond.
The LSF Master in Wealth Management, developed in co-operation with the Private Banking Group in Luxembourg, combines traditional academic finance disciplines with other subjects closely linked to the profession of wealth management. Renowned professors and practitioners will provide a solid theoretical and practical foundation for a career in wealth management, in Luxembourg or beyond.
Want to learn more?
www.learnmore.lu Luxembourg School of Finance
AppLy now Both full-time and part-time study formats will be available starting Autumn 2013. Open to the World
For further information, contact info@lsf.lu or www.learnmore.lu
Study Finance in Luxembourg FACULTY OF LAW, ECONOMICS AND FINANCE
info@lsf.lu +352 46 66 44 6807 http://mwm.uni.lu
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NEW
BUSINESS
Business mentoring
Young guns go for it In the past year, Jens Buch has benefitted from the Chamber of Commerce’s mentorship programme--an experience much appreciated by the industrious entrepreneur. Text by Neel Chrillesen Photography by Steve Eastwood
H
e’s a kind of impressive, yet likeable whiz kid. Never short of plans and ideas, Jens Buch not only follows up on them with actions and enthusiasm, he does so with a total and refreshing lack of arrogance. As the 34-year old says himself: “I’m just a puppy”--and a puppy more than willing to learn at that. Which is why he was happy to join the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce’s mentorship programme in September last year.
Jens Buch Appreciates honest advice
Proven results
As the third mentoring season comes to a close, there’s no denying mentees have made progress in their self-management and leadership skills. Of the companies led by the 2010 and 2011 mentees, 95% are still in business, show an average staff increase of 28% and have increased their revenue by 29% on average. Moreover, 29 jobs have been created over the first two mentoring seasons. So far 74 entrepreneurs--including 35 mentors--have joined the programme. www.businessmentoring.lu
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“Once selected I was paired up with a mentor. I’ve since met with him once or twice a month and it’s been valuable on so many levels. My mentor has been in the same sort of situation as me many times, so he’s been able to give me great advice. It’s not like coaching; it’s more like ‘have you thought of this’, ‘I’d be careful with that’… It’s a simple and extremely honest relationship and that’s very important. I’ve learnt a lot from my mentor and it’s made a difference in how I’ve done things. The mentees in the programme aren’t the only ones to benefit though; mentors say they get something out of it too.” Buch already had three business activities when he joined the programme. Before starting those up, however, the Dane--born and
raised in Luxembourg--studied in London and worked for several major corporations as an IT and internet expert. “It was well paid but I often found it monotonous and unproductive. In 2008, I was working in a bank, which, like many others at that time, was letting people go. I asked to be put on the list but it was refused. I was desperate to leave and set up my own business, so I went directly to the big boss who agreed to let me go.” After starting up what later became Onlinemarketing.lu (initially with a friend) and all the while continuing its wide range of web services, Buch went on to create SurviCam with Ronny Beweng in 2011. “What we offer is video-surveillance with a difference. The recordings are transferred via internet to our data centre, so people don’t need to invest in recording devices all while knowing the images are stored safely.” SurviCam won RTL’s start-up competition “Success Story” and has a variety of customers--“from private homes and shops to cow sheds and construction sites”--in several countries. “Future projects include expanding our market in the UK.” As if this wasn’t enough, he is also working with videographer Raoul Schmitz to launch a website with workout videos enabling users to build a personalised, targeted training programme. One of the things that distinguishes Buch from other young entrepreneurs is probably this aptitude and a willingness to cooperate with others. The merger of his Onlinemarketing.lu with web-agency e-connect and communication consultancy InsideOut therefore comes as no surprise. “I had been working closely with them when it dawned upon me that merging would be a great idea. My mentor gave me a lot of practical recommendations.” When pushed slightly, Buch admits to having a lot of other ideas he’d like to carry out. “My mentor told me to be careful and not take on too much though, so for the moment, I’m sticking with my three activities! ”.
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RegisteR now at www.LLLC.lu
THINK LOCAL
French
“Common values” Four year resident Nicolas Delaby gives his insight into living and working in the Grand Duchy, in the 22nd instalment of Delano’s “Think Local” interview series. Interview by Aaron Grunwald Photography by Steve Eastwood
AG: Why did you leave Belgium? ND: I must say it was not the choice of our life to come to Luxembourg. [It was] for my job. AG: What surprised you most when you got here? ND: I’m [still] surprised that it’s so calm, and that’s the first picture you get. Usually people who don’t know www.letmevote.eu Luxembourg think, ‘oh, it’s a place where there’s no life’. It took us some time, we dug into it, and we got in touch with so many people. It’s easy to get linked to people here. AG: How did you become involved in the ‘Let Me Vote’ campaign? ND: At the time, I was a bit homesick and was listening to [radio station] France Inter. Philippe Cayla, who is the boss of Euronews, was explaining there is a new democratic mechanism introduced by Europe, called the ECI [European Citizens Initiative]. He wanted an ECI to create the right to vote for foreigners in Europe. I just sent him an email, and we started to work together on creating this initiative. I was very interested in the idea that it’s a new way of doing politics. You can propose an idea, collect signatures, and trigger a process at the European level. The topic itself was very interesting. Because I believe now that we are free to move, free to work where we want, and we should be free to vote where we are. AG: What specifically is your petition demanding? ND: That when European people, Nicolas Delaby members of the 28 states of Europe, Photographed in Schengen decide to live in another European country, they are considered then as a ‘national resident’. So, a French in Luxembourg or a Luxembourger in France should be equal citizens.
After growing up in Dunkirk, in northern France, Nicolas Delaby lived in Minsk, Belarus--where he met his wife--then Lille and Brussels. The father of two young children moved to Luxembourg in 2009, where he is a project manager for food safety lab Eurofins and an organiser of the “Let Me Vote” campaign for equal voting rights among expat EU citizens.
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We are now in a common union where we share common values based on the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. We have many, many common values between the 28. I still see a difference between being an American and being a European, but between us, we are more like cousins. That’s why, if I decide to live in Luxembourg, I should have the same rights. AG: That includes the immediate right to vote in national elections? ND: Everything. AG: What happens in January, when your one year signature collection process ends? ND: If we reach one million signatures then the European Commission will have to look into the proposal and trigger a debate within the European institutions. They don’t have to follow, but they at least have to discuss. AG: Are there a lot of people opposed? ND: There are quite a few. AG: What’s their argument? ND: [Some say] if you want to vote in France, you have to be French. Some other people are afraid that a small part of the population would then take the lead. Like in Luxembourg, that foreigners would decide. Because if you look at who works and pays taxes today in Luxembourg, it’s us basically. And maybe they’re afraid of that. AG: But linguistically speaking, maybe foreigners can’t follow the political debate? ND: If you see in Luxembourg that there is a big Italian or Portuguese community, then the political parties translate their programme. [And] if you’re able to work in a foreign country, normally you should be able to understand the political programme..
cOnstructiOn • renOvatiOn • DecOratiOn • interiOr Design
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opEnIng hours: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 2 p.M. - 8 p.M., laTe opening Thursday and Friday 2 p.M. - 9 p.M., saTurdays and sundays 10 a.M. - 7 p.M. moTorway a1, ExIT 8 www.auTomnE.Lu FEEL IT LIVE!
