Delano Winter 2020

No. 70 WINTER 2020

KEY PUBLIC TRANSPORT ISSUES

26 MOBILITY

Free rides: what’s the point?

Will it cause overcrowding, alleviate congestion and increase purchasing power? Or is it just a nation-branding gimmick?

36 RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT FNR CEO Marc Schiltz on keeping agile in the digital era

44 WINTER 2020

PRODUCT SAFETY Putting toys through their paces at the quality testing laboratory

5 453000 010015 70

€4

No. 70

CRUISING

THE WORLD AROUND US EXPLORATIONS

70 EXPERIMENTAL

STATIONS

SCIENCE-SHOWS FLUIDS MATERIALS MECHANICS ELECTRICITY MATHEMATIC KITCHEN LAB MOBILITY in 4 OPTICS LANGUAGES CHEMISTRY MAGNETISM

in 5

LANGUAGES

OPENING: Monday–Friday 9am–5pm Saturday, Sunday & Holidays 10am–6pm CLOSING DATES: January 1st, December 25 & 26

www.science-center.lu DIFFERDANGE

Europe

No. 70 WINTER 2020

KEY PUBLIC TRANSPORT ISSUES

26 MOBILITY

Free rides: what’s the point?

Will it cause overcrowding, alleviate congestion and increase purchasing power? Or is it just a nation-branding gimmick?

36 RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT FNR CEO Marc Schiltz on keeping agile in the digital era

44 WINTER 2020

PRODUCT SAFETY Putting toys through their paces at the quality testing laboratory

5 453000 010015 70

€4

No. 70

↑

ILLUSTRATING DELANO The cover for this edition was illustrated by Luis Demano-who was not chosen merely for his surname. Demano is a cartoonist who lives in Valencia, where, besides drawing, he is a professor in two masters of professional illustration programmes. His latest book, “Illustrated History of Rock”, has already been translated into five languages.

The king is dead, long live the queen! Ursula von der Leyen has taken the reins from Jean-Claude Juncker as the president of the European Commission.

Von der Leyen has rightfully acknowledged her predecessor as a “a great European” who “has devoted his heart, his soul and his life” to the EU. But at the same time, she has pledged “a fresh start for Europe”. More modern and “with it” if the trending hashtag “vdL commission” is anything to go by.

But von der Leyen has said she believes that the EU is “ultimately-and above all else--about people and their aspirations”. She spoke of a “geopolitical commission”, of being bold, showing global leadership and speaking “the language of confidence”. In a world where the balance of power appears to have already shifted away from Europe, this is maybe a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.

The new president has said that the world needs EU leadership on climate protection. “The European Green Deal is a must for the health of our planet and our people--and for our economy,” she said. It is, however, wishful thinking to hope that the EU institutions would also show leadership by putting to a halt the costly and environmentally damaging monthly move of the European Parliament from Brussels to Strasbourg, which is estimated to have an impact of “between 11,000 and 19,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions” a year, according to an EP budget plenary.

But the vdL commission faces other challenges on EU expansion-the president may yet clash with French president Emmanuel Macron over his plans to slow down accession of the western Balkan states-and on immigration. On the latter, von der Leyen seemed to remember her conservative roots in Germany’s CDU when she said the EU can find an answer to migration “that is both humane and effective”, but whether it can appeal across the board on this most divisive of policy dilemmas is questionable.

Indeed, von der Leyen and her speech writers already seem to be comfortable delivering lists of platitudes. She has said people care about “the future of our children and our society”, “fairness and equality in every sense of the word” and “their rights, values and freedoms”. Yes, they do.

But what they need above all is a sense of purpose, a means to make ends meet in an increasingly competitive world in which much of the middle class is feeling squeezed out. And what the EU needs is to connect to those people, to show them that this European project is speaking directly to them.

Duncan Roberts Editor-in-chief

Letter from the editor

The vdL commission must deliver

3

Winter 2020 Reporting on the community

FEATURES

Analysis of business, the economy and politics

8

THE SOURCE

A guide to culture and lifestyle

78

GETTING ANIMATED ABOUT SCIENCE

Interview

CONNECTING THROUGH ART Suzanne Cotter on making Mudam part of the everyday landscape

9 “WE ALL HAVE TO EAT”

82 11

On stage

FABULOUS MUSICAL & COOL POP SHOWS

DISSECTING ICARUS COMPLEX

12 A DISAPPEARING PLAYGROUND

14 RAISING THE GHOST ARMY

16 In my suitcase

MODEL BEHAVIOUR What Gigja Birgisdottir brought when she moved here

26 Cover story

Personal finance & tax

FREE RIDES: WHAT’S THE POINT Free-of-charge travel is being introduced on the grand duchy’s rail, bus and tram networks starting in March 2020. The policy was a boost to Luxembourg’s image abroad. So why are some observers sceptical?

ARE YOU PAYING TOO MUCH TAX?

36 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Research fund chief on big data in Luxembourg science

40 18 Community spotlight

ILLUMINATING SWEDISH CULTURE Swedes Eva Gram Toft and Catharina Biver on life in Luxembourg

20 Snapshots

COMMUNITY & NETWORKING

59

MONEY FOR GOOD How beki and survcoin are bringing currency to change

44 DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME The Ilnas safety lab doesn’t play nice with its toys

50 DATA HELD HOSTAGE Ransomware in Luxembourg

60 KNOW YOUR INVESTMENT PERSONALITY

62

86 Spirits

SEASONAL CHEER Nothing makes winter cosier than homemade liqueurs

FINDING A FAB FLAT

64 SCHEME TO SAVE FOR A HOME

66 HELP WITH HOME RENOVATION

70 Interview

THE NEW WOMEN’S BFF

72 Delano Live

HANGING OVER EUROPE

92 Restaurant review

MOUSEL’S CANTINE

94 Kids page

RAPUNZEL REIMAGINED

98 Auntie Eleanor

UNUSED TRAM TRACKS Our advice columnist digs into bridge works

Contents

THE JOURNAL

5

...and more →

More Delano

PUBLISHER

GET BRIEFED

Write to PO Box 728 L-2017 Luxembourg Offices 10 rue des Gaulois, Luxembourg-Bonnevoie ISSN 2220-5535 Web www.maisonmoderne.com Founder and chairman Mike Koedinger CEO Richard Karacian Administrative and financial director Etienne Velasti CONTENTS Phone (+352) 20 70 70-150 Fax (+352) 29 66 19 E-mail news@delano.lu Publisher Richard Karacian Editorial director Matthieu Croissandeau Editor-in-chief Duncan Roberts (duncan.roberts@maisonmoderne.com) Desk editor Aaron Grunwald (aaron.grunwald@maisonmoderne.com) Journalists Jess Bauldry (jessica.bauldry@maisonmoderne.com) Natalie Gerhardstein (natalie.gerhardstein@maisonmoderne.com) Contributors Stephen Evans Photography Jan Hanrion, Lala La Photo, Patricia Pitsch, Mike Zenari, Matic Zorman Proofreading Lisa Cacciatore, Sarah Lambolez, Manon Méral, Elena Sebastiani, Katie Steiness

Delano publishes two newsletters weekdays: the “Breakfast briefing”, which features world and local headlines to start the day informed; and the “Noon briefing”, covering the latest Luxembourg news and events. Sign up on our homepage: ↳ www.delano.lu

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Georgiana Sidor

Steven Frank

The Amazon manager on participating in the Homeward Bound expedition to Antarctica.

The Holocaust survivor shares his story, in his own words, in this podcast.

↳ www.delano.lu/lifestyle

↳ www.delano.lu/current-affairs

Craig Churchill

Young Scientists

The International Labour Organization leader on protecting the world’s working poor.

Delano meets Jonk Fuerscher winners Negin Baradari and Henri Ahola.

↳ www.delano.lu/business

↳ www.delano.lu/lifestyle

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In accordance with article 66 of the law of 08.06.2004 on the freedom of expression in the media: the company that publishes Delano is indirectly held, by a stake exceeding 25%, by Mike Koedinger, an independent editor registered in Luxembourg.

Richard Karacian is chartered with daily management.

Delano™ and Maison Moderne™ are trademarks used under licence by MM Publishing and Media S.A. © MM Publishing and Media S.A. (Luxembourg) NOTE TO OUR READERS Delano’s next print edition comes out 11 March 2020.

For daily news updates, commentary and our weekly what’s on guide, visit www.delano.lu.

7

8

The Journal Reporting on the community

WINTER 2020

Doctoral candidate Jim Barthel wants to inspire students with science comics

Getting animated about science A recently released comic book explains

the current limitations of artificial intelligence and why fully self-driving cars are still some way off, what cancer is and how it’s treated, and how mathematicians try to optimise everything from postal delivery to the fastest route on Google Maps. If this doesn’t sound like an ordinary comic book, that’s because it was written by 22 doctoral candidates at the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg Institute of Health and Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology.

“The comics are based on true science,” says Jim Barthel, a doctoral candidate at the University of Luxembourg who worked on the mathematics optimisation story. “It’s not a science fiction comic.

You will not see things that are not true, at all.” Moreover, the storylines are 100% based on actual research taking place in the grand duchy right now.

The comics were published as part of the university’s Doctoral Education in Science Communication initiative, which provides science communication training

for doctoral candidates across Luxembourg, states Barthel. The idea is to teach PhD students how to effectively explain complex scientific research to the general public. Professor Bruno Teheux in the university’s maths department came up with the comic book idea, and then the call went out to all science PhD candidates in the country to participate.

Barthel joined the project in November 2018, partly because “I am completely convinced by the fact that Luxembourg is not [well] enough informed about →

9

Crime

“The efforts are bearing fruit.” ↑ François Bausch around the central train station had a “notable effect” in November.

In September, Bausch said “the Nigerian mafia” was the main cause of illicit activity in the Gare district.

what is going on [at] university level and also in science in general.”

Experienced researchers at the university, LIH and List contributed to fact-checking and the graphics were handled by a specialised agency in Paris, with the English and French versions of “Through the looking glass: Reflections of science in Luxembourg” released during the university’s open house event in February 2019. So far, more than 6,000 copies have also been distributed at events like the Science Festival in November, Escher Jugendtag (Esch youth day) in September and Contern comic book festival in July.

The positive reaction at the Contern festival in particular pushed the team to produce Luxembourgish and German versions, which were issued in November, says Barthel. He worked on those translations and “I had a lot of fun, actually… it’s one of the first times I translated science into Luxembourgish.”

The native of Rippweiler, near Redange, attended the Lycée classique de Diekirch and earned a bachelor’s in mathematics at the University of Luxembourg and a master’s in theoretical mathematics at Catholic University of Leuven, in Belgium. Barthel is currently pursuing a doctorate in computer science, focused on cryptography.

While primary pupils can understand “Through the looking glass”, a bigger goal is to get high school students interested in science majors at uni. Whether or not it works, “we’ll really only know in four years”. Nonetheless, Barthel says the experience has already helped him become a better communicator. To explain a scientific concept “in 12 frames, as in a comic, you need to be simple and precise at the same time. And that’s something you need to learn first.” ×

Jas Madhur sees sharing a meal as a way to remove religious and cultural barriers

“We all have to eat”

↳ descom.uni.lu

words photo

Aaron Grunwald Mike Zenari

Eating with others has always been an important feature of Jas Madhur’s life,

from the Sikh temples of his childhood, to the meals he enjoyed in the many countries he has lived.

Now the British-Canadian national is importing the concept of Sikh community kitchens, or “Langars”, to Luxembourg by coordinating free meals to encourage “sharing, participation and togetherness”.

“Anyone who wants to come together and sit with us and eat in peace and share ideas, we will do it,” he explains. Madhur, who moved to Luxembourg in 2011 and

works as an external consultant, has been a lifelong fan of cooking. He says: “It’s very much a part of my cultures to invite people in. The first thing you say is ‘Sit down. What would you like to eat?’”

Madhur has a good selection of spices and enjoys cooking for friends who, he jokes, like to tell him how he can improve.

But his culinary skills were turned to a different purpose when he hosted his first Langar in August 2019 for volunteers at the Aërdscheff, a sustainable construction project organised by Cell in Redangesur-Attert. “It was for volunteers who, →

The Journal

The Green party internal security minister said a police crackdown

In numbers

Facts & figures about Luxembourg

71.2%

3%

↑

↑

HOME OWNERSHIP RATE

FEMALE BOARD MEMBERS

The majority of residents

The number of women on Luxembourg

own their own abode.

boards dropped between 2018 and 2019.

35.7%

1.25%

↑

↑

FOREST AREA

RESEARCH EXPENDITURE

More than a third of land area

Luxembourg spends less on R&D, as a

is forested.

percentage of GDP, than the EU average of 2%.

Sources → Eurostat → Deloitte → Food and Agriculture Organization → Unesco Institute for Statistics

WINTER 2020

in my mind, were doing a very noble thing by volunteering their time to work in the circular economy,” he says.

“We were invited to celebrate their final dinner. They had all the facilities and were more than willing to help cook the stuff.”

At this inaugural Langar, Madhur, whose family originates from India, cooked dishes using lentils, rice and vegetables with blended spices. But he says a Langar meal can consist of anything. The essential ingredients are the selfless act of contributing, sharing tasks and eating together.

The Langar practice is thought to have been started by Guru Nanak, who was born in 1469 in Talwandi near Lahore.

He reportedly introduced the concept to encourage equality among all people regardless of religion, cast, creed, age, gender or social status. The Sikh diaspora has since helped to spread the tradition around the world. “The difference between what I’m trying to do versus my father was that his generation was interested in collecting money, buying land and building temples,” Madhur says. “My push is to make it more open and go out.”

Madhur has a rich experience of expat life--he grew up in Kenya and has lived in the UK, Canada, US, France and Middle East. And he sees multicultural Luxembourg as an ideal place to establish a secular version of the Langar tradition.

“As an immigrant, one becomes very conscious of the fact that one does not look, sound or even smell like the locals.

As such, there is a tendency to shrink back into one’s enclaves and comfort zones and cultivate mistrust,” he says.

“I think that rather than creating religious fortresses, the time has come to say that we are here as your neighbours and want to share an important part of what we value, wherever we go in the world.”

To be able to prepare a Langar, Madhur needs a location with cooking facilities and people willing to pitch in. He plans to coordinate four Langars per year, for groups of up to 50 people and he hopes to encourage others to embrace the concept.

“I’m now trying to encourage friends of every walk of life to take the idea of a Langar and do it for their friends,” he says, adding: “We all have to eat.

It’s nice to share your food.” ×

In context

Royal-Hamilius, 7 November

↳ langar.soc.lux@gmail.com

words

Jess Bauldry photo Mike Zenari

The French book and electronics chain Fnac was first to open a store in the new shopping centre.

Photo → Nader Ghavami

10

11

The Journal

Afsaneh Angelina Rafii says her new environmental magazine will not preach to the choir

Dissecting humanity’s Icarus complex By the time I get to chat with Afsaneh Angelina Rafii, the first edition of her

brand-new magazine is already sold out.

The founder and editor of Icarus Complex is now based in London, but still regularly returns to Luxembourg where her sister, Parissa, runs the successful Ireco pistachio business founded by their father.

Afsaneh is well-known to discerning readers of the now defunct Nico magazine, which was produced by Delano publisher Maison Moderne up until 2015, where

she was initially the fashion editor and then the deputy editor. She is still active in Luxembourg, writing for catalogues and publications put out by local group Design Friends, including its 10th anniversary book “50 Designers, 50 Encounters”.

Indeed, it was while interviewing designers for that book that Afsaneh says the first seeds of the idea to launch a magazine dedicated to ecological issues were first planted. “Designers, specifically people who work in industrial or furniture design, really talked about the

idea that you have to think about the end cycle of a product, about resource management and being more responsible.”

She came away from the project with renewed hope that creative people were thinking about the ecology. “I was thinking wouldn’t it be great if there was some sort of think-tank out there for people like that.” Afsaneh knew she would never set up a think-tank.

However, reading more and more articles, specifically “How Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet” by Bill McKibben →

WINTER 2020

in The New Yorker--which she calls “a real cri de coeur”--and “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change” in The New York Times, stirred Afsaneh’s interest even more.

Then she was knocked back by the resignation of French environment minister Nicolas Hulot in August 2018.

But attending the global magCulture magazine conference later that year proved inspirational. “People were presenting magazines about their love of football, or one girl had a magazine about witchcraft,” she explains. So, when the editor of Courier explained that the idea for his magazine came while sitting in the audience at magCulture and hoped maybe someone at the conference would be similarly influenced, it took just a few minutes for Afsaneh to decide she would launch her own environmentfocused publication. “I started researching and didn’t really find anyone else doing it, and I became obsessed with the idea,” she explains. Together with Lara Frisch and Pedram Rowhani, Afsaneh founded a non-profit to publish the magazine, but was wary of launching a publication aimed at “a bunch of hipsters”. Purposefully not preaching to the choir quickly defined the direction the magazine would take.