AGENDA
ten events
Delano presents a selection of upcoming business and networking events for Luxembourg’s international community. Advance registration or fees may be required, so consult the website indicated for full details. All events are held in English unless otherwise noted.
Clearstream
Tudor centre
British chamber
Amcham
www.clearstream.com
www.tudor.lu
www.bcc.lu
www.amcham.lu
Wed 16 October
Mon 4 November
Musical members dinner
Danish lunch
Republicans
Alfi
www.republicansabroad.lu
www.alfi.lu
thu 10 october
INSEAD
Better deliveries
Mon 7 October
Financial reflections
INSEAD professor Theo Vermaelen delivers this year’s Edmond Israel memorial lecture-organised with the Luxembourg School of Finance--on “shareholder value and ethical responsibility”. Register by October 5 via eventslux@clearstream.com. Abbaye de Neumünster, Luxembourg-Grund, 18:30
Indian chamber www.ibcl.lu
The Henri Tudor public research centre hosts its first “Logistics Innovation Conference” which examines how new technologies and ideas can improve the sector. Speakers include LuxCloud’s Marco Houwen. Henri Tudor building, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, 10:00-17:00
Irish chamber www.ilcc.lu
thu 10 october
Pitch event
Final round of the ILCC “Dragon’s Den” inspired innovation contest, which sees entrepreneurs pitch their business concept to a panel of judges (and the audience). Followed by a networking cocktail. The Impactory, Luxembourg-Belair, 18:30
Polish chamber www.lpbc.lu
UK ambassador Alice Walpole hosts the British Chamber of Commerce’s annual sustaining members-only dinner, featuring a concert by Luxembourg-based choral octet Intermedii. British ambassador’s residence, Luxembourg-Centre, 19:30
wed 23 october
US tax planning
Republicans Abroad Luxembourg and Thun Financial Advisors present a luncheon seminar on financial, investment and tax planning for Americans living abroad. Book in advance via republicans@internet.lu. Hôtel Le Place d’Armes, Luxembourg-Centre, 11:30
Tue 8 October
The Network
Economic driver
Seminar on the global automotive industry and opportunities to develop trade between India and Europe, including Luxembourg’s notable automotive supply sector. Speakers include KPMG’s Louis Thomas. KPMG, Strassen, 18:00
www.the-network.lu
Tue 15 October
Financial horizons
The Luxembourg Poland Business Club and PwC host a conference on “Luxembourg and Polish developments in the area of wealth management”. Speakers include bande Vinoteca_Delano_0.2.pdf 1 9/19/13 2:16 PM Luxembourg for Finance’s Nicolas Mackel. PwC, Luxembourg-Gasperich, 18:30
The special guest speaker at the American Chamber of Commerce’s November ABAL luncheon is Louise Bang Jespersen, Denmark’s ambassador to the Grand Duchy. Doubletree Hilton, Luxembourg-Dommeldange, 12:00
wed 23 october
From monks to jazz
Mon 4 November
Don’t hedge your bets
If you are thinking about the impact of AIFMD, then you might want to attend Alfi’s “European Alternative Investment Funds Conference”. Speakers include KPMG’s Charles Muller. Conference Centre, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, all day
The women’s professional networking groups gets an insight tour of the former abbey turned prison, which today is one of Luxembourg’s premiere culture and expo venues. Advance registration required. Abbaye de Neumünster, Luxembourg-Grund, 18:00
Have a suggestion? If your organisation is holding an event of interest to the international community, send details to: news@delano.lu.
83, rue de Hollerich • L-1741 Luxembourg (dans l'enceinte Troc / Catclub / Surfin / Dété)
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THINK LOCAL
Interview with Sandrine Bionda, Senior Business Development Manager
Did you ever consider what could happen to your financial assets and property in the event of death during your expatriation?
It is a fact that people tend to avoid handling the aspects of a succession in the event of death because it is a difficult subject to consider. But as an expat, you should know that things can turn out to be a nightmare for your loved ones if you do not prepare things beforehand. When you first left your native country to discover new professional challenges, you were either single, married, with or without children and not knowing precisely how long your expatriation would last. Today, you have been living abroad for quite a long time, in the same country or moving from one place to another every three or five years and you are questioning yourself about what would happen to your financial assets and property in case of your sudden death. Did you ever try to find out, before your expatriation, which law was applicable to your succession? Do you know that succession law can vary from one country to another? Are you aware that the law applicable can be different when handling personal property or real estate transfer? Let us highlight you with a few examples: in a cross-border situation, it is strongly advised to draw up a will before or during your expatriation that will be recognized by the law in your home country.
Sandrine Bionda Senior Business Development Manager Tel. 2537 2537 26 @: sandrine.bionda@bnpparibas.com
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Why? The reasons are multiple and increasingly complex when you are getting married, having kids, investing in real estate and financial assets in various countries. The will is the best and smoother way to transfer your financial assets and property to your beloved ones in case something happens to you. The Bank For Expats® has been following expats for more than 20 years in the management of their assets, advising and connecting them to experts in matters related to expatriation to help and find solutions adapted to their own context. If you need any assistance, feel free to give them a call. For more information on The Bank For Expats®, visit their website: www.thebankforexpats.com
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Explorator’s reliable dining out guide
À la Soupe
Ukulele
À la Soupe has a second outlet in rue Bender, serving soups made with fresh, organic ingredients to be eaten in-store or as a take-away. Soup is recommended by many nutritionists as the perfect compromise between fast food and slow food. The rue Bender venue will be serving the same menu at the same price and with the same atmosphere as the first restaurant on rue Chimay. www.alasoupe.net
Louise King and Claire Haigh have opened this casual bar and restaurant in the former premises of Fu Bar in Clausen. Fans of Thailand, where they have both lived, Louise and Claire have hired a Thai chef to prepare curries and other authentic specialities served at lunchtime and in the evening until 10 p.m. The bar’s annex room even has table football. Follow Ukulele Luxembourg on Facebook
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Luc Deflorenne
Luc Deflorenne
Luc Deflorenne
Maison Moderne’s annual restaurant and going out guide, Explorator, is published on October 10. This year’s guide features original reviews of some 370 restaurants written by an experienced editorial team. The reliable reviews are in French but include an English summary of what each restaurant has to offer and, in any case, Explorator serves as an indispensible listings guide for anyone looking to eat out in Luxembourg. The 2013-2014 guide also includes articles on a variety of subjects linked to food and wine. It is available for just 10 euro at newsagents and bookstores or directly online from the Maison Moderne shop. www.maisonmoderne.lu/eshop
Velvet A quaint boutique on rue Notre-Dame in the capital city, Velvet features ready-to-wear urban and vintage wear for men and women with discerning taste. It carries the latest collections from such hip brands as All About Eve, Olow, Evil Twin, Studio Ruig, Silent Theory, Dr. Martens, and more. Follow Velvet on Facebook
El Txoco Describing itself as a “gastro-bar”, El Txoco specialises in Basque cuisine-more specifically raciones: ham, croquettes, squid, anchovies, chorizo and other tortillas, as well as pintxo, a sort of open sandwich on to which is skewered (with a toothpick) a portion of meat or fish or roasted vegetable, for example. It also has a dish of the day and serves bocadillo and cazuela. www.eltxoko.lu
Luc Deflorenne
Luc Deflorenne
LIFESTYLE
Berlitz kids visit A group of students from the Berlitz Junior Media Camp visited the premises of Delano publisher Maison Moderne at the end of July. The teenagers had been learning English in the context of media studies, and were treated to exposés by sales account manager Luciana Restivo, editors Duncan Roberts and Aaron Grunwald and art director Cassandre Bourtembourg (photo, centre). The students also visited the American Chamber of Commerce. www.berlitz.lu
Spiritus Movens/Kadar
Luc Deflorenne
Diwali The celebration of Diwali is an annual highlight for Luxembourg’s Indian community. The Indian Business Chamber of Luxembourg is hosting a Bollywood Beats and Dance event on November 9 at the Alvisse Parc Hotel. With Indian cuisine and entertainment from Eastern Illusion Group, plus afterdinner dancing--and a chance to win a trip to India for two--the event promises to be special indeed. www.ibcl.lu
Flower market The Ville de Luxembourg and the Luxembourg market stall holders’ association have teamed up to introduce a flower market at the place des Martyrs-the Rose garden (or Rousegäertchen in Luxembourgish). Held on the second Sunday of every month between April and October, the market features stalls selling plants and cut flowers, seeds and bulbs. The next market is on October 13. www.vdl.lu
qip in English Online art and design platform qip home is now available in English. The website serves as “a virtual marketplace where like-minded buyers and sellers meet,” says founder Viviane Bumb. It is, says Bumb, a “curated marketplace” that features unique or small edition items of high quality. Indeed, buyers trust Bumb to handpick the sellers and products in the online store, which in turn reduces the time they have to spend browsing. www.qiphome.com
Cineast: comprehensive cultural celebration Screening some of the most interesting films to emerge from Central and Eastern Europe over the past year, and with a programme that also features concerts, exhibitions, conferences and even food from a selection of participating countries, CinEast is a comprehensive cultural celebration, and one of the highlights of the early autumn. Divided into specialist sections, including an official competition, a “FunnyEast” section for comedies, an “East Goes West” programme focused on directors who have had success in Western Europe and the United States, a “Cinéscope” showcase of more recent and remarkable fiction films, as well as documentaries, short films and screenings for children, the festival is deliciously eclectic. Among the film highlights this year are Croatian director Bobo Jelcic’s sorrowful post-war Mostar drama A Stranger (photo), Slovak-Czech teenage angst drama My Dog Killer, Lithuanian erotic sci-fi thriller Vanishing Waves, Oscar-nominated Czech period thriller In the Shadow and bitter-sweet Slovenian drama Tango Abrazos. The addition of Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia to the programme this year brings to 14 the number of countries from which CinEast selects films and artists. The festival, now in its sixth year, has also added the Cameo cinema in Metz to the list of venues in Luxembourg that host screenings and special events. October 9 to 27, various venues, www.cineast.lu
Belgian beer Supermarket chain Delhaize has launched a special beer for its local stores. Belgians in Luxembourg is the first Belgian beer to be brewed in the Grand Duchy--it is produced at the Ourdäller Brauerei in Heiderscheid, which belongs to Brasserie Simon. The beer is based on a brew designed by André Grolet at his mico-brewery in Aywaille, in the province of Liège. www.delhaize.lu
easyJet to Lisbon Low cost carrier easyJet has announced that it will add the Portuguese capital of Lisbon to its schedule from Luxembourg starting on December 10. easyJet began a service to London Gatwick last autumn, and has since added Milan to the destinations it flies to from Findel. Tickets to Lisbon start from as low as ¤35. The flights are thrice weekly on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. www.easyjet.com OCTOBER 2013
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LIFESTYLE
Food & drink
Accessible cuisine The success of her food blog inspired Anne Faber to produce a cookbook and TV series showcasing British cuisine. Text by Duncan Roberts Photography by Jonathan Perugia
L
aunching a TV show and a book on which she has worked for over a year is, says Anne Faber, “like giving birth to twins.” The book, named simply Anne’s Kitchen after the blog, is a collection of the Luxembourg native’s favourite British-inspired recipes. “The most common reaction I get from people is ‘oh, British food’, that sort of stereotype. I always smile because I think that Luxembourg doesn’t have the biggest food culture either, so who are they to judge the Brits?” Anne loves British comfort food and thinks things like pies and afternoon teas are “lovely”. And she has also noticed similarities in the ingredients used in British and Luxembourg cuisine. “There are also traditions, such as Sunday lunch, that both cultures can relate to.” So Anne was inspired to use the TV show--broadcast on RTL Luxembourg and available on RTL.lu replay--to also revisit some Luxembourg recipes and combine the best of the two cuisines she is most familiar with. For instance, she has made a Judd mat Gaardebounen pie or a Bakewell tart with quetschen (the traditional Luxembourg plum). “I want it to be fun, not to shock people too much. It is a proper homage to the UK and Luxembourg.” The show, and the book and blog, also serve as a sort of travel guide to different London neighbourhoods. “London is very accessible for Luxembourgers, but not everyone knows about the city. It still has mystery for them, not like
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Paris, where it seems every Luxembourger has their favourite places.” Indeed, even after 10 years as a resident Anne is still discovering new aspects of the British capital. But she did have the good fortune to be taken under the wing of London Time Out food and drink editor Guy Dimond. “He showed me places and taught me everything I need to know about food writing,” Anne explains. Anne is not a trained chef, and was slightly concerned about how her technique would be accepted by audiences. “I can’t chop an onion. But I think in the UK more and more TV chefs like Nigella Lawson are not trained either; she’s an English graduate but she is well received. So I think people are beginning to relate to accessible food. Everything is simple to make--I mean, I have a tiny kitchen.” The kitchen is the setting for the TV show, which is shot by Anne’s friend and film graduate Ayshea Halliwell, who also grew up in Luxembourg and went to study in London. With a film background, Ayshea came into the project with a fresh approach that complemented Anne’s experience as a TV journalist. “Ayshea bears the brunt of the show. There is a lot of post-production and she influenced the tone; she’s an amazing partner in crime.”. www.anneskitchen.co.uk
Anne Faber Loves British food
myenergy Free advice Public, neutral and competent
By appointment or by telephone For more information: www.myenergy.lu / Hotline 8002 11 90 myenergy, my first step to save energy
LIFESTYLE
Food industry
Hail the new demitarians
The environmental and health arguments for reducing meat consumption have long been made. Yet the quest for cheaper meat continues as consumers eat twice as much as their 1950s counterparts. Urging carnivores to turn vegetarian or vegan is a losing battle, but could a trend towards demitarianism, or “intelligent omnivorism”, provide a solution? Text by Duncan Roberts
T
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he audience at a recent Oxford University Society of Luxembourg debate could not have spoken more clearly. After hearing both sides of the argument at the International School of Luxembourg, they voted almost unanimously in favour of a motion that “the future cost of meat is more than we can afford.” Speakers for and against the motion, even including John Brook, regional director for Europe with the US Meat Exporters Federation, had actually agreed that meat consumption would have to be reduced in order to be sustainable. However, those in favour won the day by arguing that the “meatification” (as Dr. Jane Feehan of the European Investment Bank put it) of the western diet was causing environmental problems and leading to obesity. On a more global scale, a UN Environment Programme (Unep) study published in February urged the western world to reduce meat consumption by half. The study said that unless action is taken, “increases in pollution and per capita consumption of energy and animal products will exacerbate nutrient losses, pollution levels and land degradation, further threatening the quality of our water, air and soils, affecting climate and biodiversity.” The report’s lead author professor Mark Sutton, who is credited with coining the term “demitarian” in 2009,
october 2013
has said that significant lifestyle change is required to meet the target of a 50% reduction in meat consumption. He has said he has no problem with people eating meat, but that they should do so less often. “Make it special. Portion size is key. Many portions are too big, more than you want to eat. Think about a change of culture that says, ‘I like the taste, but I don’t need so much of it’.”