The result is a smart looking 140-page biannual magazine that takes a look at the issues and people tackling climate change, including Luxembourg’s Déi Gréng co-president Djuna Bernard as well as leading international activists like US lawyer Julia Olsen and UK charity ClientEarth’s Karla Hill.

The next edition, which will have a larger print run, is scheduled for April 2020. Meanwhile Afsaneh is slowly building the Icarus Complex website, which she wants to be solution-based so that readers can find what can be applied to their own life, their community or even at national or international level. × ↳ www.icaruscomplexmagazine.com

words photo

Duncan Roberts Matic Zorman

Photo → Jean-Claude Dahn

12

Jean-Claude Dahn enjoys the solitude and melancholy of exploring abandoned places

A disappearing playground Luxembourger Jean-Claude Dahn never grew out of playing in abandoned places.

Born and raised “between the factories” of the south of Luxembourg, today he spends his free time photographing those same empty and forgotten places.

“I like the solitude and the melancholy of these places […] The first thing you notice is the smell. A suspicion of life that’s not there,” the railway technician tells Delano.

Dahn’s hobby emerged when, as an adult, he and others returned to his childhood haunts. He took up photography and then, in 2008, combined the two.

“We met other people who did the same thing and made friends throughout Europe,” he says. The elegant decay depicted in Dahn’s evocative images of art deco factories and sparse salons is

spellbinding, especially as it contrasts with Luxembourg’s constant gentrification. Some of the buildings whose entrails he has photographed have long since been razed, often replaced with new housing.

But, if his photos are considered a record of another era or interpreted as a commen­ tary on the housing situation, that is not intentional. “I don’t see my photos as having a role in changing mentalities,” he says. “I returned to these places to take photos because it’s part of my personality.

It’s here that I find the serenity, solitude and freedom that I sometimes need.”

Some of the most striking places Dahn recalls visiting include an underground, marble crypt where he discovered love letters. “It was a strange feeling. You become preoccupied with death”. And his eyes light up as he recounts a mine →

exclusively imported by

14

WINTER 2020

he visited during the summer heatwave: “You enter 300 metres into the tunnel and just where the hot air from outside meets the cool air from inside, it creates a fog in the middle. It’s really magical!”. As a photographer, Dahn pays close attention to light in the places he visits. Sometimes, however, for example in the mines, there is none. “The absolute darkness makes you feel very small. You have an intense feeling of claustrophobia. That’s when you have to be quite strong and say I’m not afraid of the dark,” he says.

For Dahn, urban exploring is also a social activity, with an added element of danger and excitement that one rarely finds in professional life.

“I’ve been arrested by police and gendarmes […] A neighbour in Belgium released a dog on us. It’s definitely a sport!” he says with glee.

Dahn says that what he does is neither legal nor illegal. He never uses force to enter a place he is exploring. He takes nothing but photos and leaves places as he found them. One could argue that his urban exploring activities are an issue for site owners if someone becomes injured.

And it does happen. In moments of carelessness, Dahn has suffered some cuts and grazes, but, he says, nothing serious: “You have to have a certain amount of respect for the environment and for danger, because it’s dangerous to do this. Some houses were abandoned 30 years ago and they’re not stable.”

Before setting out, he researches the site, checking records of other urban explorers. But, even then, he says you never know what to expect until you arrive. And when I ask what advice he has for would-be urban explorers, Dahn is quick to respond: “There’s a real risk you could kill yourself. I wouldn’t encourage people to do it.” ×

Olivia Katrandjian was awarded second prize in the 2019 national literature contest

Raising the Ghost Army

↳ www.zerberuz.com

We all like to think we have a novel in us.

words

Journalist Olivia Katrandjian was so convinced that, in 2016, she quit her job and moved to Luxembourg to work on “The Ghost Soldier”. Three years later, her book won second prize in Luxembourg’s national literature contest.

“It was really wonderful to feel validated and that I’m moving in the right direction,” the American-Armenian national told Delano. Katrandjian’s historic novel follows Sevan, the son of Armenian immigrants who fled genocide in Turkey for the US. When his gay best friend enlists in the army, Sevan follows and the two join the Ghost Army, a top-secret unit of artists, actors, musicians and architects, tasked with tactical deception.

Katrandjian’s story follows the unit as it set up shows in France and then

Jess Bauldry

Luxembourg. The New Jersey native first heard about the Ghost Army through a podcast while she was living in New York and making documentaries for the New York Times. She researched it on her daily commute, but soon realised she would have to work on it full-time if she wanted to finish her first novel. So the journalist moved to Luxembourg with her partner, where not only was she able to access a mass of archives, such as diaries and multimedia material, she could also visit the places where the action occurred.

These include the mess hall the unit had used during the war, which until recently served as a library at the University of Luxembourg’s Limpertsberg campus.

“It’s been a wonderful opportunity to write a story in the location where it takes place,” Katrandjian says.

words photo

Jess Bauldry Mike Zenari

Fact file

15

Useful & random information about Luxembourg

The site of the Schéiss cultural centre used to be a shooting club.

Source: Tennis Club des Arquebusiers

The northernmost point in Luxembourg is in Schmëtt.

The southernmost point is in Rumelange.

Source: Google Maps/Wikimaps

Between the second quarters of 1995 and 2019, the number of people working in the construction sector rose from 25,100 to 47,600, in the financial and insurance sector from 22,200 to 50,400, and in the public sector from 35,100 to 95,900, while employment in industry rose from 35,300 to 37,800.

Source: Statec

The Journal

What makes the young American’s novel stand out from others set during this time is that hers examines the LGBTQ experience. In particular, the author wanted to shed light on the struggles of gay men in the army at a time when it was illegal to be homosexual. On the one hand, these men were often for the first time able to find love, thanks to the close intimacy with other men, while on the other, they were heavily discriminated against. In some instances, men who were known to be gay were given a blue discharge, stripping them of the benefits other veterans enjoyed and publicly humiliating them. “I hope to make readers think about what it means to be a ‘real man’, and what our country owes these men in return,” Katrandjian says.

At the same time, there is an autobiographical thread. A descendant of Armenian architects who lived in Turkey, Katrandjian loosely based her main character on her architect grandfather.

“When I heard about the Ghost Army, it seemed a really good way to take this character I had and give it a narrative arc,” she says. It also adds an intriguing dimension to the story, by examining the struggle of an immigrant who has fled genocide in Turkey, and comes to terms with his identity.

The book is still some way off publication--Katrandjian says she wants to fine-tune it before contacting agents.

But the contest came at a good time as it meant that once she had submitted her draft, she was able to focus on her other new challenge--motherhood. Katrandjian gave birth to her first child in Luxembourg in April 2019, forcing her to put the draft away. “It’s such a wonderful opportunity to have a break of four months, to get perspective and come back at it with fresh eyes. So, I’m now really excited to dive in.” ×

In my suitcase

16

Expats share what they brought when they moved to Luxembourg Icelandic

WINTER 2020

Model behaviour words

photos

← Hand-painted angel “This angel was hand painted by the sister of my mother. It is very precious.”

Duncan Roberts Mike Zenari

← Hewlett Packard Calculator This is a calculator Gigja used during her business studies in San Diego.

“It saved me in my statistics classes.

But you had to know how to use it, it didn’t have built-in formulas.”

← Fur coat This fur coat was given to Gigja for winning Miss Iceland in 1986. “I never used to wear it. It had big shoulder pads, because it was the 80s. But I removed them and recently I have started wearing it again as a vintage piece.”

GIGJA BIRGISDOTTIR Born and raised in Iceland, where she won the Miss Iceland contest in 1986, Gigja Birgisdottir arrived in Luxembourg in 1994 to work for a startup straight from San Diego, California, where she had been studying business, with a specialisation in marketing. She graduated as outstanding student of the year in her discipline and was one of the 5 best of 27,000 students selected to enter an intercollegiate startup business contest in Las Vegas. “Out of all the universities, we won the competition,” she says proudly.

Upon graduation, Gigja had multiple job offers in the States and Iceland, but the one she plumped for was in the grand duchy. “My cousin lived here, so I had been here before. And I had done some modelling for [Luxembourg-based disrupter drinks company] Black Death vodka.” Her career in Luxembourg was focused mainly in the finance sector, until she decided to set up her own image consultancy and modelling agency, Gia in Style, in 2012. She now divides her time between Luxembourg and Paris. ↳ www.giainstyle-models.com

17

↑ Frying pan “This frying pan was given to me by my grandmother.

It is cast iron and I still use it today for making pancakes.”

← Yule Lads These are two of the 13 Icelandic Yule Lads, the equivalent of Santa Claus, but much more mischievous. They take turns visiting children on the 13 nights leading up to Christmas.

Levi’s corduroy jeans Gigja bought these Levi’s from the Salvation Army charity shop in San Diego.

“They still fit.” ↓

→

Illustration → Corentin Andreosso

WHAT I REGRET LEAVING BEHIND The sea “I really miss my friends and family, and particularly the sea.

But definitely not the weather. When I was 13, I swore to myself that I would study somewhere sunny and warm.” Which is how she ended up in San Diego.

The Journal

Diamond ring and costume brooch The diamond ring was part of the prize for being Miss Iceland. It is supposed to represent an iceberg. “The brooch I wore to jazz up my dark black and blue dress at the Miss World contest in London. All the contestants are going to meet up in December 2021 to celebrate the 35th anniversary.” ↓

Community Spotlight

18

Meet the people who add zest to life in Luxembourg

Swedish

WINTER 2020

Illuminating Swedish culture

I

ntegrating in Luxembourg was a quick process for Eva Gram Toft, who says she always had “two different cultures in my soul”. Born to a Polish mother and Swedish father, Toft was raised in Lund, where she studied informatics and data science which has led to a successful career in the grand duchy. “I already spoke German quite fluently when I arrived, but I was forced through my first work to speak French. Language is the first way to ease up integration,” she says.

And Toft should know, having lived in places as far as Australia and South America. Now at home in Luxembourg for the past 18 years, the mother-of-three says that despite her ease of integration, when she was expecting her first child she “had this natural need to get back to my roots and be with Swedish people”.

So she joined the Luxembourg chapter of the Swedish Women’s Educational Association, which today has a global network of around 7,500 Swedishspeaking women in over 70 chapters in more than 30 countries. SWEA also awards $250,000 of scholarships and donations annually to Swedes and foreigners alike in a bid to promote Swedish culture and tradition. Toft now serves as SWEA president for the middle Europe and middle Africa region.

As a professional who seems to have struck the right balance between career, motherhood and her volunteer activities, Toft says: “I need my work and I love it, but there are other things important in life. And here I think the men are missing out on this.” In Sweden, by comparison, “it’s just expected the dads are home. →

↑

EVA GRAM TOFT Regional president of the Swedish Women’s Educational Association, which promotes Swedish culture and tradition through a 70-chapter strong international network.

Toft is seen in her Luxembourg City home luxembourg@swea.org ↳ luxembourg.swea.org

←

CATHARINA BIVER Founder and managing director of Sparx Factory, shown here with her horse in Hobscheid ↳ www.sparxfactory.com

Sweden’s seen as a country in the driver’s seat, there’s a lot of respect. We know that we are responsible and tidy, follow the rules, and try to do the best for the world.”

She also finds Swedes down-to-earth, as people who like being close to nature.

Catharina Biver is one such Swede who needs nature--including her horses--in her life. “I need to get dirt under my fingers and connect with Mother Earth.

It’s my way of recharging my batteries.”

Biver, born and raised in Stockholm, arrived in Luxembourg in 1987, leaving her banking job to follow her then partner to the grand duchy when he got a job here. As she wasn’t working, she began studying German and picked up horseback riding again, which “gave me the opportunity to very quickly get into local life”. After two years, he wanted to return to Sweden, but she didn’t.

WHERE TO MEET SWEDES SWEDISH CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN BELGIUM AND LUXEMBOURG Also acting as Nordic chamber of commerce in these countries 13 place d’Armes,

Photo → Henrik Trygg/mediabank.visitstockholm.com

Luxembourg-Centre ↳ www.nobelux.se

EMBASSY OF SWEDEN LUXEMBOURG, STOCKHOLM-BASED

photos

Natalie A. Gerhardstein Mike Zenari

SHOWCASE

SCANSHOP Shop with Nordic specialities and delicatessen 615 rue de Neudorf, Luxembourg-Findel ↳ www.scanshop.lu

CROSSFIRE Nordic sports bar 15 rue Dicks, Luxembourg-Gare

↳ swedenabroad.se

↳ www.crossfire.lu

NORDIC WOMEN’S CLUB

IKEA Furniture retailer with its roots in Swedish design

↳ www.nwc.lu

words

FRISKIS & SVETTIS Fitness group

Multiple locations

↳ www.friskissvettis.lu

↳ www.ikea.com

in the Greater Region

From horseback riding to ice-skating, as shown here at Riddarfjärden near the city hall, Stockholm offers a wealth of activities for winter sports’ enthusiasts

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The Journal

It’s a no-brainer. The dad either takes [parental leave] or it’s gone.”

Toft still likes to surround herself with reminders of her roots. “There’s a lot of Swedish stuff in my home, cosiness, candles.” Particularly around Christmas and Midsummer (one of the most important holidays in Sweden), she and her friends like to visit Ikea or Scanshop to stock up on Swedish food or supplies. Toft, who was fond of Saint Lucy’s feast day each 13 December in her youth, still enjoys it as an adult. “It’s the darkest night of the year, so Santa Lucia comes with light on her head, and all the girls also have lights, sing traditional songs,” she says. “It’s a celebration to light up that dark period of the year.”

Although Toft says she had wanted to move out of Sweden since she was young, “I’m very proud to have it in my luggage…

She stayed and has since built her life in Kehlen, where she lives with her husband of 27 years who runs a stable with retired horses just up the road from her home.

Her three children are fluent in Swedish, and Biver says her previous work through the foreigners’ committee at her local commune, her involvement on the SWEA professionals committee and formerly in the Nordic Women’s Club all have afforded her “a possibility to give back to the community. Many [Swedish] newcomers turn to SWEA, and it’s important for me, supporting females to progress in their careers”--perfect for someone as outgoing as Biver, who loves working with people and which also led her to founding Sparx Factory. “What I discovered in Luxembourg is this freedom of doing business… it’s multicultural, international with a wonderful openness and mix that was not the case in Sweden” when she left.

Still, Biver brings Sweden into her home with candles and light. “This is a constant fight between me and my husband,” she jokes. “I turn lights on, he turns them off… I have come to realise this really comes from Sweden and the long, dark period we have.” In her Kehlen home is also a painting of the house she had in Sweden until she had to sell it in 2012--a place for which she and her family still feel a deep attachment. For six months, she says, she didn’t have any property in Sweden. “I felt rootless, which is weird, because I love Luxembourg…

I really am half Luxembourgish. But my roots are in Sweden, and I don’t want to lose that.” ×

Snapshots

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Highlights from the international community and networking events

Amcham turkey bash

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Guests reflected on the many WINTER 2020

reasons to be thankful during the annual American Chamber of Commerce Thanksgiving dinner, 15 November. ↳ www.amcham.lu 2

photos 4

Matic Zorman 1 Clari, Mary-Rose, Jade, Kamila, Natacha and Katrin 2 Ralph, Christophe, Frieda, Raoul, Iana, Anouck and Sonia 3 Clarities and Kenneth 4 Pierre Gramegna, finance minister, Randy Evans, US ambassador, and Amcham’s Paul Schonenberg 5 Yrak and Fernand 6 Virginia Anderson, Leon van Hout, Frieda Cauwenbergh and Roeland Pels

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Find more events Check Delano’s digital agenda for the latest happenings: ↳ www.delano.lu/agenda

1 Scores of men & women dressed as soldiers for the World War II reenactment 2 Ceba’s Erny Kohn gave a short speech 3 Grand Duke Henri shakes hands with US ambassador Randy Evans 4 Randy Evans tests the tank

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Food for thought Volunteers recreated an American feast in Munshausen to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle Circle of Studies on the Battle

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of the Bulge – Ceba

photos 4

“ Opportunity in chaos”

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Albert Folch and Rafa Martínez of Folch Studio, in Barcelona, spoke about their brand campaigns, 13 November.

Design Friends 3

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Design Friends/Jan Hanrion Sylvain Kirsch Silvano Vidale The event was held at Mudam 4 Albert Folch and Rafa Martínez speak 1

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Matic Zorman

The Journal

army camp Thanksgiving

of the Bulge, 23 November.

photos

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Substance not obstacle

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Luxembourg private equity funds have been meeting “substance” rules without major hassles, but HR remains a stumbling block, panellists told the Association of WINTER 2020

the Luxembourg Fund Industry’s Private Equity and Real Estate

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Conference, 26 November. ↳ www.alfi.lu

photos 4

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Lala La Photo 5

1 Natascha Vieira, Susanne Lyons and Cecilia Bäck 2 Sven Rein and Valeria Merkel 3 Joanne Carey and Sun Yang 4 Max Welbes 5 Simone Schmitz, Thibault Jean and Roberto Pimentel 6 Camille Gailey of UBS Asset Management, Vanessa Camilleri of Partners Group, Ian Harcourt of RBS International, Christian Heinen of IQ-EQ, and Claus Mansfeldt of the LPEA trade group 7 Delano sales rep Stéphanie Crégut speaks with Paul Harris 8 Silvia Hermeneanu and Billyana Kuncheva

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35 candles

10×6 Keytrade

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Luxinnovation marked three

Ten speakers presented on investment fund strategies,

and a half decades of promoting

27 November.

the economy at a gala fete,

↳ club.paperjam.lu

The Journal

14 November. ↳ www.luxinnovation.lu 1

photos

Luxinnovation/Marie De Decker

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Prof Alex Pentland Michèle Detaille, Jean-Paul Olinger and Martina Guerin-Jabbour 3 Mélanie Delannoy and François Thill

1 Fabien Vrignon of Keytrade Bank Luxembourg 2 Nawfal Fariat and Valérian Branco 3 François Masquelier, Paul Lécaille and Pierre-Yves Lanneau Saint Léger

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Bimlux 2019

photos

Jan Hanrion/ Maison Moderne 1

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The fourth edition of the conference focused on the digitalisation of the construction sector, 19 November. ↳ www.bimlux.lu

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Moreno Viola Calin Boje (foreground) 3 Marc Hansen, DP secretary of state for digitalisation (speaking) 4 Barbara Kinnart 1

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photos

CRTI-B/ Marie De Decker

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Taking green finance lead

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Luxembourg’s financial regulator has expressed support for fund firms investing more in climate change and applying “ESG” criteria, while a French bank recently WINTER 2020

started to evaluate environmental risk on “every single loan” that it makes, attendees heard at KPMG conference, 6 November. ↳ www.kpmg.lu

photos

Mike Zenari

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1 Stéphanie Deltenre, Andy Watriquant and Cécilia Vernhes 2 Benoît De Belder, Thierry Logier and Geoffroy Linard 3 Karen Degouve of Natixis, a French bank 4 Manuela Fröhlich and Pascale Juncker 5 Natasha Deloge of the CSSF, Luxembourg’s financial regulator

1 100,7’s Jim Kent and Delano’s Duncan Roberts 2 Delano’s Jess Bauldry and Aaron Grunwald 3 “The Jim Kent Show on Radio 100,7 with Delano” aired from studio 1 at 100,7 public radio in Kirchberg 4 Delano’s Natalie Gerhardstein

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Delano on 100,7 Delano journalists discussed days and looked ahead at weekend activities during the premiere 100,7 with Delano”, 21 November.

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They’ll be back each Thursday at 5 p.m. Listen live on 100.7 FM or to a podcast via the Delano website on Fridays. ↳ www.delano.lu

photos 4

Talent challenge

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Philipp von Restorff of Luxembourg for Finance discussed how the grand duchy can improve its attraction as a place to work in finance at the Delano Breakfast Talk, 26 November.

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↳ www.delano.lu

Jan Hanrion/Maison Moderne

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Delano’s Duncan Roberts Stéphane Compain Philipp von Restorff 4 Marianne Van Den Eerenbeemt 1

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Jan Hanrion/Maison Moderne

The Journal

headlines from the past seven

of “The Jim Kent Show on Radio

photos

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WINTER 2020

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Cover story

Free rides: what’s the point? words

Natalie A. Gerhardstein and Duncan Roberts

illustration

Luis Demano

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Users of the grand duchy’s public transport networks, apart from first class passengers, will be able to travel free of charge starting in March 2020. The policy, which had cross-party support in Luxembourg and garnered international headlines, seems like a no-brainer. So why are some observers sceptical of the scheme’s aims? And what else needs to be done to solve the country’s current mobility crisis?

WINTER 2020

HOW DID WE GET HERE?

The Luxembourg government’s much-heralded free public transport scheme comes online on 1 March 2020. The idea to provide free public transport was first realistically mooted by the young socialists prior to the July 2018 national congress meeting of the LSAP to sign off its manifesto for that October’s parliamentary elections. Before then, it had been a pipe dream of Déi Lénk that as recently as February 2016 was dismissed by mobility minister François Bausch (Green party), who answered a parliamentary question from David Wagner (Déi Lénk) by saying that he didn’t think that reducing the price of travel, or doing away with fares altogether, would increase public transport use.

But the LSAP at the time was eager to listen to its youth wing, especially as it had been accused of failing to attract younger voters during local elections just a year prior, where it suffered a drop in the vote of close to 5%. So, the motion to include free public transport as a policy goal was included in the manifesto. ­Other parties across the board, apart from the CSV, also included free-of-charge transport as a priority in the mobility package of their election programme. The DP and ADR both said offering free use was a way of encouraging more people to take public transport. Déi Gréng and Déi Lénk both supported the idea but did not necessarily see it as a magic solution to the country’s mobility problems.

“Our priority was on investment,” Bausch told ­Delano in an interview in November. “We said we could imagine introducing free public transport in the medium term, but that first the quality of the service being offered had to improve.” During coalition discussions with the DP and LSAP, Déi Gréng insisted that the government programme would emphasise that the scheme was promoted as a social measure.

“That was the compromise we negotiated.” The scheme was included in the government’s five-year policy programme published in December 2018. Then, on 21 January, Bausch announced the start date of the scheme for 1 March 2020. That hailed another flurry of international headlines. And there does seem to be a growing international movement in favour of free or significantly subsidised public transport as a solution to many ills. In a report published in Forbes in September, Enrique Dans said that the growth in interest in public transport was “clearly a trend in reinterpreting the idea of cities as a service”.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Starting 1 March 2020, anyone using public transport service buses, trams or trains can simply board a vehicle without a ticket. The only passengers required to show a ticket or pass will be those travelling in first class on CFL trains. Initially, the scheme was also set to exclude users of the “Adapto” call-a-bus service for persons with reduced mobility. But public outcry and a petition that gathered more than the 4,500 signatures required to force a parliamentary debate saw that decision reversed in September.

Transport unions had concerns that the free-ofcharge travel would impact the jobs of ticket inspectors, but both the CFL and the City of Luxembourg have provided assurances that no redundancies will result from the introduction of the free public transport scheme.

Indeed, safety will also not be compromised, says CFL communications manager ­Alessandra­ ­Nonnweiler.

“Every train will still be manned by a controller, which is not the case in every country.” Staff currently employed to be chiefly ticket inspectors will be trained to

Case studies

29

“ I talk about the free public transport scheme for two minutes, and then spend 25 minutes talking about our strategy.

And people are impressed.”

Cover story

Photo → Mike Zenari

We look at three cities with different experiences of free public transport schemes

Tallinn

1

TALLINN, ESTONIA

Population: Approximately 450,000

↑ François Bausch, minister for mobility

Why it matters: The city of Tallinn was the first EU capital to provide its citizens with free public transport in January 2013 In numbers: 2 million ride increase between launch and 2018

be more proactive in orientating clients, she explains.

“We are really customer centric, so we want to provide the best possible information for their trip.”

But some unions and other commentators have also argued that the scheme will mean that buses, trams and train carriages become “public spaces”, and that an increase in vandalism is inevitable. There is also concern from some quarters that the homeless might take advantage of the free scheme to spend all day aboard public transport rather than brave the elements.

WHAT WILL BE THE IMPACT?

No concrete projection studies have been done on likely changes in traffic flow on public transport when free rides are introduced. CFL, for instance, says it doesn’t like to speculate about the impact the scheme will have on passenger numbers on the train network.

But ­Nonnweiler does say the general feeling at the rail company is that it will make it much easier for people taking the train, especially for short distances. “The step of having to purchase a ticket will have been removed.

But, let’s be honest, public transport in ­Luxembourg doesn’t cost a fortune. Many people already have it for free or at preferential tariffs. So, we are not expecting a significantly higher increase in use.”

The government has studied the impact that free public transport has had in other cities, notably in Tallinn (see box on right) and some French metropolitan areas, says Bausch. “Nowhere did passenger numbers on buses or trains increase by more than 30% as a result of there being no charge.” Brian Field, an academic, urban planner, economist and public policy analyst who has worked at the European Investment Bank, has wide experience in public transport policy. →

In detail: Citizens wanting to take advantage of free transport still need to buy a €2 green card (which visitors can also purchase, although they need to top up accordingly). According to Allan Alaküla, head of Tallinn EU office, the main driver behind the initiative was “social urgency”. On the heels of the financial crisis, fares were still “unaffordable to many”, despite a subsidisation of nearly 75% just prior to the scheme. The idea was that in addition to providing “mobility for all”, the local economy would be stimulated simultaneously. Alaküla says a slight increase in trips was recorded in the first half of 2013, after the scheme was first launched, but has been stable since--140m trips made in 2012 compared to 142m in 2018. This “was absorbed pretty well with previous (underused) capacity,” Alaküla says, with the amount of network adjustments and capacity having “remained in the limits of 5%”.

Lost revenue on tickets sales amounted to €12m, although since only official residents are able to take advantage of the scheme, it encouraged individuals to register their official living place as Tallinn--so lost revenue was covered through additional taxpayer inflow.

Overall, Alaküla says, the initiative was a success, “foremost because people are happy with it”. He cites not only the March 2012 local referendum in which 75% of Tallinners voted in favour of free public transport but adds that “current polls indicate that the number of those who support [it slightly] exceeds 90%”.

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WINTER 2020

He dismisses the idea that the scheme will increase passenger numbers. “All of the case studies and all of the experience tell us that it achieves very, very little in terms of getting people out of their cars and onto buses and the like. Because as economists we can measure the cost elasticity…. you actually have to pay people money to use public transport to increase the ridership.”

In the short term, too, the quality of public transport is putting people off changing their habits. “Capacity right now has almost been reached,” says Nonnweiler.

Over the last 15 years, CFL has already experienced an increase in passenger numbers of 70%--unprecedented in Europe. But she acknowledges that passengers are having their patience tested by delays and cancellations while current work on improvements is being carried out. “Until 2024, we will have to temporarily close some lines, replacing services with buses, which will be done where possible during the summer or Easter holidays to minimise disruption,” she explains. Bausch, too, admits that “there are still too many delays because of all the works being undertaken”.

Laure Simon, board member of the Mouvement Écologique, an NGO, perhaps surprisingly, says that free public transport was never a policy goal of the environmental lobby group. “Of course, it will be better for the country for air quality if more people use public transportation,” she admits. But, like others, she recognises that during rush hours, the public transport system is currently almost at capacity. “So where should those people go?” she asks. “And at other times, people are just not interested, too lazy, or they have other things to do. It’s not the price [discouraging] them from taking the bus. Free public transport will not lead to better air quality,” Simon says.

So, if in the short-term free public transport won’t increase passenger numbers significantly--and will consequently not alleviate congestion on the roads--nor have a positive impact on the environment, what is the point?

Well, it seems that Bausch was on the money when he said it was a social measure. A Statec study published in August 2019 bears out the minister’s argument, ­showing that it will indeed make a significant differ-

Commuter stories

We asked three people in very different circumstances about their journey to and from work, and whether free public transport will make a difference to their daily travel schedule.

Tonya, mother of 2

James, bachelor

Daniel, father of 2

COMMUTE: METZ TO NEUDORF

COMMUTE: LUXEMBOURG CITY (ROSEGARDEN) TO KIRCHBERG

COMMUTE: KEHLEN TO CLOCHE D’OR VIA MAMER

Tonya normally takes the train for her morning and evening commutes. When she drives, she has to leave Metz just after 6 a.m. “in order to spend less than two hours in traffic”. Those journeys take 45 minutes if she sticks to her timetable--including if she leaves work by 3 p.m. Whenever possible, she opts for public transport since “traffic is so awful” with the car, although she does drive into Luxembourg if she needs her car for work. She estimates she spends around €90 for the train per month, and about €25 for the bus with a yearly pass and, while she sees improvements to the grand duchy’s public transport system, “free public transportation will not change anything for me. It’s just nice to have.”

But, like other cross-border commuters, she believes it’s critical authorities find a better way to improve train connections across different countries and better options for cross-border workers to leave their cars outside the city.

James is a 40-year-old bachelor who, for his morning commute, tends to walk to Hamilius which he is “not very happy about” and then takes the bus to work. His commute will be alleviated a bit once this segment of the tram line is complete. In the evening, he takes either the tram and bus or just the bus, although in warmer weather, he likes to use the Vel’oh!.

Depending on roadworks and traffic, his commute tends to take around 30 minutes-“too long”. Within the city, he normally resorts to public transport or cycling, but he uses a car for journeys farther afield. James admits he doesn’t pay for most bus journeys currently (although he does pay his train fares), so free public transport will make “no difference whatsoever” from his point of view. His opinion is that there are both underserved and overserved areas when it comes to public transport and says authorities “need to sort out Kirchberg and Cloche d’Or--[there’s] too much traffic and it will only get worse”. He wishes the tram had been implemented in one stage because it is causing too much disruption, and he would be on board with an extension of the Vel’oh! network.

Daniel says it takes about an hour for his morning commute from Kehlen to Cloche d’Or, where he works--including the school drop-off. The duration is about the same for the evening run back home. Traffic isn’t limited to the roads, however; he also has to negotiate getting out of the school car park, often the result of bottlenecks on the road ahead. If his wife does the school run (and weather is decent), he cycles to work but, as his children are still quite young, he has “no choice but to drive them to school”. On weekends or for city visits, he occasionally uses public transport and is generally fine with the bus route from Kehlen, although he is looking forward to the Hamilius-Place de l’Étoile tramline being finished. The family takes the funicular and tram combo when travelling to Kirchberg. Since he rarely takes public transport, however, the free fares “won’t make much difference to our lives”.

65km

Metz

45min

Neudorf

Kehlen

21km

Cloche d’Or

Mamer

1h

2h Luxembourg City

30min

5km

Kirchberg

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Dunkirk

“ You actually have to pay people money to use public transport to increase the ridership.”

2

↑

DUNKIRK, FRANCE

Brian Field, economist and public policy analyst

Population: Just over 90,000, with 257,000 in metropolitan area Why it matters: With a population similar to that of Luxembourg City, though without the daily influx of frontaliers, Dunkirk rolled out its free bus system in September 2018 and, according to France 24, is aiming to “become a beacon of the greener economy”

ence in purchasing power, especially for people with lower incomes. Households in the grand duchy using public transport as their only means of transport, for instance, will save on average €390 per year, the study found. Households that use both private cars and public transport would save on average €230 per year--a figure which is somewhat mitigated by last May’s increase in excise tax on fuel. Though Bausch is keen to add the caveat that, as many critics have pointed out, free public transport is not really “free”. “There is always someone who pays,” the minister explains. “In this case, the taxpayer. But because we have a progressive tax system, which makes it more fair than making everyone pay the same by buying a ticket.”

Luxembourg’s 200,000 or so cross-border workers will also benefit from the scheme if they use public transport. An announcement at the beginning of ­December revealed that the cost of annual and monthly subscriptions will decrease significantly, with the price of Zone 1 passes falling by over half, and Zone 2 passes costing more than 35% less.

But Field reckons that the “social service” argument is invalid. “It’s a social service to provide transport for the elderly, for people who are infirmed, for children to go to school, for people who can’t afford to get to work,” he says. “You know, these are selected policies. Providing universal free public transport, there’s an opportunity cost. The cost of providing that is at the expense of using that money for something else.”

WHAT ELSE NEEDS TO BE DONE?

There is no doubt that getting more people to change habits in Luxembourg, especially for their morning →

In numbers: Network use increased by 85% in one year after launch In detail: Transport is free to all, not just citizens. The concept was already part of Dunkirk mayor Patrice Vergriete’s campaign during the municipal elections of 2014. Dunkirk spokesperson Olivier Coppin told Delano the decision was multifaceted--in part to fight against exclusion, strengthen social bonds and purchasing power, but also for the environmental aspect of reducing noise and air pollution. Between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2019, network use increased by 85%. Use during the week and weekend rose 65% and 120%, respectively.

The scheme meant the city lost €4.5m in ticket receipts, and not to mention the offer augmentation costing around €11.5m. But in France, as Coppin explains, transport networks are partly paid via corporate tax, while the creation of a high-level network service helped generate an additional €10m.

“The rest was self-financed by management savings,” Coppin adds. The network is still in an “optimisation phase” and further adaptations took place in September 2019 and are planned for January 2020 as well. Socially in particular, the scheme seems to be a success: “A survey showed that 48% of new bus users had previously travelled by private car,” Coppin notes. What’s more, 5% of those surveyed said they have sold their car or decided not to purchase a second vehicle.