Weekday veg That has also been the motto of Graham Hill, founder of treehugger.com, who in a recent “Ted talk” said that although he had long been aware of the impact meat eating had on the environment and his health, not be mention the ethical dilemma of poorly treated animals; “my common sense, my good intentions, were in conflict with my taste buds.” Hill eventually rejected the meat-eater versus vegetarian dichotomy by becoming a “weekday veg”, not eating meat Monday to Friday and then having a choice at the weekend. Hill has not only reduced his carbon footprint, he also says he feels healthier and has been saving money into the bargain. “If we all ate half as much meat, it would be like half of us were vegetarians,” Hill concluded. Moderation rather than abstention, then, seems to be key. One solution for diners who feel they would miss meat
too much by cutting it out altogether on weekdays is provided by Am14, the café at the Luxembourg City history museum. The café serves vegetarian and vegan dishes, but its menu includes tasty lunches such as a smashed peas crostini with chicken marinated in herbs or tuna rice with cucumber and avocado with a Japanese vinaigrette. The thing is that the “chicken” and “tuna” are not made from animals, but using produce from Dutch company Vegetarian Butcher. Café owner José da Costa first read an article about Vegetarian Butcher in the New York Times in March 2011, and a week later he and his wife, both vegetarians, were in the Netherlands tasting the products. “We couldn’t believe it. We tasted the chicken and we thought they were fucking with us,” says José. Returning to Luxembourg it did not take much to convince his brother, Manu, to use Vegetarian Butcher products at his Kyosk café in Kirchberg and a year later that is just what happened. The brothers, alongside partner Vanessa Gourdange then took over the museum café to provide them with another--all weather--outlet for their creative menus. A food truck is set to follow, but some Vegetarian Butcher “raw” produce can also be ordered in Luxembourg via the Luxcaddy website. Da Costa turned vegetarian just over two years ago, because of what he
Steve Eastwood
LIFESTYLE
José da Costa (Vegetarian Butcher) Vegetarians are not necessarily the target for the dishes served at the Kyosk and the Am14 museum café
discovered about the meat industry. “Once you start looking behind the scenes and at the principles of no compassion upon which the industry is based, and also reading about the ecological impact, you realise we are going to hit a wall.”
Eating consciously Even though it attracts vegetarians and even vegans, many regular customers at the Kyosk or Am14 are meat eaters who, like Hill, have decided to become
demitarian or, as food writer Joanna Blythman calls it “intelligent omnivorism.” They can still enjoy the taste and texture of meat without eating animals. Da Costa admits that life-long vegetarians are not the intended customer. “Some people are disgusted by meat, and they know where to find vegetarian food in Luxembourg,” he says. “Others have tried it and enjoyed it. But our aim is to convince people to reduce their meat consumption. If two or three times a week they don’t eat meat, or eat our products, then we are already winning.”
The growth in vegetarian outlets in Luxembourg over the past ten years or so has also been encouraging for those concerned that the Grand Duchy is the biggest per capita consumer of meat (according to a 2007 survey by the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation for The Economist). That figure, like so many in Luxembourg, is skewed by the fact that tens of thousands of crossborder commuters dine in Luxembourg on weekday lunchtimes, but it also hints at the fact that dining out choices for vegetarians are limited. Things have improved since Lucien Elsen
october 2013
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Julien Becker
LIFESTYLE
Anna Lisa Sigurjónsdóttir (Happ) Have to experience yourself how good you can feel when eating consciously
opened the first vegetarian (and seafood) restaurant, Mesa Verde, in 1991. Now diners can also visit venues such as Anabanana in Clausen and Au Plaisir de Vivre in Hollerich, which serve exclusively vegetarian food, while Casa Fabiana in the Gare district and Happ in Limpertsberg focus on vegetarian dishes in their deliberately healthy and organic menus. Sisters Agnès and Sylvie Ferrolier have run Au Plaisir de Vivre since 2006 and say vegetarianism is their passion, conviction and philosophy. “It is out of respect for animals, but also to eat food that is local, fresh and healthy,”
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says Agnès. At Happ, Icelandic cofounder Anna Lisa Sigurjónsdóttir says her life changed when she went on a raw food week in Spain. She founded Happ four years ago and the Limpertsberg restaurant attracts an international clientele for its lunchtime menu and also its healthy food bags. “More and more people think about what they eat and where it comes from,” she says. “You have to experience yourself how good you can feel when you eat consciously.” Indeed, attitudes to eating meat have changed over the years. Vegetarian Wendy Winn started not eating meat
in her teens because of her conscience regarding cruelty to animals. “It was a long time before I realised that there were health benefits,” she explains. “In fact, most of the time people have been scolding me for not eating right--not enough protein, and so forth--which just isn’t true. The only thing vegetarians can be lacking is vitamin B, which they can take as a supplement.” Now her doctor tells Winn he can tell she’s a vegetarian--her cholesterol level is really low, and she has low blood pressure, for example. “That doesn’t mean all vegetarians are healthy.