Cover story

Courtesy photo

Case studies

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Verified?

Analysing the arguments in favour of free public transport

WINTER 2020

THE ARGUMENT

DELANO CHECK

It is a social measure

Statec says those who use public transport as their only means of transport, for instance, will save on average €390 per year. So yes, it will increase purchase power.

It will increase use

There is no strict evidence that this is true for Luxembourg, where fares were already low, provincial towns remain underserved by public transport and there is no disincentivisation for car users.

It will ease congestion

With 200,000+ commuters coming into the capital city every day, it will require massive uptake, beyond current capacity, to improve traffic flow on the roads.

It will have an environmental impact

If even the Mouvement Écologique is sceptical, the potential impact on air quality seems to be negligible.

It was good for nation branding

The announcements in December 2018 and January 2019 made headlines, the vast majority positive, around the world. It will also be convenient for visiting business travellers, which will also increase Luxembourg’s attractiveness.

commute, will require a vast improvement in the quality of service on the public transport systems. The immediate reaction from some sceptics to the no-charge announcement was that investment would suffer as some revenue losses from ticket sales took bite. But Bausch is insistent that investment will remain high.

“The offer to provide public transport for free was just the icing on the cake,” he says. He cites Switzerland as an example of how prices don’t really make a difference.

“Tickets [on Swiss public transport] are expensive, but the quality is enormously high. It is a country where public transport has a really good reputation. And it is proof that quality service is the key to getting people to use public transport.”

The CFL, for instance, has enjoyed state investment worth some €4 billion since 2007. It is undertaking a series of measures to build a more robust network by the end of 2024. This includes a second track for the connection between Luxembourg and Bettembourg, and an extension of the central station that incorporates two new platforms and four additional tracks. The new dual track over the expanded viaduct at ­Pulvermühle to Sandweiler and Contern has already had an impact, claims Nonnweiler. “When all that is finished, each route will have its own dedicated track and platform at the station in Luxembourg,” ­Nonnweiler explains. “This will reduce congestion caused when a route experiences a delay that currently affects other train services.”

CFL is also investing in €400 million worth of new rolling stock, the first of which is due to take up service at the start of 2022. By 2024, a total of 34 new trains will be in service, increasing passenger capacity by 11,600 to a total of 38,800 seats, representing a 46% rise since 2018. The ultimate aim is to improve punc-

tuality, with a publicly stated target of 92% of trains departing and arriving on time.

Bausch’s plans also incorporate what he calls a more “multimodular” transport network, one that combines train, bus and tram services, but also takes into account those people who have to use their car, as well as cyclists and pedestrians. “Mobility problems throughout Europe are the result of spending the last 40 or 50 years focusing on one mode of transport, the private car,” he says. Simon says more direct connections, avoiding the capital city, are needed between towns. But she also says that constant population growth and a steady increase in the number of cross-border commuters mean Luxembourg always seems to be playing catch-up. “Now building a tram, it should have been in place already 20 years ago. More train lines and everything. And we keep running behind. We can never see an end if we keep going like this.” Simon argues that what is really required to ease congestion as population grows is better land planning. Rising house prices have meant that people tend to live in places where land is cheap. “They have a nice house… and a garden, and they live somewhere where they have no buses, no trains… and then afterwards, they complain that they don’t have a bus route to get back home.” Politicians should be planning in such a way that population distribution across the country can be better controlled.

Field, for one, is not at all convinced of the viability of the tram. “The reality is that cities--that is, the cities that couldn’t afford to build metros--are suddenly building trams because trams were becoming fashionable again. And Luxembourg thought it’s about time that it had one.” He argues that extending

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Cover story

Courtesy photo

Case studies

“ Free public transport will not lead to better air quality.”

Hasselt

↑ Laure Simon, board member, Mouvement Écologique

3

HASSELT, BELGIUM

Population: Approximately 70,000 Why it matters: The city’s pioneering free public transport scheme, launched in 1997, was cancelled 16 years later In numbers: 126% increase in bus passengers over a 10-year period

the tram, at extortionate cost, to the airport--when there were already perfectly good bus services at Findel--is “nonsense”.

And Field is among those who suggest that encouraging public transport use must be accompanied by efforts to discourage private car use. “Draconian policies [are required] to discourage the use of private transport,” Field says. “Extraordinarily expensive car parking, no car parks in any public administration buildings in the central area because people can get to and from work on buses for nothing, stopping people from the so-called school run.”

THE NATION BRANDING EFFECT

While Field calls free public transport a “complete piss-all” as a policy in its own right and “nothing but a stunt”, Simon is dismissive of the role of free transport in the nation branding project. “I think it’s so ridiculous. We are not as big as some cities outside of Luxembourg, and then we say a whole nation,” she says. But there is no doubt that January’s announcement did make an impact around the world, and that Luxembourg was seen in a positive light in headlines from Germany to the United States. Bausch is only too happy to admit that the policy announcement was something of a nation branding coup. “It has an image narrative, which was clear from the reaction of the international media.” But he says he can take advantage of those attention-­grabbing headlines to explain that in fact Luxembourg is rethinking its entire mobility module. “When I’m abroad, I talk about the free public transport scheme for two minutes, and then spend 25 minutes talking about our strategy.

And people are impressed.” ×

In detail: According to Eltis, Europe’s observatory on urban mobility, until June 1997 there had been around 1,000 daily bus passengers but about a decade later the average increased to 12,600. In other terms, data for 1997 shows there were 1.4m travellers in total, compared to over 4.6m by 2006. Eltis cites a “criticism that thorough investigation was never conducted into the effects of the intervention on the transport behaviour of the residents and visitors of the city”. But there wasn’t just a strain in terms of the uptake--the costs for De Lijn, the Flemish transport company, also rose from €967,000 in 1997 to €3.45m by 2007, per Eltis.

News of the world

34

The grand duchy’s free public transport plans made international headlines. Here’s a selection of what the papers and commentators had to say.

WINTER 2020

“ Luxembourg is a small country with big traffic jams.”

New York Times, 6 Dec 2018

↳ www.nytimes.com

Architecture & Design, 19 Nov 2019

↳ www.architectureanddesign.com.au

“ Luxembourg has increasingly shown a progressive attitude to transport.”

The Guardian, 5 Dec 2018

↳ www.theguardian.com

Images → Courtesy of websites cited

“ A response to long commutes and a high carbon footprint, as well as the desire to reduce what is some of the world’s worst traffic congestion.”

35

CNN, 15 Jan 2019

↳ edition.cnn.com

“ To see why this feted policy is likely to end up backfiring, it’s necessary to understand the nation’s growing pains.”

CityMetric, 1 March 2019

↳ www.citymetric.com

December 6 2018

“ Congratulations to Luxembourg for taking the important step of making their public transportation free. At a time when scientists are warning us that we must take immediate and aggressive action to curb our carbon pollution emissions, public transit is already an excellent way to give people the option to get out of their cars and into buses and trains.”

Bernie Sanders, Facebook post, 6 Dec 2018

↳ www.facebook.com/senatorsanders

Cover story

“ Drivers in Luxembourg City spent an average of 33 hours in traffic jams [in 2016].”

36

Luxembourg has built its research and innovation ecosystem in what Marc Schiltz calls “record time”. The FNR CEO weighs in on emerging trends, competitors and keeping the grand duchy attractive for bright, young talent.

WINTER 2020

interview

Research & development

Embracing the digital transformation words Natalie

T

he Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) recently turned 20. As the main funder of research activities in the grand duchy, the FNR needs to remain ­agile, according to its CEO, Marc Schiltz.

But how do some of the big issues--from Brexit to big data and bureaucracy--impact the organisation? And what is the FNR doing to stay relevant with youth, citizens and other stakeholders? natalie a. gerhardstein

The Luxembourg Digital Innovation Hub was recently launched. Can you talk about FNR’s role in this and the most exciting avenues of innovations you see in Luxembourg?

The idea of the Digital Innovation Hub is really to be a platform where various actors can interact, those who face challenges related to digitalisation marc schiltz

A. Gerhardstein

photos

Mike Zenari

and those that offer solutions to these challenges. At the FNR, we are very well connected to the research community, and there is a lot of research that goes on in Luxembourg in the digital area. We’re also well connected to the enterprise world.

For a while now, we have actively pursued programmes to have public research and companies collaborate. Many of these programmes are in the ICT sector. Connecting companies with researchers is something we do have experience in.

I think the government over the past five years has really brought forward a number of interesting initiatives, like ­Digital Luxembourg and the Space Resources initiative. Of course, these are initiatives under the ministry of the economy, they recently published a digital strategy for the future which I think is really im-

portant for the future, the use of big data [and] artificial intelligence. What we commonly call the digital transformation now is really embracing, infusing all aspects of society and the economy, and of course also research. The way we do research is changing profoundly. We used to do research in a way that was hypothesis-driven, where we have a hypothesis and then do experiments or collect data to prove or invalidate the hypothesis, but now with the massive amount of big data available, there is a completely new paradigm which is emerging in research, to look at the data as they are and then try to find out interesting correlations and patterns to gain new insight… I also see the interaction with industry and companies, which is really something which we as FNR have built up over the past five years with →

37

Research & development

“ For research, [Brexit] is a lose-lose situation.”

WINTER 2020

specially-dedicated programmes and funding instruments, and I think these are very successful because we have unfortunately seen that over the past years public investment in R&D has been going up but at the same time private investment has been going down, so we feel that public sector research can be a little bit of a locomotive but for this to happen, we have to support the collaboration between the two.

Space Resources is a very interesting initiative which has clearly given a lot of international visibility to Luxembourg, and also something where research will have a lot to bring in, so I’m excited about that. We’re looking forward to realise the connection there, with new companies that establish activities here in our country and with the researchers.

→ Secretary general and CEO of the FNR, Marc Schiltz also currently serves as the president of Science Europe

How do you see things from your perspective as president of Science Europe?

In the immediate, there are difficult negotiations currently going on to fix the multiannual financial framework at the EU level, and I hope that there will be enough budget made available for R&D because, of course, there are other areas, [such as] the Common Agricultural Policy, the cohesion policy. But I would very much hope that governments across Europe realise that investing in R&D is so important for the future. And the framework programme is unique: we don’t really realise it. When I speak to colleagues in other parts of the world, like Asia, they don’t have such a collaborative programme at all. The EU provides funding for research collaboration to happen among all our countries, and that’s quite a unique instrument.

Another challenge is, of course, Brexit: for science and research, whatever the outcome will be is not positive at all. The UK is one of the leading research nations, so losing the possibility for them to be part of the European research area is something which is a reminder for all of us... research is so international, so collaborative--and Brexit will make it more difficult to maintain this collaboration. That’s not a good thing. I very much hope there will be a decent association agreement to be part of the research programmes between the EU and the UK which would at least preserve some of this potential to collaborate…We may need a little cool-off period, but in the end, any other solution [for science and research] would really be bad. To give an example, currently the research projects being funded by the European Commission with participants from Luxembourg, in half of them, there are also participants from the UK. That gives you an idea how connected and intertwined the relations are between the various countries, and the

UK and Luxembourg in particular, when it comes to research and science… the problem is for research, it’s a lose-lose situation.

There is clearly no winner. So at least we should make everything possible to diminish these losses.

Some of the roadblocks cited in the FNR Strategy and Action Plan 2018-21 include administrative inertia and unnecessary constraints. How is progress on these challenges to date?

I can say that we are also experimenting with the digital transformation. We have, for instance, a pilot project to use artificial intelligence in screening projects to identify suitable experts for projects, because I think we’ll have to be at the forefront of these developments as well. We are also building up capacity--I just hired a person to set that up--to make use of our data because we do have a lot of data available from the many projects that we fund, but we would like to make a little more use of this data, also in the approach that we can assess our own instruments. We need to bring in this data culture to find out which kind of data is important for us, which are data maybe

FUNDING AND PROJECTS FIGURES 2018

735

↑ projects submitted in 2018

260

↑ projects funded in 2018

35.37% ↑ overall project success rate

Source → FNR

38

A variety of things. We target several groups, in particular the younger generation, but not exclusively, and so of course we have the Science Festival and the Researchers’ Days, which are large science fairs we organise. We have an action called ‘Chercheurs à l’école’, where we send researchers out to high school classes, they interact with the students, tell them what it means to be a researcher, what they do in their daily life. For most of these students, it’s the first time in their life that they have an opportunity to interact with a researcher in flesh and blood. We manage the website science.lu, which is gaining increasing popularity, which is not just for young people, it’s for everyone. It’s bringing science in a popularised but still scientific way to the larger audience. We co-produce a popular science show, ‘Pisa’, with the Mr Science character which is actually an employee of FNR. As FNR, we can only do so much. It’s my belief that it’s actually the duty of each and every researcher to take part in that endeavour. I tell them it’s no longer the ivory tower, [researchers] have to reach out to the public. And we are under obligation to tell [the public] what it is that we are doing, why it should be worthwhile for taxpayers to invest in research.

So we organise training sessions for researchers as well on how to communicate, how to summarise a research topic in three minutes which is a challenge for most of them.

Then we target also the political decision makers because there we felt not many know enough about science [or] the competence, capacity and knowledge that has been built up over the past 20 years.

If you look back 20 years, there was not much here. Research was almost inexistent. In the meantime, we have really built Luxembourg as a research and innovation

FNR recently turned 20. What’s on your radar moving forward?

The greatest danger we are facing is that we stand still because we’re so happy by what we’ve achieved, that we rest on our laurels.

I think we should not fall into that trap. We need to constantly modernise our system because the societal transformations and digital transformations will fully impact the research system. We must make sure our research system remains agile. Sometimes I’m a little bit worried about too much bureaucracy, but we must make sure our institutions remain very agile. We must make sure that our research institutions--at the global level, as well--remain attractive places for young and bright talents, and that’s a challenge. There we have to work on providing the right culture, establishing a culture of more team-­orientation­within our research institutions. Our university and research centres are still very much [organised along] hierarchical structures, where you have a career ladder to climb up, and I fear the next generation will not accept this, they will not find this an attractive place to be.

39

Luxembourg investments, 2000-2018

The grand duchy’s public investments in public and private R&D (€m) Amount (€m)

0

% GDP

100

200

300

400

0.18%

0.35%

0.53%

0.7%

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 Source → FNR

One of your remits is to help anchor science within society and engage with citizens. Can you talk more about the work you’re doing in that regard?

hub with the FNR, with the research centres, with the university, the incubators, so there’s a whole ecosystem built up in, I should say, almost a record time, because 20 years is very short on the scale of academia, on the scale of universities…we have now, for the second time, organised the pairing scheme between members of parliament and researchers. We have been inspired by similar schemes that have been run for many years, in particular in the UK by the Royal Society. The idea is to form a pair with a member of parliament and a researcher, and they spend some time together. Ideally the researcher spends a day with the MP, seeing what he does in his daily life, what does the job of an MP consist of, and then the MP spends a day with the researcher in his institution, his laboratory, to find out what’s the daily job of a researcher. It has been very successful. What we have noticed is that many MPs actually became much more aware of the knowledge base which has been built up and they are very keen also to make more regular use of that because MPs are generalists, they have to deal with all kinds of topics, but some topics can be quite complex from a technical point of view, so being able to draw on the expertise that is present now in Luxembourg is something they find very enriching. So that we gradually also foster this culture of evidence-based policymaking, which I think is so important for the future--and that we have the university, the research ecosystem built up, is invaluable.

2016 2017 2018 0%

We have new competitors. There was a breakthrough that was announced in quantum computing. I think it’s emblematic this happened at Google. 50 years ago, this would probably have happened at a large international research centre like Cern… so we already see that some of the very bright scientists find it more interesting to do their research at a company like Google. It’s nothing bad per se, but we must be aware in our universities and public research centres that there are new kinds of competitors emerging.

The final challenge is about the data.

There’s a new paradigm emerging on data-­ driven science--you need the talents, but you need the data. And there again there are companies that have massive amounts of data [with] which they can probably do lovely science, so we must see that in our public research sector we also have access and can use the data, maybe a different type of data from public administration, because there are a lot of interesting research questions that can be solved with these data, starting from such topics of immediate relevance as mobility and the traffic situation which we face every morning. ×

Research & development

that we do not yet collect about our research projects which would be important to have. It’s really important for us in future to have more of an empirical assessment and means to [determine] if we reach our strategic goals by the instruments that we set in place... The difficulty arises mainly from the fact that research is a long-term endeavour. It’s not something where you have immediate, quantifiable results after 12 months. That’s not possible. Nevertheless, we are building up capacity to set up our own programmes and instruments a little more on evidence-based reasoning.

40

WINTER 2020

Money for good essay

Currencies

Critics blame modern capitalism for increasing inequalities and contributing to environmental destruction.