WIN RT CE C O NK E T S ! TIC 26 OCTOBER 2013 Atelier Concert
den Atelier presents
MORCHEEBA
Send an email mentioning “den Atelier/MORCHEEBA” to contest@delano.lu Deadline for entries is 16 OCTOBER 2013
ENJOY 4 DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES IN THE NEW ATRIUM. ORO E ARGENTO AT THE HEART OF ITALIAN GASTRONOMY STÜBLI CONVIVIALITY AND AUTHENTICITY IN A TRADITIONAL ATMOSPHERE HAVANA LOUNGE A UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT GLAÇON ROUGE A LARGE RANGE OF WHISKIES IN INTIMATE SURROUNDINGS
WWW.SOFITEL.COM
Winners will be notified by email
418 C
1797 C
C=3 M = 31 J=0 N = 75
C=0 M = 100 J = 99 N=4
David Laurent
LIFESTYLE
Jean-Marie Oswald (bio metzlerei Oswald) More and more meat eaters are willing to pay for quality rather than quantity
Am14 (Musée d’Histoire de la Ville de Luxembourg) 14, rue du St. Esprit, LuxembourgCentre, tel: 621 65 50 05 Follow Am14 on Facebook
Mesa Verde 11, rue du St. Esprit, Luxembourg-Centre, tel: 46 41 26 www.mesa.lu I don’t always eat well--I love wine and champagne, and I eat pizza, have chips-but that’s the exception and not the rule.” Winn hasn’t imposed vegetarianism on her children, but has been educating them about eating healthily as much as possible. One of her sons told her recently; “I wanted to be a vegetarian for a while, but then I remembered chicken noodle soup… I don’t want to eat animals, but they’re tasty.”
Quality meat Meanwhile, her 17-year old daughter, after years of complaining that Winn didn’t cook ‘normal food’, is now really becoming aware of what she eats and is more or less a vegetarian. “I think I can partly take credit for that, although all
the beauty and diet and lifestyle things she sees on YouTube certainly reinforce healthy eating,” she says. So, more and more people do seem to be looking for a healthy balance and are eating less meat and maybe, thanks to the latest spate of food processing scandals earlier this year, are looking to buy quality, even organic, meat supplied to local butchers from local suppliers. That choice is also open to Luxembourgers at various organic shops and specialist butchers such as Oswald in Belair. Eating local game or meat bearing the new Naturschutz Fleesch label, which comes from animals raised in natural grazing land could also help. The question is, are enough people ready to pay the price and adopt such a lifestyle change? .
Happ 2, rue Henri VII, LuxembourgLimpertsberg, tel: 26 20 16 49 www.happ.lu
Anabanana 117, rue de la Tour Jacob, Luxembourg-Clausen, tel: 691 92 52 56 www.anabanana.lu
Casa Fabiana 3, rue de Bonnevoie, Luxembourg-Gare, tel: 26 19 61 82 www.casafabiana.lu
Au Plaisir de Vivre 143, rue de Hollerich, Luxembourg-Hollerich, tel: 48 18 06 Follow Au Plaisir de Vivre on Facebook
Bio metzlerei Oswald 137, avenue Gaston Diderich, Luxembourg-Belair, tel: 44 65 45 www.oswald.lu
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The wheat, water and know-how of the Fischer team. The essential ingredients for good bread.
LIFESTYLE
Wine tasting
Raise your glass The “vendanges” or grape harvest may be well underway and the largest wine festivals over for now, but there’s still a lot of wine tasting waiting for you in Luxembourg. No matter which region you prefer, there’s a place with a glass--or a bottle--for you! Text by Neel Chrillesen Photography by Maison Moderne Studio
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t’s no secret that life is too short to drink bad wine. And when you live in a wine-producing country, surrounded by other wine-producing nations, it would be bad manners not to raise a glass from time to time. When the choices are so vast and plentiful the trouble is selecting the right bottle to pour from. Luckily, Luxembourg offers many places to discover wine year round, outside the traditional celebrations of grapes in autumn and of wine in spring (no one in the Grand Duchy ever misses an occasion to celebrate “bottled poetry”!). One of the easiest and also safest ways to start out is locally with the “wine tasting with friends” formula. Log on to www.winetasting.lu and you’ll find a list of around 30 Luxembourg winegrowers who will open their doors and invite you in for a tasting of the national treasures. They are also all partners with transport firm Emile Weber (www.emile-weber.lu) which means you can book a minibus (minimum eight people) to bring you home if you’ve done too much “tasting”. You can read up on Luxembourg wine and grapes beforehand on www.vins-cremants.lu, which offers a complete and easy-toaccess guide. For an in-depth view of Luxembourg production and its history, visit the Musée du vin in Ehnen (www.visitmoselle.lu)--just be sure to plan your tour on a day where there’s also a tasting! There’s no denying the hypermarkets in both the Grand Duchy and across the borders are well endowed with wine
october 2013
and a favourite place for wine-lovers to shop, even the most expert of them. These stores also hold regular wine “festivals”, with tastings and good deals, most of which are advertised well in advance on their websites. In the Belle Étoile shopping centre in Bertrange you’ll even find a wine club (www.belle-etoile.lu/club-vin). Members get invited to tastings, wine discovery trips, wine dinners and, of course, get offers on good deals regularly. The club also has its own wine school, with lessons available both for beginners and advanced connoisseurs (in French). In fact, you’ll find that many of the smaller wine shops in Luxembourg also organise wine tasting sessions regularly as well as lessons (in English too). Attending these will make a big difference in how you enjoy and choose your wine in the future (for once you’ll be swinging around your glass and sniffing it knowingly). The best thing is to enter every wine place you come across and sign up for their newsletters. You’ll then get notice of all the activities they hold and can spend the winter in a warm place no matter the weather. As Galileo Galilei said: “Wine is sunlight, held together by water.”.