If only money could be a driver for good. words

Jess Bauldry

photos

Mike Zenari

Supporting local

Businesses are incentivised to spend beki to avoid losing the 5%, says Max Hilbert

hen PwC Luxembourg announced its customers would be able to pay for services in bitcoin starting October 2019, the response was electric. Cryptocurrencies make headlines because they are alternative and, for a small minority, they’ve proved a lucrative investment.

But according to some critics, this decentralised alternative to fiat money is not radical and it only continues to fuel a system of wealth creation largely built on the exploitation of resources, to the detriment of society and the environment.

That is something that Luxembourg social entrepreneur and business journalist Jean Lasar has set out to change.

“I think there’s a high level of underestimation of the role played by money.

It’s by money that we are led to adopt a fossil fuel-rich lifestyle, because that’s what’s offered on the market. It’s via your budget and the options you have that you are compelled to do something which happens to emit a lot of CO2,” he says.

Lasar saw that to wean us off our fossil fuel dependencies, an alternative currency needed to redefine value creation. What if wealth could be accumulated from carbon reduction activities instead of ­extracting natural resources?

Rewarding decarbonisation

In early 2020, Lasar will launch survcoin, a local cryptocurrency which rewards subscribers for decarbonising activities.

Survcoins will be pegged to non-emitted CO2, with a single survcoin worth 140g of non-emitted CO2, the average amount released over a one-kilometre car journey.

In the pilot phase, users will be able to earn survcoins when they commute using the free Vël’OK e-bikes found in eight towns in the south of the country. As people travel on the bikes, they earn survcoins on the wallet app being developed by Post subsidiary InTech. The survcoins can then be used in place of paid-for services in participating communes, for instance to pay for the disposal of an old tyre. The social entrepreneur explained that communes will be reimbursed through climate pact

200BC-50AD A barter system was complemented with Celtic coins made from gold, silver, potin and bronze.

50-500AD Roman coins were used in addition to barter.

500-1400 Coins were struck in Luxembourg and accepted alongside coins from other territories, but trade continued on a barter system due to the scarcity of coins.

1400-1700 Following the Burgundian conquest of Luxembourg, coinage was issued by foreign authorities such as the Duke of Burgundy and his heirs.

Gamification

It is not the first time gamification has been used in Luxembourg to boost sustainability. In 2018, corporate social responsibility champions IMS Luxembourg launched Positive Drive, a mobility game tracking commuter behaviour, the data from which could inform policy. Almost 8,000 commuters participated, motivated by the prospect of a prize draw. And transport body Verkéiersverbond has for several years ­organised a contest rewarding people who cycle to work or university over a given period of time. Lasar sees Luxembourg as a good test bed for his project. In addition to having relatively easy access to decision makers, Lasar views the country’s general prosperity as “rather a positive, even if there is this inertia, this clinging to one’s lifestyle, which can be an issue. People are becoming more and more aware,” he said.

Lasar stresses survcoin is not intended to replace the euro, but nor is it simply a “nice to have”. The entrepreneur sees it as one tool among many that could help “avoid the worst”. “Because I think that we underestimate the level of suffering that’s looming as a result of destruction. […] I think it’s heart-wrenching to think that we’re sleepwalking into this.”

A historical exception

Survcoin is far from being the country’s first alternative currency. Prior to the ­introduction of the euro in 1999, different currencies circulated in the grand duchy depending on the countries with which it did business. After WWI, Luxembourg communes issued emergency currencies after the German mark became worthless. Steel manufacture Arbed even paid ­employees in its own specially printed marks from November 1918. “It’s a historical exception that we have just one ­currency,” Max Hilbert, coordinator of the regional currency beki, told Delano. →

41

1795 The Austrian garrison issued a silver écu, the first coin issued in Luxembourg since 1644.

1800-1914 In 1847, the Luxembourg franc became accounting money. The German thaler was maintained. In 1856, the Banque Internationale à Luxembourg issued francs, Rhenish guilders, thalers and marks. The Banque Nationale followed in 1873, but went bankrupt soon after.

1914 The Luxembourg state issued notes for the first time.

1918 Several Luxembourg communes and steel company Arbed issued emergency money after the German mark became worthless.

1940 Following the German invasion, the Luxembourg and Belgian francs were abolished and replaced by the Reichsmark.

1980s The Luxembourg government printed a secret currency, the Luxembourg franc, in 5,000 and 10,000 denominations, in case the Belgian economy, whose money it used at the time, was devalued. Notes worth 50 billion in Luxembourg francs were printed but never circulated.

1 January 1999 The euro became Luxembourg’s official currency. The LUF continued to have legal tender status until 28 February 2002.

Currencies

W

MONEY TIMELINE

subsidies and grants, which are calculated based on their climate action scores.

“You can quantify their efforts based on the number of survcoins they take in,” the journalist said. In a later stage, Lasar plans to integrate other means of earning survcoins, like linking them to responsible food consumption and sustainable fashion, two elements which he sees as “critical” in terms of carbon footprint reduction.

“On the one hand, I want to convince people that something needs to be done and to use survcoin to achieve the goals,” the journalist said. “But survcoin is also a simulation for the tepid ones, who don’t care at all, using this mindset of greed, gamification, the idea there is something to be gained for free.”

Sources → MNHA → Spuerkeess Musée de la Banque → Jean-Claude Juncker

←

42

← Beki notes Not a digital wallet

WINTER 2020

The money was launched in the canton of Redange in 2013, on the initiative of the late Green mayor of Beckerich, Camille Gira. Hilbert became the project’s champion after interviewing for a PR job with the Green party back in 2010. He didn’t get that job, but his bachelors’ thesis, exploring how regional currencies can help people to understand how global monetary ­systems function, got Gira’s attention. Pegged on a one-to-one basis with the euro, beki notes are available in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 that can be withdrawn free of charge over the counter in a bank at ­advantageous rates--€100 is equivalent to 103 bekis at the point of withdrawal. The catch comes in changing the beki back into euros when beki bearers lose 5% of the value. “Businesses try to spend it as fast as possible to avoid having too much and losing 5%,” Hilbert explained, adding that a shop that has too much beki will be incentivised to spend it to avoid losing the 5%.

From sceptics to evangelists

Initially, the project was met with scepticism by locals. It did not help that the ­financial supervision authority CSSF issued a warning saying that people who use the beki do so at their own risk. Eventually, the government issued a statement saying it was “not illegal” but had to be restricted to a small area. “Only after more or less two years did businesses start saying that ‘this is going to last, people work with it’,” Hilbert recalled. Today, around 100 businesses ­accept

the beki, including the green electri­city supplier Eida, which in turn switched to a local insurer in order to spend its beki. “They need to be very creative to ­continue spending it,” the ­coordinator said. Data shows that the notes remain in circulation for an average six transactions ­before ­being changed back into euros. “It gets stuck at some point. It’s not perfect,” Hilbert said.

Measurable

He has limited information on how people spend their beki because many businesses record transactions as if they were made in euros. And it is tricky to measure performance in relation to the project’s strategic goals: supporting the local economy, increasing sustainability and social cohesion.

Anecdotally, the feedback is positive.

“One business said that it did not change their relationship with the customer but they did have better relations with suppliers that accept the beki because when they ‘speak with the supplier, they speak about values and the philosophy’,” Hilbert found. Another user told Hilbert that the beki enabled them to meet people they didn’t know before. “They have more ­human contact than they did with the euro.” While the mayor of Beckerich even sees it as a source of pride and local identity.

A place worth living

In addition to encouraging a chain ­reaction of local spending and r­ estoring

a sense of community, Hilbert views the beki as an important tool to raise awareness about how standard currency works in a capitalist system and how, left ­untapped, it has the power to break down communities. Hilbert explained the canton experienced this firsthand after the closure several ­decades ago of the mines in nearby Martelange and the cessation of trains transporting timber to the mines of the south. The subsequent depression drove people away from the area. Years later, the canton of Redange launched a series of ­initiatives, such as the beki, to create local jobs and commerce and “make it a place worth living in”. The beki notes serve as a physical reminder of this powerful message but they may soon be less visible.

Aware that the trend is shifting ­towards a cashless society and that it is onerous to go to a bank and withdraw cash, Hilbert is developing a digital version of the currency to ensure the beki’s long-term viability. He is also hopeful that other regions will follow suit. Some have sought out Hilbert’s advice, but none have yet to create a second regional money. “It’s strange. In Luxembourg we’re especially attached to the euro and this capitalist system,” he said. ×

A delightful winter season We thank you for your loyalty and wish you a bright 2020.

Leo, fournisseur d’énergie de la capitale Serviceline 8006-4848 • www.leoenergy.lu

44

reportage

Product testing

Don’t try this at home WINTER 2020 ↑ As one of the tests conducted at the Ilnas laboratory in Mamer, seen during Delano’s visit on 6 November, a weight is placed on a child’s toy to check its resistance

words

Jess Bauldry

photos

Mike Zenari

45

Product testing

Each year, hundreds of thousands of consumer products enter the Luxembourg market. Not all of them will meet EU safety norms, however.

The department for market surveillance within the Institut luxembourgeois de la normalisation, de l’accréditation, de la sécurité et qualité des produits et services, or Ilnas, is tasked with testing cross samples of products and sharing information about safety requirements with consumers, vendors, importers and manufacturers. From January 2019 to mid-November, the body flagged 24 products that did not comply with EU regulations with the European rapid alert system for dangerous non-food products. Of that number, 12 were slime toys, rejected because their boron levels exceeded permitted levels. “We always try to see which products are in fashion.

Last year, it was squishies,” says deputy department chief Luís Da Silva Arêde.

46

WINTER 2020 ↑ An engineer tests the resistance of the sequins on a child’s toy.

These also pose a choking hazard if detached

→ Access probes of various sizes are held in the electrical laboratory.

They are used to test how easily a finger can be pushed inside shafts or vents found on electrical appliances

47

Product testing

→ Engineers pay particular attention to toys which have elements that can be broken off and could choke a child

48

WINTER 2020 ↑ Even if toys carry an age advisory, anything with a cute, smiling face can still appeal to under threes and so special attention is paid to the safety of these toys

49

Product testing

↑ ↑ A range of toys that have been tested for safety are laid out on a table at the laboratory ↑ The stuffed toy fails the test as the nose is pulled away

↑ ↑ The machine pulls on the nose of the stuffed toy ↑ The small part fits inside the tube, signifying that it represents a choking hazard for small children

50

WINTER 2020

Data held hostage Cybersecurity

Ransomware appears to be receding in Luxembourg, but real risks remain. Who’s vulnerable, what are best practices to avoid getting hit, and what should you do if you’re attacked? words

Aaron Grunwald

photos

Mike Zenari

← Yoann Chevalier of Excellium Services

“the infection vector is quite the same.

You don’t see it immediately, and if you’re not aware of it, you can leave this back door open for six months and you will see it only if the attacker then deploys a ransomware” programme.

1

WHAT IS RANSOMWARE?

The more accurate description is “cryptoransomware” which “is a term for a malware type that blocks access to data on resources of the victim unless a ransom is paid,” states Pascal Steichen, CEO of Securitymadein.lu, a government-backed cybersecurity clearing house. “Cryptoransomware is not a new phenomenon. The first cryptoransomware was released in 1989, the ‘Aids Trojan’.” But it remained niche and not particularly lucrative.

That changed in 2013, with the rise in “anonymous payment methods like blockchain-based bitcoin,” says Steichen.

“Cryptoransomware became a lucrative and somehow safe model for attackers to demand money from victims.”

Ransomware attacks typically arrive as an email attachment that is initially not detected by an individual user, says Yoann Chevalier of Excellium Services, a computer security firm based in Contern.

“When he opens the attachment, nothing happens for them, but in the background, the attacker gets access to the machine.

Depending on the security in place in the company, the attacker can get remote access, steal credentials, then use it to connect remotely to different systems.”

While the range of malware apps differ,

OW DOES RANSOMWARE H SOFTWARE WORK?

“Typically ransomware will list all your files on your local computer, then begin to encrypt them with a secret key,” ­explains Chevalier. “It will, most of the time, ­exfiltrate this key to the attacker. This is the thing you will need to decipher your files.” Ransomware programmes “don’t only look for files on the local machine, but also all the connected devices,” such as USB storage keys and other machines on the same network, he says. Depending on “which type of malware, it may change the background to display an alert, it may add companion files in each directory or fill the desktop with the instructions. In this file, it explains that all [your] files have been ciphered and how to pay the ransom to get them back.”

Chevalier continues: “They focus on files that are important for users, so ­maybe documents, photos, videos, but for example, [the operating system or specific applications] are not impacted because they don’t care about it.”

“This is a very effective method to prevent a victim from accessing his data ever again without knowing the ­correct decryption key,” explains Steichen. ­“Assuming the implementation of the ­encryption process is done correctly--yes, sometimes also malware authors produce bugs in their code or don’t understand all elements correctly--there is no other way than using the private key generated by the attacker to decrypt the files.”

“Obviously, the attacker demands the payment of a certain amount of money in exchange for the cryptographic key,” says Steichen. “Usually, once the money is ­received, the victim receives a decryption tool containing the key to decrypt all the files back. There is, of course, no guarantee that the attacker delivers the key or decryption tool after payment.”

In addition, occasionally the malware programme does not correctly exfiltrate the cipher code, says Chevalier, “so even if you pay, you will never get your files back because the attacker doesn’t have the key.”

3

ANSOMWARE ATTACKS R IN LUXEMBOURG

Securitymadein.lu “dealt with around 200 documented cases throughout the last six years,” Steichen reports. Of course, those

4

THREAT ASSESSMENTS

“Organisations should take all types of ­cybercrime seriously, although ransomware isn’t quite as prevalent as before, there are still risks involved,” comments Jim Cox, regional director Benelux at Proofpoint, an American cybersecurity service provider. Globally, “finance, manufacturing, technology, healthcare and retail were the industries” that faced the highest “attack severity and risk” of email attacks, according to Cox. “The risk is real in Luxembourg as a digital nation,” says Jerome Jean, cybersecurity lead at NTT Luxembourg, an IT services outfit. “The more digital you are, the more connected you are, the more ­exposed you are.”

Indeed, Steichen does not think the issue of ransomware has been sensationalised by the media. “The threat is real and a serious risk, the outages are high, the time-to-recover can be large and the ransom payments substantial. Assessing what is at stake, this risk is to be considered massive.”

5

O SIZE AND D SECTOR MATTER?

“Until a company has suffered an attack, cybersecurity appears only as a cost and the management does not always see the benefits, so only the sectors under specific regulation are proactively taking care of it, like the financial sector is better prepared and staffed to handle these attacks,” notes Jean.

“It’s not more targeted between one sector and another, but not all sectors are prepared as others,” concurs Chevalier.

“For example, banks and insurance companies have good security maturity, so they’re not infected as much as others.”

On the other hand, industrial firms tend to be less prepared. So they’re not targeted more often, “but more impacted.”

The same goes for organisation size.

Hackers do not focus more on large groups or small outfits. Rather, “they target everyone,” reckons Chevalier. The potential ­consequences again come down to “the different security maturity of the company.”

Cox agrees: “While larger organisations may be attractive for their deep →

51

Cybersecurity

2

are only people and organisations that have asked his outfit for help. “Apart from that, it can be estimated that there is a ­certain amount of unreported cases.”

Excellium Services has seen ransomware infections drop drastically. “We had seven cases in 2015 and eight in 2016 in Luxembourg,” says Chevalier. Since then, none of the firm’s Luxembourg clients has faced an attack.

6

PREVENTION IS KEY

“The best measure you can take before an attack is functional backups, [stored] offline and tested,” says Chevalier. “We already faced [situations where] some ­clients had backups, but in the backup process there was a problem, so when we

tried to restore the backup, [all the files] were corrupted.” So regular restoration tests are vital.

He also reiterated several times during his interview that organisations should keep backups offline (and not synced in real time). This can limit the damage from a malware attack. “Some people may do backup on a remote server, but if the remote server is always connected, when ransomware cyphers all the files, it will also do it on the backup.”

Chevalier also recommends adding separation within company networks, ­“because if ransomware tries to infect other machines, if you have good network segregation, then it will limit the impact.” Next, install “security information and event management” software, which monitors activity on computer systems and issues alerts when it detects unusual situations. “Set up properly,” he says, “it will detect when ransomware is running” but before it has cyphered data. “You will have to quickly take action to block it, but it may reduce the impact if you detect the very beginning” of an attack. In addition, “have a good email policy, like ensure →

€

↑

AVOIDING RANSOMWARE Fennel Aurora, an advisor at F-Secure, a Finnish cybersecurity and privacy company, shared these 5 tips with Delano on how to help prevent attacks: 1 Keep your devices updated.

People often ignore software update reminders, but they are there to plug the latest security holes which have been found in the software. Until you have updated your software, you’re at risk.

2 Back up your devices and store them offline. This way, if ransomware hits, you have lost nothing.

You have the option of restoring from the backup, rather than being forced into a corner where you have to pay the ransom.

3 Make sure the security software you are using protects against all known ransomware threats and it can block zero-day threats.

4 Be extra careful with email attachments, especially “.zip” files and Office documents. Don’t open email attachments that are sent by someone you don’t know. Also, disable macro scripts from any Office files you receive via email.

5 Limit the use of browser plugins.

Disable commonly exploited plugins, such as Flash Player and Silverlight when you’re not using them. You can do this through your web browser under plugin settings.

Source → F-Secure

WINTER 2020

pockets, smaller companies may be more vulnerable due to relative lack of controls and awareness, both of which create lucrative potential outcomes for threat actors.”

Steichen says it is “not possible” to generalise about who faces the deepest threats. Many individuals “don’t have backups at all”, he says. “They would lose everything accessible on their computer in case of a successful attack. In professional environments, we have seen good and bad preparedness, regardless of the size of the company or structure.”

Increased connectivity is make the situation more complex. “The main risk can be [internet of things] devices, as their number is exploding, and there is virtually no security in place to ­protect in professional or personal usage,” ­observes Jean.

Photo → Clint Patterson/Unsplash

52

BUYERS AGENTS The best address to find yours…

LUCK HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT + 352 28 99 99 18 www.property-hunter.lu

that you block some types of files,” such as “.exe” files embedded inside “.zip” files that are a favourite attachment technique of ransomware attackers.

While raising awareness internally and training employees is important, “it will never be perfect,” says Chevalier. “The problem sometimes is it just needs one user to open the file to give the attacker a foothold in the company. So, yes, it helps, it will reduce the probability of occurrence, but yes, you can’t totally be sure that none of your employees will click” on an infected attachment.

54

IN CASE OF ATTACK If you have detected a ransomware attack in progress, Fennel Aurora of F-Secure says to take these 5 steps:

7

If it is your work device which has been hit, don’t switch it off.

Rather, disconnect it from all networks (this includes ethernet, wifi, bluetooth and mobile data networks). By turning it off, you will destroy evidence which the incident response team could use for finding out who the attackers are and what they have done.

1

2 Next, using pen and paper, write down everything that just happened.

8

Finally, contact your IT team and let them handle things from there.

3

We advise against paying ransoms.

4

5 If you don’t have backups, it is worth going online to see if there is a decryption tool available.

This site is a good start:

↳ id-ransomware.malwarehunterteam.com

FACING AN ATTACK

Chevalier states: “The easiest way to face ransomware attack is to have backups.

Even if all your files are not accessible ­anymore, if you have done your backup well, you can restore everything and you don’t have to pay.” That only works “if you secure backup offline and are not ­connected [at the time of the attack]. If ransomware encrypts your backup, it will be more complicated.”

Source → F-Secure

WINTER 2020

↑

FALLOUT

“Financial loss doesn’t start with the ­potential payment of a ransom. It starts at the moment data is no longer accessible,” notes Steichen. “The IT department has to identify the computers running the malware, identify the way of distribution, identify and fix security problems and ­vulnerabilities, and inform the other users of potential similar emails in the inbox.”

“A team will then check the availability--and consistency--of a recent ­backup and ideally be able to restore these ­backups. Under certain circumstances, for instance if discovered that large parts of the network are compromised since a long time, the entire infrastructure has to be rebuilt from scratch before restoring backups of data,” he notes.

“These are time-consuming tasks, while the company at the same time is perhaps not able to operate. The financial loss can be huge,” says Steichen, even if the demanded ransom itself is often a ­relatively small amount.

Several insurers provide coverage against computer attacks. The Cyber Pro policy, for example, reimburses the cost of restoring backed-up data, decrypting data that is being held hostage when that is possible, and business continuity costs, according to Frédéric Helias, product manager at Foyer Assurances. The insurer also has a 24/7 hotline with technical experts to support clients who are experiencing an attack. Helias adds: “It is important to note that the payment of a ransom is always excluded.”

9

HE RANSOM T (AND SHOULD YOU PAY IT?)

Chevalier says his firm does not pay ransoms on behalf of clients, so he cannot provide specific amounts. But, generally speaking, “it’s not too expensive because if it was too expensive, then nobody would pay and that’s not the goal of the attacker.

The attacker prefers a lower price, and if more people are impacted and even if a few people pay, it’s good for him.” Hackers may ask for several hundred dollars in bitcoin, for example.

Steichen says an “opportunistic ­attacker” will demand “less than €1,000”, which is not much for most companies, “however, for private people, it can be a lot.” But he warns that: “In more targeted cases, we saw significant ransom ­demands of €500,000 and €1,500,000.”

Most people do not stump up, says Chevalier. Firstly, “even if you pay, you’re not sure you will get your data back.”

Secondly, it could encourage the hacker to continue the extortion. “If you pay once, they will come back and [demand that] you pay again. We tell our clients not to pay.”

10

H OW CAN YOU BE SURE?

“As with everything in security, it’s impossible to be 100% sure you will never be hacked. You can add layers and layers of security, but as attackers [continue to innovate], you’re never sure to be fully secure,” says Chevalier. Much depends on your threat model, which is to say, who you’re protecting yourself against. Is it “kids in their bedroom launching a script they found online or a state [actor] with lots of money and lots of people who can develop attacks you didn’t know existed.

You have to adapt your security to your threat model. If you have limited resources, you have to choose and accept [risks].

That’s not specific to ransomware, but ­security in general.” ×

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The euro

Dough, dosh, spondulicks!

From fakes to minting abroad, Delano examines the money that makes our world go round. words

photo

Jess Bauldry Jan Hanrion/Maison Moderne

WINTER 2020

First coins The first money systems introduced in Luxembourg were Celtic coins from 200 BC.[1]

National money The Luxembourg state issued notes for the first time in 1914.[1]

Outsourcing In recent years, Luxembourg’s euro banknotes have been printed in France and Germany, while its coins were minted in the Netherlands.[2]

Minted The Central Bank of Luxembourg issued the equivalent of €42.4m worth of coins in 2018.[2]

Counterfeits 982 counterfeit notes were taken out of circulation in Luxembourg in 2018, down from 1,131 in 2017.[3] Flash the cash In 2018, cash was used in 64% of all payment transactions in Luxembourg.[4] Banknotes In 2018, Luxembourg’s central bank issued €106.4m worth of euro banknotes.[2]

Frequent fakes The €50 note is the most commonly seized counterfeit, accounting for 60% of fakes.[3]

Sources → 1. Musée National d’Histoire et d’Art → 2. Banque Centrale du Luxembourg → 3. Cabinet ministers Sam Tanson (Déi Gréng) and Pierre Gramegna (DP), responding to a parliamentary question in September 2019 → 4. The 2018 World Cash Report

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A C Q U I S I T I O N S I S A L E S I R E N T A L S I V A L U AT I O N S I I N S U R A N C E I R E A L E S T AT E C O N S U LT I N G

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special report

Personal finance & tax

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New year, new money resolutions 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

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It’s that time of year again: glühwein at the Christmas market, finalising complicated holiday travel plans, and cutting your tax bill. There has been no change to the tax breaks on offer since last year, but a recent agreement with the French authorities has put many frontaliers’ minds at rest.

Some of the ways you can reduce your tax base are eminently sensible, but some verge on the bizarre. Encouraging us to save for our retirement is logical, as few economists think Luxembourg’s state pension system is sustainable over the long term. It’s also not sustainable for us to carry on burning fossil fuel at current rates, so offering tax advantages for those who buy zero or low emission cars helps.

Encouraging people with children to return to work by helping them with child-minding/crèche bills boosts the economy and gives people more choice.

All non-resident workers had to rethink their tax arrangements last year following a Luxembourg tax reform. It mainly concerned married couples with one spouse working here. It involved a range of questions about which tax regime to choose, which tax class to take, which deductions to use and other such questions.

A redrafted tax treaty complicated matters for cross-border commuters living in France, but these problems were solved when a new treaty was signed on 10 October 2019. Without this, residents of France who work in Luxembourg → would have had to pay extra tax to

Being able to write off a household cleaner’s salary costs also looks odd.

Advocates point out that it encourages employers to declare this contract and pay the legally required social charges, to the benefit of the employee and the state. Yet if this is right, why not give a tax advantage for every law we don’t break?

Whether these moves are sensible public policy designed to encourage beneficial behaviour, or what a cynic might think are ways to curry electoral favour, taxpayers need to understand what is on offer.

Luxembourg’s personal income taxes are towards the high end of the spectrum in Europe, and there is the implicit expectation that we should take advantage of these policies when we can.

Unbelievable advantages

Subsidised saving

However, what is the justification for being able to write off the interest on personal loans? Yes, it helps the domestic

One of the least complicated ways to cut your tax bill is to subscribe to a particular type of pension plan, as defined in

Photo → Mike Zenari (archives)

1.

Are you paying too much tax?

economy when we borrow to buy a new car, sofa or kitchen from a local supplier, but there are easier ways to stimulate demand. Offering tax advantages to people who get married or form a civil partnership, and then also allowing alimony to be written off has a certain internal logic.

paragraph “111 bis” of the tax code.

Your bank and insurance company can talk you through the options, with annual payments of between €1,500 and €3,200 leading to a reduced tax base.

The nearer you are to retirement, the more you can invest. These products are practical for expats who do not intend to spend a long time working in Luxembourg, as these savings can be tapped from wherever you end up retiring.

They are accessible from 60 years of age onwards, as a lump sum, as a life annuity that pays out a regular pension, or as a mix of both solutions.

Aude-Marie Breden Senior manager personal tax Mazars

“ Nothing will change for French workers."

59

Personal finance & tax

As the calendar turns over, it’s a good time to reflect on your financial future and put your plans into gear. For example, knowing your personality type can help your investment strategy. Being prepared and blocking off sufficient time will help score that fab flat rental. There are also generous state schemes to help you save to buy your own home and to undertake energy efficiency renovations, as Delano details in this report. But we start with an overview of the deductions that can cut down your tax bill.

WINTER 2020

“This is quite a technical solution, but it means that nothing will change for French workers in their home country,” commented Aude-Marie Breden, senior manager personal tax of the consultancy Mazars. “The impact of this new method is the same as the historic method of exemption.” words

Stephen Evans

2.

Know thyself... and build a strong investment strategy You are biased. We all are. Whether this is due to our nature or how we were nurtured, we tend to interpret the world in a certain way. These biases can help or hinder us when making savings and investment choices. Knowing our strengths and weaknesses can help us see more clearly.

Conscientiousness

Openness

People who tend to be “open” tend to be adventurous, creative, agile investors, who are able to take the rough with the smooth as they pursue long term financial rewards. However, taken to the extreme this can tip into impulsivity, meaning that highly open people can find it hard to stick to the goals and strategy they have set themselves.

Common ways to cut your tax bill (documentation required).

Mortgage interest

€1,000 €2,000

Extroversion

per person

Energetic, assertive extroverts often self-generate positive emotions, which gives them a can-do attitude. Being sociable means they are more open to hearing good investment ideas. This trait needs to be controlled if it is not to become a tendency for overconfidence and impulsiveness.

Debt interest and Insurance

€672 per person

Personal pension up to

Agreeableness

People who measure high on agreeableness tend to favour responsible investing or ESG financial products, backing young or startup entrepreneurs, and seeking philanthropic options.

They might be willing to sacrifice financial return for social and economic impact.

Taken to excess, though, this trait could morph into gullibility for attractive sounding schemes. Conversely, those →

€3,200 Home savings scheme

€672 €1,344

per person (conditions/restrictions apply) Childcare/housekeeping

Openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism (and their opposites) are the five basic personality traits that some psychologists use to build a picture of people’s characters.

Using personality tests (use the link listed on the next page to take a free one) we can see where we sit on the spectrum for each of these five.

Our character influences our behaviour as investors, crucially regarding our attitude to the trade-off between risk and reward, and our willingness to build a strategy and stick to it long term.

The golden rule for everyone is start saving and investing early, and regularly.

Beyond that, finding a strategy that suits your personality is the key to maximising peace of mind as well as return.

MAXIMUM DEDUCTIONS/ TAX CREDITS

Highly conscientious people are more likely to be self-disciplined regarding financial routines, setting clear goals and a strategy, then sticking to this.

Some are perfectionists who have a keen eye for detail and a desire for deep understanding before making a decision.

However, over perfectionism can mean wasting time reworking less important details.

€5,400 Children not at home

Laurent Simeoni Head of portfolio management services ING Luxembourg

↓

“ Our job as advisors is to listen to client concerns.”

€4,020 per child

Single parent tax credit up to

€1,500 Eco transport bicycle: up to

€300 car: up to

€5,000 Alimony up to

€24,000

Source → Analie Tax & Consulting, Mazars

the French authorities. According to the new text, Luxembourg income will be taxed in France, but with a tax credit granted equivalent to the French tax.

Photo → ING Luxembourg

60

Asset Management Wealth Management Asset Services

Pictet & Cie (Europe) SA 15 Avenue John F. Kennedy 1855 Luxembourg +352 46 71 71 1 group.pictet

Loving parents leave their wealth to grateful children.

If only it were that simple.

WINTER 2020

low on agreeableness might tend to be fully focused on maximising their financial earnings.

visits, ask a friend to visit the properties for you.” But “if you still feel lost, call a real estate professional”.

Neuroticism

Get organised

The fundamental rule of investing is to set a balanced strategy based on one’s means, and stick to this over the long term.

But for highly neurotic people watching the value of a portfolio fluctuate can provoke stress and anxiety, and maybe the premature abandonment of plans.

The flip side is a willingness to be vigilant and to make solid arrangements.

“The worry of managing substantial wealth built over the years can become somewhat neurotic,” said Laurent Simeoni, head of portfolio management services at ING. Maybe also being high on the neuroticism scale helps entrepreneurs create wealth, given that their nature drives them to be attentive to detail.

Whether or not the renter is already living in Luxembourg, “finding the perfect location, at the right price and as fast as possible, requires some good organisation skills”. Saadi shares four tips. First, “create email alerts” to save time. Next, download real estate apps. “Getting push notifications wherever you are will make your life easier.”

“Our job as advisors is to listen to client concerns, and then build strategies around these. By being transparent and professional we help to put their minds at ease,” he added. However, this doesn’t prevent certain activist clients from wanting substantial, frequent input.

There are no clear-cut answers that suit every personality, and every mood. × ↳ projects.fivethirtyeight.com/personality-quiz/ words

Stephen Evans

3.

Finding a fab flat So you want to rent an apartment or house in the grand duchy? Be prepared and be ready to act, advises Soufiane Saadi, group operations director with Athome, one of the country’s largest real estate listings sites. “The Luxembourg market is quite saturated. The demand is high while the offer is quite low,” he reckons. “It’s very important to search actively, monitor the market each day and be reactive.”

“The first thing you need to do, before you start looking for a rental, is to find the neighbourhood that suits you,” says Saadi.

Check out the “schools, transport facilities, shops, restaurants, etc” in several potential areas. That, in turn, will help narrow down criteria for an online search.

For expats not here yet, “the trick is to take a day or two in Luxembourg and schedule a maximum of visits during your stay,” advises Saadi. “If you can’t come for the

Third, “be reactive. Call directly after receiving an alert. Being first can make a big difference [in securing a property].

The Luxembourgish market is boiling [hot], some properties are rented in a few days after being published.” Finally, it’s a landlord’s market, so “be available for the visits. During a lunch break or at the end of the day, or even for half a day, you must be available to make appointments with real estate agencies and make visits.”

At the same time, get your paperwork ready to go. Rental applications “must contain a copy of your identity card or passport, [proof of] your income [such as pay slips] and bank account details.

Please note that the landlord has no right to ask for any documents related to your privacy, such as a marriage certificate, social insurance card, bank statements, etc,” states Saadi. “To speed up the process, prepare all these documents upfront.”

Rental contracts

There are “two main elements to look at carefully” when reviewing rental contracts, suggests Saadi. The first is the deposit.

Although it is “not legally required, there is a very good chance that the landlord will ask you to pay a deposit,” to cover any missed rental payments or damage to the property. “Luxembourg law imposes a limit in the matter though: the owner cannot ask [for] a deposit equivalent to more than three months of rent. Pay attention, it can be an important amount, as it’s added to the first month’s rent.”

The second is “the duration of the lease agreement,” he says. “The parties are free to set the duration of the contract: fixed or indefinite. If no duration is clearly written in the contract or if it has been only agreed orally, it will be considered as an indefinite duration contract. A fixed-term contract will be renewed automatically, if neither party terminates the agreement.”

“The terms of lease cancellation vary depending on which party wants to

→

WHAT INVESTOR TYPE ARE YOU? The “big five” personality traits and their influence on investment strategies.