LIFESTYLE 01
Authentic aromas
Italian riches
Olivier Minaire (archives)
It is said that in order to enjoy Italian wine, all you have to do is drink it. While following that advice is indeed tempting, it never hurts to taste several wines and get some expert advice before taking home a bottle, or more. At Enoteca Italiana in Foetz, you can get all the guidance you could possibly wish for in a truly welcoming Italian atmosphere. And not only will you find an impressive number of wines, but you’ll also uncover many other treasures that will make your taste buds tingle: deli meat, olive oil, cheese, vinegar, pasta, rice, biscuits… if it’s Italian and delicious, you’ll find it somewhere on a shelf here. The best feature of the place however is the desire the owners have to share both their knowledge and passion for wine. Each Thursday, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Enoteca Italiana organises a wine tasting concentrating on a specific region or theme (you can sign-up on the website under “dégustation”). They also run wine tasting courses and host private events. www.enotecaitaliana.lu
Luc Deflorenne
French heights
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David Laurent (archives)
Cosy wine bar With good wine it’s nice to have good food and at the Bar à vin you can get both in a cosy, friendly setting. The boutique itself mainly offers French wines. You’ll find fine bottles, a steady flow of good offers and new arrivals, plus the owner’s eagerness to find exactly what you’re looking for. Tastings take place regularly, private events can be held and various “how to” courses are also available. www.baravin.lu
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Luc Deflorenne (archives)
Super selection At In Vino Gildas, tasting resembles a fun scientific experiment (there are even samples of the soil the grapes grew in). The wines, from Luxembourg, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Spain and Argentina, are carefully selected with rarely more than one producer per region. Various themed tastings, just as meticulously planned by owner Gildas Royer, are organised throughout the year. www.invinogildas.com
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Luc Deflorenne (archives)
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The bubbly life The Bernard-Massard wine cellars, on the banks of the Moselle river, are open every day (except Monday) until October 31 from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. (and by appointment between November and May). You can enjoy a glass or two of the bubbly they’re famous for producing before browsing the boutique where you’ll find all of their products, sparkling and still, but also a nice selection of imported wines. www.bernard-massard.lu
Imagine a 300 m2 loft, filled with French wine (and also foie gras, chocolate and deli meats). This dreamy place can be found in Niederanven and goes under the poetic name of Le Temps des Vendanges. The owner, Laurent Perez, has a special fondness for his own Languedoc Roussillon region and will share his passion for wine with you generously. Tastings (with titbits) and wine courses also take place. www.letempsdesvendanges.lu
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LIFESTYLE
Back in the groove
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Summer is officially over and Luxembourg’s culture scene is back in the groove with a slew of concerts, theatre and dance performances. Highlights are undoubtedly the shows that den Atelier is putting on at the Rockhal--Nick Cave and The National followed later by Sigur Rós. Text by Duncan Roberts 01
Suede 20 years ago Brett Anderson and his gang released a blistering debut album that saw Suede hailed as the most exciting band in Britain. But their brand of glam Britpop only shone briefly again on third album Coming Up as Blur and Oasis stole a march. Now back to their best on new album Bloodsports, and with Anderson as whippet thin and alluring as ever, this should be a thrilling gig. November 2, den Atelier, Luxembourg-Gare, www.atelier.lu 03
Tristano & Teshigawara Luxembourg pianist Francesco Tristano has built a reputation as a risk taker who toys with music spanning genres and generations. Here he collaborates with Japanese choreographer Saburo Teshigawara on a work performed by Rihoko Sato. The music includes excerpts from Bach’s Goldberg Variations, John Cage’s In A Landscape and Tristano himself. October 19 & 20, Grand Théâtre, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg, www.theatres.lu 04
Cometh the man Nick Cave’s live shows see the lanky Australian stalking the stage like a Wild West preacher, a character familiar from many of his songs and reminiscent of his recent film scripts. His performance at Glastonbury this year was a masterclass in building tension and included a stunning version of ‘Stagger Lee’, with Warren Ellis tearing up his violin and Cave strutting on top of the crowd and totally mesmerising one girl in the audience. That is typical of Cave’s ability to connect with his audience--even such a massive crowd as Glastonbury--while maintaining the elegant poise of a truly charismatic rock’n’roll balladeer. Cave and his Bad Seeds come to the Rockhal on the back of the brilliant Push The Sky Away, which is a slow burn, subtly menacing, heartache twist of an album that just gets better and better with each listen. At its core is one of Cave’s lush ramblin’ epics, ‘Higgs Boson Blues’ in which he cites Robert Johnson, Lucifer and Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus. This is Cave’s second visit to the Rockhal--whose environs he likened last time to the perfect place for a serial killer--and it promises to be a spellbinding show. November 15, Rockhal, Esch-Belval, www.atelier.lu
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R.Mastroianni
Nick Cave
The Cleveland Orchestra Franz Welser-Möst conducts The Cleveland Orchestra in two performances at the Philharmonie. The first, featuring the orchestra’s choir, showcases Beethoven’s Mass in C major followed by Shostakovich’s 6th Symphony. The following evening, the orchestra returns to Beethoven with the 4th and 5th Symphony as well as the Grande Fugue. November 14 & 15, Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, www.philharmonie.lu
12.10.– 29.11.2013 www.luxembourgfestival.lu 03.10.–20.11.2010
www.luxembourgfestival.lu
«Emigrant / Chants du Friûl» / Nadia Fabrizio – «La Forza del Destino» de Giuseppe Verdi – Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg – Quatuor Ebène – Ciné-Concert The Artist – Ernst van Tiel – Ludovic Bource – Francesco Tristano & Saburo Teshigawara – Venice Baroque Orchestra Béart – Andrea–Marcon – Philippe Jaroussky – Tito–Muñoz Christian – Emmanuelle New York Philharmonic Alan–Gilbert Gerhaher – Hofesh Shechter’s «Sun»du – Grigory Sokolov – «Plexus» / Aurélien Bory & Ballet Preljocaj & Théâtre Bolchoï – Paco de Lucía – Michael Kaori Ito – Emmanuel Krivine – «Anna» / Cécile de France – Filarmonica della Scala – Clark Orozco-Estrada Company –– Wayne London Symphony Orchestra – Sir Colin Andrés Shorter Quartet – The Cleveland Orchestra – Franz Welser-Möst – «Remember Shakti» / John McLaughlin – Zakir Hussain – «Hors–Champ» / Davis – «Les Justes» / Camus – Pierre Boulez – Daniel Compagnie Michèle Noiret – Philipp Pickett – Vesselina Kasarova – «Le crocodile trompeur / Kehlmann – Gewandhausorchester Leipzig – Cecilia Bartoli – Didon et Énée» – Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre – Valery Gergiev – Yuri Vorobiev
Françoise Berlanger – Ian Bostridge – Abbas Kiarostami – Sonny Rollins – «Cosi fan tutte» / Mozart – Esperanza Spalding – Ballet Biarritz – Thomas Quasthoff – Stanislas Nordey – Philippe Herreweghe – Andreas Spering – Angelika Kirchschlager –
LIFESTYLE 05
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Mario Del Curto
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Kakkmaddafakka
Aurélien Bory & Kaori Ito