Openness ↑ High: creative, like challenges ↓ Low: dislike change, low imagination If high: a more relaxed attitude to risk, but with a propensity to change strategy Conscientiousness ↑ High: well prepared, detail focussed ↓ Low: procrastination, ignore deadlines If high: a willingness to set and maintain appropriate plans can lapse into excessive nit-picking Extroversion ↑ High: energetic, gregarious ↓ Low: prefer one’s own company If high: a positive attitude to investing might spill over into impulsive investing Agreeableness ↑ High: empathetic, dependable ↓ Low: self-centred If high: a likelihood to support ESG, startups and charities could be exploited by the unscrupulous Neuroticism ↑ High: anxiety, mood swings ↓ Low: low worry, low stress If high: excessive worry can cause the premature abandonment of strategies, but also determination to put solid plans in place

Source → Delano research

62

Ministry of the Economy

64

Average rents Tenants should be prepared to pay more than €2,000 a month for a flat or €3,500 for a house in the Centre region. Rents are roughly 40% lower in the North region. Figures are based on 18,300 real estate listings published on Athome.lu between October 2018 and September 2019.

€4,000 €3,500 €3,000

WINTER 2020

€2,500

€1,500 €1,000 €500 0 Centre

Apartment

House

terminate. In fact, the landlord will only be able to end the contract in very particular circumstances, while the tenant termination options are much more flexible.” He adds: “Very often, the lease contains a diplomatic clause that allows the tenant, exceptionally, in case of transfer abroad for professional reasons, to terminate the lease in less restrictive conditions.”

Photo → LaLa La Photo

Saadi has one final observation: the Centre region is the most expensive (see above

Soufiane Saadi Group operations director Athome

↓

“ Be available for the visits.”

North

chart), but “it’s also the region offering most of the properties to rent; 52% of all [rental properties in the country] are in Luxembourg City!” × ↳ www.athome.lu words

Aaron Grunwald

4.

Scheme to save for a home Future homeowners can write off thousands of euros from their tax bill using a special scheme, called the home purchase savings plan, with the funds becoming available to purchase and rehabilitate a property.

“The purpose of a home purchase savings plan is to enable a subscriber to receive a loan on favourable terms for the financing of their personal home, in exchange for the payment of contributions,” according to the government’s Guichet.lu information portal. “Their purpose is the financing [of] a main residence.”

Several rules and conditions apply. Firstly, savers need to sign a ten-year contract fixing the amount they will contribute to the plan each month. If the account is closed before the ten years is up, or if the savings are spent on unauthorised expenses, in most cases* “the contributions

South

East

West

lose their deductible character and a corrective tax to the disadvantage” of the taxpayer is imposed, says Guichet.lu.

“This corrective taxation is applied” retrospectively to all previous tax years that the saver wrote off the plan.

There are only three financial institutions in Luxembourg authorised to offer the home savings scheme (see box on page 66). However, many retail lenders resell the product to their clients, including the BCEE state savings bank, Banque Internationale à Luxembourg, BGL BNP Paribas, ING and Banque Raiffeisen.

“This product combines a saving scheme for the first period of the contract and a fixed interest rate loan defined at the time of the signature of the contract,” states Markus Stegmann, commercial director credits, retail banking, BGL BNP Paribas, which resells the Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall plan. “The client has a long-term visibility on his future home project combined with an interesting fiscal advantage.”

Allowed expenditures

“The home savings scheme is used to build up capital that can be used to buy, build or renovate a house or flat you live in or are going to live in,” a spokeswoman for Banque Raiffeisen, which also resells Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall accounts, told Delano. In addition, the savings can be used to purchase land to build a home, → refinance a personal home loan and

*Punitive taxation does not apply in cases of death and permanent disability

Nationally

Source → Athome, October 2019 report

€2,000

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for home repairs, such as fixing the roof, windows, bathroom and heating system, per Guichet.lu. Some expenses, such as kitchen refreshes, do not qualify.

WINTER 2020

Bankers say the home savings scheme is popular with their customers. “Our clients see this product as an interesting fiscal optimisation tool to invest in future home projects,” says Stegmann. He reckons the scheme is a good option for two different types of savers. “The first target is clients who want to start saving for their future home. They benefit today from an interesting saving interest rate and a predetermined fixed interest rate. It’s a safe alternative for a regular saving account as long as the client can benefit from the fiscal advantages,” he notes. “The second group are those who are requesting a home loan today from their bank.

The bank can structure the home loan by embedding a home-saving scheme in their contract in order to benefit from further fiscal advantages.”

How much can you save?

“The deposits made on this account can be deducted from taxable income up to a maximum threshold,” according to the Banque Raiffeisen spokeswoman.

Taxpayers aged 18 to 41 can write off €1,344; the figure is €672 for those 42

Photo → BGL BNP Paribas

66

Markus Stegmann Commercial director BGL BNP Paribas

↓

“ It’s a safe alternative for a regular saving account.”

and older, explains Guichet.lu. The same amount can be deducted for “jointly taxable spouses or partners” and “each child for which the taxpayer obtains a tax reduction for children.” Taxpayers should list the amount in the special expenses (dépenses spéciales or DS) section on their annual tax declarations. There are other requirements, so check with a financial professional to be sure that you understand how the scheme works. × words

Aaron Grunwald

HOME PURCHASE SAVINGS PLANS Contributions to and interest income from 3 authorised home savings schemes can be tax deductible.

Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall 46 60 40 luxemburg@schwaebisch-hall.de ↳ www.schwaebisch-hall.de

BHW Bausparkasse 44 88 44-1 bhw@pt.lu ↳ www.bhw.lu

5.

Help with home renovation Most homeowners want to reduce their carbon footprint, to help the environment and to cut their energy bills. Luxembourg has national and local subsidies to help make it happen. Homeowners ought to find out how much support is on offer, which “quite often is an interesting amount,” says Gilbert Théato, director of Myenergy, a state-supported public information agency.

Myenergy is chartered with explaining how the various subsidy schemes work to both private individuals and construction industry professionals. While the outfit provides information about the programmes and processes, as an impartial body, it does not recommend specific firms or prepare aid applications itself.

In October, Myenergy released its “Myrenovation” app, which consolidates national and local subsidy data, and walks users through the entire process.

The first step is to run a simulation. It only took Delano a few minutes to run the calculations for several potential projects (see chart on page 68).

Take, for instance, insulating exterior walls. Users enter the surface area, one of four insulation depths (thicker is more expensive, but saves more energy), if they want to use ecologically sensitive materials (they’re notably pricier, but qualify for much higher subsidies) and, importantly, their municipality. That’s because many (but not all) town halls kick in additional aid and the amounts vary widely.

One example

To insulate 240 square meters of exterior walls (the default value on the app) using “standard II” materials (with standard I V →

Wüstenrot Bausparkasse 44 34 44-1 info@wuestenrot.lu ↳ www.wuestenrot.lu

TAX BREAKS EXPLAINED The home purchase savings scheme is explained in detail on the Luxembourg government’s information portal. Go to guichet. public.lu/en, click on “Citizens”, then “Housing”, then “Purchasing a home”, then “Indirect financial aid (tax benefits)” and finally on “Deducting home purchase savings contributions”. Other financial incentives are described in the “Purchasing a home” section.

ACCOUNT TYPES Home purchase savings plans are not the same thing as the type of savings accounts called “plans d’épargne-logement” (PEL) that are offered in other European countries. PEL savings are not tax deductible in Luxembourg.

So check with a local institution.

STANDS

CONFERENCES

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68

Surface area

Prime House (national scheme)

Luxembourg City

Hesperange

Larochette

Niederanven

Schifflange

Stadtbredimus

Strassen

Exterior wall insulation (standard material)

240m2

€7,200

€7,200

€7,200

€7,920

€7,200

€10,800

€12,600

€7,200

Exterior wall insulation (eco bonus)

240m2

€16,800

€16,800

€16,800

€17,800

€16,800

€25,200

€29,400

€16,800

Attic floor insulation (standard material)

95m2

€2,565

€2,565

€2,565

€2,821.50

€2,565

€3,847.50

€4,488.75

€2,565

Attic floor insulation (eco bonus)

95m2

€6,365

€6,365

€6,365

€7,001.50

€6,365

€9,547.50

€11,138.75

€6,365

Windows

20m2

€960

€960

€960

€1,060

€960

€1,440

€1,680

€960

Comfort ventilation system

150m2

€6,000

€6,000

€6,000

€6,000

€6,000

€6,000

€10,500

€7,800

being the cheapest and standard I the most expensive), for either a single family home or apartment building, the environment ministry’s “Prime House” scheme covers up to 50% of eligible costs (that is, materials and installation).

That comes out to €7,200 in potential aid.

Adding municipal grants brings the figure up to €7,920 in Larochette, €10,800 in Schifflange and €12,600 in Stadtbredimus.

Using ecological materials, the figures rise to €16,800 nationally, €17,800 in Larochette, €25,200 in Schifflange and €29,400 in Stadtbredimus. However, there are no local top-up subsidies in Luxembourg City, Hesperange and Strassen communes.

The app can simulate subsidies for other energy efficiency work, such as attic floor and interior wall insulation, as well as the installation of renewable energy kit including pellet or woodchip heating, geothermal and solar heating, and photovoltaic electricity systems. Generally speaking, the aid amounts are the same for both single family homes and apartment buildings. “Our main goal,” states Théato, is “that users of the app are surprised by the amount of this [aid] and interested in going further.”

Important steps

The next step is to book a consultation with an authorised advisor, who will

officially calculate project expenses and expected energy savings. This will cost single family homeowners €1,500-€2,200, with up to €1,000 reimbursable through subsidy schemes in certain cases.

Homeowners then need to secure estimates from several craftsmen before applying for an “agreement in principle” from the environment ministry, which the advisor helps submit. Both steps are required, in advance, in order to qualify for the subsidies, stresses Théato.

How long does the process take? Like all renovations, that pretty much depends on the contractors. But Théato states that authorities have “got very quick” in handling applications and payments.

Assuming the paperwork is done correctly, it can take about 3-4 weeks to receive the agreement in principle, which lets the renovation work start, and about 3-4 weeks to receive reimbursement after the final paperwork is filed. Low interest loans up to €100,000 are also available via another state scheme. ×

Photo → Myenergy

WINTER 2020

Building renovations

Source → Myrenovation app simulations conducted by Delano on 19 November 2019

Sample simulations Rough estimations of energy efficiency subsidies available from the environment ministry and selected local councils.

Gilbert Théato Director Myenergy

↓

myenergy words

Aaron Grunwald

“ Quite often an interesting amount.”

sharing

inspiration 1,100 members compani   es

Luxembourg’s leading business club with over 250 events a year to boost your business. club.paperjam.lu

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INVESTED IN WEALTH MANAGEMENT

WINTER 2020

Gaëlle Haag worked in wealth and asset management for global management consultants McKinsey & Company and then for KBL European Private Bankers from 2012 to 2018. She has a master’s in finance from the Université Libre de Bruxelles and a master’s in business engineering, advanced management and finance from Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management.

interview

Personal finance

The new women’s BFF Luxembourg has one of the smallest gender pay gaps in Europe. But Gaëlle Haag says women are less prepared when it comes to taking care of their longterm future, which could leave them vulnerable later in life. words photo

Jess Bauldry Mike Zenari

V

arious studies have emerged showing women would rather talk about sex[1], death[2], anything than money. “It shows what a taboo it is,” Gaëlle Haag, CEO of the women’s investing platform Startalers told Delano. The mother-of-two saw there was a lack of awareness and urgency to act among her female peers when it came to making financial investments for their own futures. This short-sightedness proves critical in old age when women are most at risk of becoming financially disadvantaged.

The barriers, she learned, were lack of confidence, knowledge and trust in what has traditionally been a male-dominated arena. Even Haag, who forged her career in wealth management, didn’t trust the

industry to make investments in her best interests. “Also, women were much more interested in where the money would go than the average male investor.” This highlighted an even bigger need to advise women on investments which are both socially and environmentally sustainable.

“I t hought this was something I could really do something about, thanks to my background and experience,” the entrepreneur explained.

In January 2018, Haag quit her full-time job in wealth management to join forces with Thierry Smets and start Startalers, a women’s best financial friend (BFF) offering a financial education, and sustainable investing platform aimed at female investors. On 8 March 2019, International Women’s Day, they launched Donna, the startup’s first wealth management education chatbot. And, in November, Startalers raised €520,000 in a first funding round led by the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

The funding will help ensure the launch of its goal-based financial planning tool, expected in Luxembourg, Belgium and France in September 2020.

The project is moving fast. In January 2020, Startalers welcomes its first employee, a CTO, with a second expected shortly afterwards. And, perhaps most importantly, through the workshops Startalers has hosted with wannabe women investors, she sees the first signs they are overcoming the stigma of talking about money. Haag said: “They welcome the setup of these workshops where they can talk openly about money and the impact on their future lifestyle.” ×

Sources → [1] Capital Group 2018 → [2] Merrill Lynch, “Women and financial wellness: Beyond the bottom line”

↳ www.startalers.com

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WINTER 2020 interview

Outlook

Hanging over Europe Daniel Eischen, chair of the British Chamber of Commerce for Luxembourg, talks about Brexit and environmental awareness, as Delano Live looks back at 2019 and ahead to 2020. words

D

aniel Eischen admits “nobody else outside of this room would care” but “I’ve been involved with the British chamber for 20 years, I’ve been on the council for 10 years, so it’s a very big honour” to have been appointed chair in April 2019. Eischen, a native Luxembourger, is chuffed to have been selected in the midst of ­Brexit. He reckons the business group “is ready” for the future, be it “post-Brexit or post-not-Brexit or post-remain or exit, whatever will happen”.

Their first reaction to the vote was to ask “what role could we play?”. But ­Eischen­ says, “very quickly we saw that it was just beyond whatever we could do,” since the group could not predict the future. So the chamber has not set about offering advice, but rather focuses on “creating platforms

Aaron Grunwald

photo

Mike Zenari

where people exchange [and] trying to get people in the know to speak”.

But the lack of clarity has been frustrating. “We had our first ‘post-Brexit’ event on 7 November,” Eischen recalls. “We thought it would already be over [by then].

We thought in November, we would know where we are. And we still don’t know where we are... so it’s a little bit discouraging.”

Eischen expects Brexit will remain a dominant issue in 2020. “It was supposed to be delivered. It hasn’t been delivered. So it’s hanging over everybody living in Europe, everybody doing business, all our friends.”

The key problem is that while the Brexit date has been pushed back, “the transition period still ends on the 31st of December” 2020. Instead of the original 20 months to

negotiate a new EU-UK relationship, “now it’s going to just be 10 months. People just think that it’s important to get Brexit delivered, but what they don’t see is the more they push this [back], the more catastrophic it’s going to be, because they will have to renegotiate” to get the transition period extended, in order to have sufficient time for future trade talks.

The Greta movement

“If I look back at 2019, a very polarising thing is the famous Greta [Thunberg] and the environment.” Eischen is hopeful the teenage Swedish activist and the Youth for Climate demonstrations she inspired represent “a generational movement”.

While he is not 100% sure, “I’m more positive than my two sons [who are both in

← Daniel Eischen of the British Chamber of Commerce for Luxembourg

Employment trends for 2020 and beyond How is new technology being utilised for recruitment? What trends will affect the future of the workplace? That was the topic during November’s Delano Live event. Delano’s Duncan Roberts spoke with Géraldine Hassler of KPMG and Darren Robinson of Anderson Wise. More pictures online. ↳ www.delano.lu

Stephan Lego and Bintou Diané 2 Marianne van den Eerenbeemt and Arno Tijink 3 Guillaume Hernoux, Marcela Hernoux Santos and Stéphane Compain 4 Karen Wauters listens to the panel 5 Delano’s Duncan Roberts, Géraldine Hassler of KPMG and Darren Robinson of Anderson Wise 6 Laura Priolo and Edwin Borgatti 1

2

3

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Small acts add up

Environmental change takes real effort, he stresses. “It’s not enough to just have a positive attitude, you need to do it every day. And it’s complicated.” For example, ­Eischen recently bought a hybrid car, which he does not tout as a revolutionary move. “You think just by taking the decision that you’re going to buy a hybrid car, you save the world? No.” Plus, the car has turned out to be less practical than he had expected. It has limited non-fuel range and charging its batteries could be more convenient. “It’s like when you have kids, you need to get organised with your agenda.”

Nevertheless, small gestures do add up and Eischen thinks Luxembourg should strive to set a good example. “It’s part of our nation branding, it’s part of our identity. Even if we’re a small country, we should show that we can be engaged, committed, that we can do something.” Even if it has limited impact on a global scale, the country needs to show “we still believe that it’s the right way to do it”. × ↳ www.bcc.lu

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COMING UP Delano Live

Delano Breakfast Talk

Delano Live, organised by the Paperjam Club and sponsored by ING, features live on-stage interviews with people and on topics covered by Delano magazine, but with a fresh perspective. That’s followed by an open bar and a bit of networking.