Norwegian party rockers Kakkmaddafakka (yes, the name is phonetically awkward) come to den Atelier in the back of new album Six Months Is A Long Time. Protégés of Erlend Øye (Kings of Convenience and Whitest Boy Alive), the band’s sound is a wild mix of genres but always packed with sing-a-long melodies and danceable indie beats. October 10, den Atelier, Luxembourg-Gare, www.atelier.lu
Director Aurélien Bory uses music by Joan Cambon and lighting design by Arno Veyrat for a new piece, Plexus, created especially for dancer and choreographer Kaori Ito. Bory says that although the piece is intended to portray Ito’s body, “I’m not interested in an anatomical study, but in the memory of a body substantially shaped by dance”. November 5 & 6, Grand Théâtre, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg, www.theatres.lu
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Miles Kane Kitted out as a cool mod brandishing a Gibson ES-335 and with a pedigree that includes co-fronting The Last Shadow Puppets with Alex Turner, Miles Kane maybe tries that bit too hard to be the epitome of Britpop cool. But his new album Don’t Forget Who You Are features a welter of memorable tunes that will get men of a certain age dancing and singing as though it were 1994 all over again. October 20, den Atelier, Luxembourg-Gare, www.atelier.lu
Darren Bastecky
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Charles Bradley An old school charmer with a life of hardship behind him, Charles Bradley is reaping the rewards of his soulful voice and talent for composing heart-breaking lyrics. Signed to retro revival label Daptone, he has released two acclaimed albums that recall the spirit of James Brown, Otis Redding and the great Al Green. Authentic soul at its best. October 21, Rockhal (Esch-Belval), www.rockhal.lu
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The National could be the thinking man’s (or woman’s) Coldplay; a band whose songs are often packed with lyrics of devastating melancholy and melodies that perchance creep up on the listener unawares. Matt Berninger’s deliciously warm baritone--a voice so familiar and comforting that is like catching a waft of home-made bread straight out of the oven--can elicit goosebumps at will. Three years ago the Ohio quintet played a stunning set at den Atelier on a tour to promote the High Violet album, a record that truly broke the band to a wider audience after years of being a well-kept secret (although its predecessor, Boxer, had also entered the lower echelon of album charts in the US, UK and Ireland). This time around, on a tour for new album Trouble Will Find Me, The National has been moved to the Rockhal such is the band’s growing popularity. Reviews of one-off concerts earlier this year suggest that the band is at the top of its game. Critics described a show at the Roundhouse in London as being “euphoric”, “reverently received” and “simple, surreal, tender, and one of the most memorable live music experiences we’ve witnessed all year.” This is one not to miss. November 6, Rockhal, Esch-Belval, www.atelier.lu
Wayne Shorter Legendary saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter returns to the Philharmonie with his quartet of Danilo Pérez (piano), John Patitucci (double bass) and Brian Blade (drums). Shorter, who has just celebrated his 80th birthday, has recorded three acclaimed albums with the quartet, including this year’s Without A Net. November 12, Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, www.philharmonie.lu 11
Sébastien Grebille
Trouble in paradise
Robert Ascroft
The National
Grigory Sokolov A winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition Gold Medal at the tender age of 16, Grigory Sokolov was a star in his native Russia for a long time before his reputation truly spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Possessed of brilliant fingers and chord technique, Sokolov here plays Schubert’s Four Impromptus D. 899 and the Three Piano Pieces D. 946. November 4, Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, www.philharmonie.lu
LES THÉÂTRES DE LA VILLE DE LUXEMBOURG. DISCOVER THE SEASON 13/14. GRAND THÉÂTRE & THÉÂTRE DES CAPUCINS WWW.LESTHEATRES.LU INFORMATION
WWW.LESTHEATRES.LU
BOOKING
T. +352/47 08 95-1
WWW.LUXEMBOURGTICKET.LU
LIFESTYLE 12
Pixies
Back with a bang despite no Deal The band that launched a thousand alternative rock imitators and inspired the likes of Nirvana, Pixies has a batch of new material to showcase on a global tour. These include new single ‘Bagboy’, which is the first new composition to get a release since ‘Bam Thowk’ in 2004. Despite the fact that the great Kim Deal has left the band, the song contains many trademark Pixies attributes and has created great buzz from loyal fans. Deal has been replaced by Kim Shattuck, former bassist with garage rock band The Pandoras, and pop punk band The Muffs. But the three other original members of the band are still in situ, with guitarist and vocalist Black Francis at the helm and Joey Santiago on guitars and David Lovering on drums. Francis says: “Along with everyone’s favorites, we’ll be playing songs that we haven’t played in ages or never played live before. Songs like ‘Brick is Red’, ‘Havalina’, ‘Tony’s Theme’ and ‘The Sad Punk’. We’ve probably rehearsed some 80 songs, so we’ll be able to change up the set at the last minute if we feel like it. We’re all really looking forward to this tour.” Tickets for the Rockhal gig went on sale on July 19 and are expected to be snapped up fast--most of the band’s other dates have already sold out. November 11, Rockhal, Esch-Belval, www.rockhal.lu 14
Metz
Bastille
Hailed as one of the best power-noise live acts around, Toronto’s Metz has also now recorded a collection of its best songs as an eponymously titled debut album. Weighing in at just 29 minutes, Metz is, says Stuart Berman on Pitchfork, “pure but artfully rendered chaos”. The trio perfected their sound and brilliant “post-hardcore sludge-punk” by practising for years and honing their art on stage. The result is that Metz provides audiences at their gigs with “a brutal smack to the cerebellum” (NME). November 1, Exit07, Luxembourg-Hollerich, www.atelier.lu
Bastille’s popularity says something, though we can’t quite say what, about the state of the music scene. Although BBC reviewer Matthew Horton admires the way Bastille harks back to 80s pop and “evoke a-ha and Tears For Fears in their determination to be both catchy and muscular”, many other critics are less favourable. The NME says debut album Bad Blood “comes out with about as much identity as a Facebook commenter without a profile picture.” November 11, den Atelier, Luxembourg-Gare, www.atelier.lu
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Adam Levey
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Pink Martini Texas Texas has been around for 25 years and marks its silver jubilee with the release of The Conversation. The album is a return to the band’s earliest soulful blues/rock beginnings. Sharleen Spiteri still has a lovely voice, but what Digital Spy calls the band’s “soft Americana” is hardly inspiring stuff. The live show may include some of the band’s more uplifting hits. November 3, Rockhal, Esch-Belval, www.rockhal.lu
It is almost 20 years since Pink Martini’s debut single ‘Sympathique’ with its “Je ne veux pas travailler” refrain became an overnight hit--largely in Europe due to it being used in a Citroën Picasso commercial. The little orchestra’s inspired use of retro sounds from all over the world gives it a global appeal. New album Get Happy features guest vocals from Phyllis Diller and Rufus Wainwright with the Von Trapp’s among others. October 10, Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, www.philharmonie.lu
LIFESTYLE 01
Diskmuide Midres
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Pere Ubu Criminally under-appreciated, Cleveland’s Pere Ubu were hugely influential in the mid-70s in blending garage rock with the avant-garde. Band leader David Thomas possesses an uncompromising talent and on latest album, Lady From Shanghai, he is still “messing with the settings of rock’n’roll” says Tom Hughes in The Guardian. November 19, opderschmelz, Dudelange, www.opderschmelz.lu 03
!!!
Touch of Noir
The dark arts
Pronounced “chk chk chk”, !!! is one of the original indie punk-funk bands. The Californians have survived to make what James Medd in The Guardian reckons is their best album yet, the cheekily titled Thr!!!er. Medd says it is a record that’s “a history of 30 years of the music that has made white boys and girls loosen up and feel at home on the dancefloor.” November 6, Exit07 (CarréRotondes), Luxembourg-Hollerich, www.rotondes.lu 04
Touch of Noir features, as always, an eclectic mix of disciplines and artists. This year’s fest kicks off with a performance by singer-songwriter-accordion player Erika Stucky, whose repertoire veers between Tom Waits stylings and cabaret via avant-garde jazz. She brings to Dudelange three musicians who have all worked with Waits. The festival takes a more soulful turn with a show by Martha High and Speedometer. The singer has a powerful voice and some 30 years of touring
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with James Brown will have given her an insight into showmanship. The music of local artist Rome (photo) represents much that is typical of the festival being described as “chanson, dark ambient, apocalyptic folk… martial industrial, cold wave.” The music programme includes a jazz trio concert featuring Danish sax player Benjamin Koppel with bass player Scott Colley and drummer Brian Blade. But the festival also includes film and a screening of Carl Dreyer’s masterpiece
The Passion of Joan of Arc with a minimalist score written and played by Fränz Hausemer. Two noirish classics from the vaults of the Cinémathèque will also be screened--Jim Jarmusch’s 1986 oddball crime drama about losers in the Louisiana bayou, Down by Law (also featuring Tom Waits), and Jacques Bral’s downbeat Parisian romance Extérieur, nuit. October 14 to 25, opderschmelz, Dudelange, www.opderschmelz.lu
Claude Gassian
The annual celebration of the dark arts at opderschmelz in Dudelange, Touch of Noir celebrates its sixth anniversary this October. Sissoko & Ségal The master of the kora, Ballaké Sissoko, and cellist Vincent Ségal have produced an album, Chamber Music, described by Robin Deneslow in The Guardian as “the work of two musicians from very different backgrounds who seem to understand each other almost intuitively.” October 22, Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg, www.philharmonie.lu
LIFESTYLE
Happy kids: nice outings
Autumn is in the air but that’s not an excuse to stay put! There are lots of places you can take the kids to make a day special. Text by Neel Chrillesen 01
Underground adventure
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Karlnorling/Creative Commons
Musée Dräi Eechelen/Olivier Minaire
03 Monkeywing/Creative Commons
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Most children like wandering around in caves and tunnels but if you’re tired of visiting the Casemates, why not head to the copper mine in Stolzemburg? The mine is more than 500 years old and in recent years some of the underground galleries have been made accessible to the public. Open till the end of October, they are definitely worth a tour. Kids generally love putting on the helmets, macs and boots everyone is given before descending 50 meters. There is also a museum tracing the history of the mine and the region-and if you want to make the visit longer, you can take the thematic circuit from the village to the copper mine. It’s a nice walk (2.5 km) and on the way you learn about the nature and the geology of the surroundings. Entry (€3 for 6-12 year olds, €7 for adults) includes access to the didactic path plus a guided tour of the museum and the underground shafts. Stolzemburg, complete with vast forests and narrow valleys, is situated in the Our Valley, 6 km upstream from Vianden. www.stolzembourg.lu
Gunnar Magnusson/Creative Commons
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A mine to remember
All-year animal park
Museums by night
World class tennis
Apple picking in Steinsel
No need to worry about the seasonal closing of the beloved Parc Merveilleux in Bettembourg. Just across the border, in Belgium, the Parc Bouillon offers an even larger range of animals (including white lions) as well as nice playgrounds all year round. The wooded park is beautiful and with 500 animals (75 species), there’s plenty to see. It’s a great destination for an outdoors activity day, much appreciated by the whole family. www.parcanimalierdebouillon.be
If you’re struggling with kids who want to stay up late, here’s a chance to make both them and you happy: take them to the “Nuit des Musées”. On Saturday October 12 the seven museums of Luxembourg City (including the Musée Dräi Eechelen) stay open from 6 p.m. till midnight. The atmosphere is exciting and there’s special entertainment. Entry is free for under-12s. For adults, a single ticket gives access to all the museums that night. www.nuit-des-musees.lu
One of the great things about living in Luxembourg is that even big events retain a human scale. This is why you should definitively take your child to the 23rd BGL BNP Paribas women’s tennis tournament, October 12 to 20 in the Kockelscheuer Sportcenter. It’s a great opportunity to see top players close up. Among participants this year: former world number one Caroline Wozniacki (photo) and 2013 Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki. www.bglbnpparibas-open.lu
As anyone in Luxembourg knows, apple-picking in the orchards of Steinsel, just north of the capital, is a tradition you can’t--and shouldn’t--forgot. There’s something magical about getting your apples directly off the trees. Kids love it (the wheelbarrows you can push them around in are also a hit!), you can eat, drink and be merry there and the atmosphere is great. Held the afternoons of Saturday October 12 and Sunday October 13. www.steinsel.lu
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MY OTHER LIFE
Laurent Mailliet
La dolce vita
Vespa Club Luxembourg
Text by Tonya Stoneman Photography by Olivier Minaire
October Events:
An aircraft technician is cruising through life on the seat of his Vespa.
Tour de France, Vespa-Acma When: Saturday, October 5 Where: Fourchambault, France
W
hen he turned 16, Laurent Mailliet asked his father if he could get something a little more powerful than a bicycle to ride to school. “Yeah,” his dad said. “But it’s only gonna be a Vespa. It’s the perfect thing.” He’d ridden one in the 60s and thought it would be perfect for his son. He couldn’t have been more right--20 years later, Laurent is still riding a Vespa and loving it. And he’s sharing that enthusiasm with others. Thrilled with the scooter, he rode it to school everyday, but parked it in his parents’ garage when he went away to college. For a while, he got into motorcycles, then transitioned to the inevitable car. Then, on no particular afternoon in 2000, he spotted a white Vespa in a showroom window in Germany--it was the exact color and model as the one his father had given him. A flood of nostalgia and good memories came over Laurent. He didn’t have to spend a long time searching eBay before he located the same scooter in Bavaria and clicked the “buy” icon. Almost immediately after he began riding it, friends started asking if he could help them find one too. He began finding Vespas for others, hooking them up with people who could refurbish them, and organising rides. Pretty soon, his group of Vespa buddies grew into a bona fide club and, in 2006, they decided to make it official. The Vespa Club started out in the south of Luxembourg, in the steel region, and has been active for seven years. In 2010, it became a national organisation and added “Luxembourg” to the name in order to represent the country worldwide. The club currently has 90 members ranging in age from 16 to 76. Nearly one quarter of its participants are women. “It’s a good spread,” says Laurent. “Every age and social class. Nobody cares about social class or level of experience. When they are all together, they gain more confidence.” The club is an official member of Vespa World Club, which means they participate in international meetings in Belgium, Germany, France, Italy and other places. Last spring,
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Aside from riding together, the club works together to restore old Vespas, share advice about riding and caring for your Vespa, and help people find used Vespas.
october 2013
they drove to Genova, Italy to the celebration of 50 years of the 50CC (the small Vespa). Laurent attend that event, along with 600 other participants. He also went to the World Club event in Belgium where 2,500 participants showed up for a 400-kilometer ride. Laurent spends his weekdays working as an aircraft technician at Cargolux and most of his weekends riding through the countryside with friends. Once a month, the club goes riding together. They will ride the whole day, then stop in the evening and enjoy a meal together in a pub. On occasion, there are competitions, which are not about speed, but control of the bike. But they are more about fun than anything else--everybody gets a medal. In many ways, Laurent’s club is just an extension of the life he lives when he’s not on the bike. “Vespa riding is slow driving, it’s not about speed,” he says. “It’s a casual driving style. When you’re on a motorcycle you’re covered in all kinds of security clothing and you’re speeding by in your own bubble. But on a Vespa, you’re much more in touch with the nature and landscape that you’re driving through. You take time to see what’s going on around you, to smile and breathe. It’s a dolce vita.”.
Tour National & Cloturation Saison When: Sunday, October 13 Where: Café Salva rte d’Esch, Sanem www.vespaclubluxembourg.lu
Laurent Mailliet Enjoying the ride of his life
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