Join our next expert roundtable:

Next event: Tuesday 10 March, 18:30 Knokke Out, Rives de Clausen

Friday 31 January, 08:15 To be announced ↳ club.paperjam.lu

Win tickets for the Delano Live: ↳ www.delano.lu/agenda

73

Delano events

their early 20s]. For me, it’s a very positive thing to see that the environment question seems to have a new ‘ambassador group’ which are young people. I think it’s good that, through what they do, journalists and media have thought it was an interesting topic and gave space and time to talk about it.”

As a business leader, environmental issues are “really important and for me clearly something that we should push.

Because we know that it’s important for our lives, it’s important for our businesses, but it’s also important for HR, for the next generation of people that you want to hire.

They’re really interested in the planet.”

“But I just hope that it’s going to be something solid… that it’s going to influence somehow the way people think over the years to come, not only 12 months or 24 months.” He is concerned that today’s younger generation could become discouraged when they see that progress is inevitably slow going.

DELANO LIVE

1

Agenda

WINTER 2020

University of Luxembourg

Paperjam Club

Tinder psychology

Coworking workshop

Presentation of academic research concluding that the Tinder app “should not be considered a mere ‘hook-up’ tool”.

Alain Meyer of Tétris Design & Build discusses the pros and cons of using shared office space and “hot desking” within companies.

Thursday 19 December, 17:00-18:00 Belval campus, Maison du Savoir

Thursday 23 January, 09:30-12:45 Chamber of Employees, Bonnevoie ↳ club.paperjam.lu

↳ www.uni.lu

Speech skills

Tuesday 24 December, Monday 6 January, Wednesday 15 January, Tuesday 21 January Check website for locations ↳ www.d59_division_d.tmclub.eu

Tuesday 11 February ↳ events.alfi.lu Maison Moderne & RTL

Media Awards 2020 The company that publishes Delano & Paperjam and Luxembourg’s biggest broadcaster honour the best advertising campaigns from the past two years.

Wednesday 5 February, 18:00 Media Awards ↳ paperjam.lu/club/event/ 2020-02-05-media-awards-2020

New Year reception John Marshall, the UK ambassador to Luxembourg, hosts the annual members New York cocktail.

Restricted to members and space is limited.

Wednesday 22 January, 18:30

Joint briefing

BNP Paribas Securities Services Luxembourg

Victor Hugo Hall

British Chamber of Commerce

Alfi & Ilsa

The Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry and the International Securities Lending Association hold a members-only session on “Securities lending & collateral management for the Luxembourg fund industry”.

Toastmasters

Casemates Club, Green Heart Club, Bossuet Gaveliers and Pitch Craft for Entrepreneurs hold public speaking practice twice a month. No need to be a native English speaker.

Here is a selection of 10 upcoming business, informational and networking events for Luxembourg’s international community

City of Esch-Alzette

Café des langues Practice a new language with a group of four or five other learners. Free, but register in advance.

Luxembourg-Poland Chamber of Commerce

Monthly meetup

SES

GovSatCom 2020 Organised by SES and partners, this is one of the main confabs for defence and security communications held in the EU. Speakers include Sasha Baillie of Luxinnovation.

Network with Poles in Luxembourg, who are active in fintech, logistics, space and other sectors. The official language of the LPCC is English.

Thursday 27 February, 18:00 The Office, Luxembourg-Belair ↳ www.lpcc.lu

Thursday 20 February European Convention Centre ↳ www.govsatcom.lu Level2 Hackerspace

Open Tuesday “This is a place where people interested in computers, science and technologies can hang out together, tinker with technology, hack on projects, socialize, and collaborate.”

Wednesday 15 January, 19:00-20:30 Kulturfabrik, Esch-Alzette egalitedeschances@villeesch.lu

British embassy residence ↳ www.bcc.lu

Find more events Check Delano’s digital agenda for the latest happenings: ↳ www.delano.lu/agenda

Tuesday 3 March, 20:00 Syn2cat, Bonnevoie Syn2cat asbl

Photos → Yogas Design/Unsplash → Mike Zenari → Maison Moderne → Maison Moderne → Adeolu Eletu/Unsplash → Matic Zorman → Nicolas Thomas/Unsplash

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IN F O & T I C K E T S o n AT E L I E R . LU

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WINDSOR WINDSOR

The Source A guide to culture and lifestyle

78 Interview

Connecting through art Mudam director Suzanne Cotter on reaching beyond the museum’s walls and building a relatable collection

86 Special feature

94 Kids page

Home-made Twisted cheer fairy tale Recipes for sloe gin, limoncello and ginger liqueur for the winter season

An update of the Rapunzel story, plus other events for children

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interview

Museums

WINTER 2020

Connecting through art words photo

Duncan Roberts Mike Zenari

W

hen she arrived in Luxembourg, Suzanne Cotter said she was made aware of the fact that Mudam was viewed as being for the elite. As someone who firmly believes in the place of museums, this presented a challenge. “I think the museum has a role to play in making it possible for art to be part of people’s everyday lives. That goes contrary to the persistent perception of the museum as a place like a gated community, where only certain elites can cross the threshold.” Having connections all around the world, Cotter says that the museums have achieved a lot in breaking down barriers and becoming more accessible, citing the Tate Modern’s iconic Turbine Hall as an example. “We have to shift this around so people think of the museum as part of the landscape, of the city and natural circuit, like going to the bakery or to the market to get your fruit and vegetables.”

Meeting the challenge is a long haul, Cotter admits. She admired the initiative launched just before her arrival to create what she calls a “free zone” at Mudam, so that visitors can enter the central hall

Just shy of two years since she took charge of the Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Australian director Suzanne Cotter is embracing the challenges she says face Mudam. She speaks about making the museum part of the everyday landscape and creating a collection that speaks to people.

and view the exhibit there and also go to the Mudam café without paying an entrance fee. Installing sculptures in the Dräi Eechelen park that surrounds Mudam last summer was also welcomed positively. Cotter sees this as a way of animating public space through art that draws people back to the museum. “We wanted to draw attention to the fact that Mudam has a reach that goes beyond its walls.

The museum is a platform for visibility, but it is not defined by the architecture itself.” The “Fresh Window” walking itinerary that saw store owners from the Gare neighbourhood all the way up to the historic centre display a work of art from the Mudam collection in their shop was also a success. “It helped us to think outwards and go into the community. We had huge positive feedback… people felt it created a real dynamic in the city.”

Diversity of offer

That doesn’t mean the museum is compromising on the quality of its exhibitions. It still needs to attract art connoisseurs and to retain its artistic reputation. “One of

the things we’re thinking about is the diversity of offer,” says Cotter. She cites the current exhibition by Albanian artist Anri Sala, with their large space installations that combine the visual with the musical.

“It’s very immersive. He’s a very contemporary artist, but the medium he uses are, I think, very accessible… and participative in a way. Then, we have a more scholarly exhibition with David Wojnarowicz, ‘History Keeps Me Awake at Night’, which is proving to be tremendously popular due to the nature of the work and of the artist.

It’s about thinking about what resonates with people in different ways. I think both these exhibitions have the potential to touch both an advised audience and one who doesn’t necessarily know much about art at all.” The fact that culture, through digital technology and social media, has become very visual has been a great help in attracting different audiences, and especially the younger generation, Cotter reckons. “People curate their social media pages. I think people are much more engaged with the visual now, but also with the experiential.” →

↑ Suzanne Cotter Director, Mudam

79

Museums

“ We wanted to draw attention to the fact that Mudam has a reach that goes beyond its walls.”

identifying strands that need developing and are relevant to the museum’s location in Luxembourg, with its cosmopolitan history--“whether that was through necessity or through choice”--and in the heart of ­Europe. “In essence, the collection should be European but with a view to the world and should also resonate with Luxembourg as country that connects to, but also gathers, cultures,” she explains. She wants the collection to speak to people, in the belief that it is something in which people can recognise themselves.

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WINTER 2020

2020 MUDAM HIGHLIGHTS Robert Morris: “The Perceiving Body” A major new monographic exhibition of the early work of this important post-war sculptor will include some seminal pieces.

↑ The current exhibition

by Anri Sala

8 February to 26 April

Jean-Marie Biwer: “D’après nature” New and recent paintings by the Luxembourg artist.

7 March to 24 May

Francesco Bonami: “Me, Family” A major group show featuring contemporary artists working in different media and inspired by “The Family of Man”.

30 May to 6 September

Leonor Antunes: “Vides, intervalles et jonctions” The Portuguese artist will present new and recent sculptures, including an installation designed especially for the iconic architecture of Mudam.

10 October to 7 March 2021

Charlotte Posenenske: “Work in Progress” Some 50 works offer a rare opportunity to view a radical body of work from this influential yet under-recognised artist.

10 October to 10 January 2021

William Kentridge An exhibition conceived for Mudam that showcases drawings, and sculptures the South African artist produced for his latest stage work, plus his most recent film and video installations.

A programme of performed works

by Kentridge and works for stage will accompany the exhibition.

5 November to 7 March 2021 ↳ www.mudam.lu

Encouraging debate and discussion, and questioning the relevance of art is a key aspect. But Cotter stresses that the aesthetic is also vital, and that offering beauty and a chance for audiences to escape and be inspired is equally important. As in all the arts, name recognition is also important in attracting audiences. “I think there’s really only a handful of artists in the world who might be globally known.”

So, the museum has to rely on exciting curiosity by staging exhibitions that give the audience the sense they are seeing something very special.

The launch, in May 2019, of the American Friends of Mudam to help with acquisitions that could broaden the museum’s own collection has strong potential, says the director. “The history of museums is a history of important donations, often coming from private collections. Mudam has a little of that history, so the American Friends of Mudam is one of those avenues, but not one we can rely on totally.” Building and cultivating relationships and trust is important to finding the works that can be added to the collection. “The collection is the thing that will sustain the museum over time. We are a young museum with fewer than 700 works, including some significant works. Our challenge is to build on that and to ask who are the artists and what are the works that would make a difference, that would really define what this collection is about.” Cotter is also keen on

Photo → Mudam

Strong global network

In a rampant market, acquiring art at the right time and being creative with the funds available remains a real challenge.

The explosion in the private art market is making it more and more difficult, but Cotter sees some hope in the fact that certain artists are happier to have their work shown to the public in museums rather than have it admired by a few guests of a private collector. “That is something we need to exploit. But at some point, we still need to come up with the cash, even if we manage to negotiate really favourable prices for the museum.”

Cotter has recently been appointed secretary-treasurer of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art. Indeed, she says her career path has enabled her to establish a strong global network that allows Mudam to put on exhibitions and partake in projects that it could not do on its own. The David ­Wojnarowicz exhibition, for example, is a collaboration with the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and the ­Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in ­Madrid. “It’s not just about the money… it’s also about the content. It’s an exhibition that was five years in the making, with scholars and curators who have been studying ­Wojnarowicz’s work and collecting it. We can bring to ­Mudam an expertise that we can’t possibly have inhouse. The beneficiaries of these collaborations are the public.” ­Mudam is also in active discussion to initiate collaborations for 2021 and 2022 with “first tier museums” in Europe and the rest of the world.

“So, we can produce, and drive some of that knowledge and gain visibility.” ×

A multi-purpose deposit system designed in Luxembourg to transport meals. Whether at the restaurant, canteen or takeaway, the ECOBOX can be used almost everywhere.

The multiple use of the ECOBOX will eliminate many disposable packagings. This initiative reduces the volume of waste because it does not only scale down the number of packages, but also the amount of food waste.

Find your ECOBOX providers at www.ecobox.lu Une campagne du :

BPA FREE

DISH WASHER SAFE

MICRO WAVE SAFE*

+100 HIGH -20 TEMP. °C RANGE

FULLY RECYC LABLE

5€ *without lid

MÉI LAANG GENÉISSEN www.ecobox.lu info@ecobox.lu

Partenaires :

CC0 1.0 Portrait of a Couple, Probably Isaac Abrahamsz Massa and Beatrix van der Laen, Frans Hals, c. 1622 (Rijksmuseum Amsterdam)

QUAND ON TE DIT QUE C’EST RITES À VOLONTÉ FFRITES It’s ti

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On stage

82

A fabulous musical to end the year, theatre about cultural icons, grand orchestras and cool pop shows Dance

Theatre

Scala

Chaplin and Laurel

21 December Rockhal, Esch-Belval ↳ www.rockhal.lu

TOP PICK Musical

Inventive theatre company Told by an Idiot delivers a deeply moving homage to two men who changed the world of comedy forever in “The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel”.

The show, which is appropriately played out as silent comedy, looks at the relationship between the two actors. It features awardwinning set design and an original live piano score composed by Zoe Rahman.

9 & 10 January 2020 Théâtre des Capucins, Luxembourg-Centre ↳ www.theatres.lu

Cabaret

Theatre

Charles Dickens: best and worst

The Grand Théâtre’s big show for the festive season this year is the acclaimed musical based on the works of Christopher Isherwood, who wrote about Berlin in the early 1930s. With a book by Joe Masteroff, the show includes songs by John Kander and Fred Ebb made famous through the brilliant film version of the musical, such as ‘Money Makes the World Go Round’ and ‘Cabaret’. The show focuses on singer Sally Bowles and the people she meets at the infamous Kit Kat Club.

Paul Taylor in The Independent called this production, presented

by Bill Kenwright, the “most stunningly fresh and imaginative revival of a classic musical” he had ever seen.

23 December to 5 January 2020 Grand Théâtre, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg ↳ www.theatres.lu

words

Duncan Roberts

In his private life, iconic author Charles Dickens inspired and betrayed, adored and abused the women he encountered. In this new play by Luxembourg resident June Lowrey and directed by Tony Kingston, the women who knew and loved him tell that story.

The play stars BGT regular Bjørn Clasen alongside some familiar names like Helena O’Hare and Lindsay Wegleitner and a cast of young new talent.

22 to 25 January 2020 Abbaye de Neumünster, Luxembourg-Grund ↳ www.neimenster.lu

Indie pop

Two Door Cinema Club Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday and Kevin Baird have produced a string of catchy hits since forming Two Door Cinema Club as students in 2007. The three-piece band’s latest album, “False Alarm”, has been hailed by critics, with Nick Lowe of Clash magazine even calling it “a game-changing record for the future of indie-rock”.

24 January 2020 den Atelier, Luxembourg-Gare ↳ www.atelier.lu

Photos → Geraldine Aresteanu → Pamela Raith → Told by an Idiot

WINTER 2020

Yoann Bourgeois has created “Scala”, a breathtaking, fastpaced show with eight acrobats, actors and dancers who defy fear and gravity. The set includes springs and trampolines that propel the combatants into a world in which man’s efforts to control things are overwhelmed.

There are afternoon and evening performances of the show, which is put on by the Escher Theater.

83

Synth pop

Wim Vandekeybus

Black Marble Pitchfork has described Chris Stewart’s third Big Marble album, “Bigger Than Life”, “a rumination on loneliness in Los Angeles”.

It is, indeed, an ode to his new home, and what he calls a shimmering synth-pop response to its cacophony. But he says it also allowed him to practice gratitude and humility. Perhaps Mojo summed it up best when it called the record “Depeche Mode for the juicing era”.

Veteran Belgian choreographer Wim Vandekeybus makes his debut at the Grand Théâtre with his Ultima Vez company. “TrapTown” takes as its theme the conflicts and strange catastrophes that dominate human relationships.

Vandekeybus uses dance, film, text and music “to conceive a new mythology and create a seamless and dreamlike live experience”.

23 February 2020

6 & 7 February 2020

Rotondes, Luxembourg-Bonnevoie

Grand Théâtre ↳ www.theatres.lu

↳ www.rotondes.lu Classical

London Symphony Orchestra

Pub rock

Stereophonics At this stage in their career, Stereophonics are national treasures in their home of Wales and have built a loyal following of dedicated fans. But they also attract a healthy number of guilty pleasure fans who love their no-nonsense authenticity and can’t help but sing along to their melody-driven rock. New album, “Kind”, was recorded in just 11 days and the result is a strippeddown sound that takes them back to their pub rock beginnings.

11 February 2020 Rockhal, Esch-Belval ↳ www.atelier.lu

Sir Simon Rattle conducts the LSO in a concert featuring works by Alban Berg and Ludwig van Beethoven. Violinist Lisa Batiashvili (photo) performs Berg’s violin concerto ‘To the Memory of an Angel’. Then soprano Elsa Dreisig, tenor Pavol Breslik and bass David Soar join the orchestra and the London Symphony Chorus, led by Simon Halsey, for Beethoven’s ‘Christ on the Mount of Olives’ oratorio.

23 February 2020 Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg ↳ www.philharmonie.lu

Music

Jeffrey Lewis The New York musician who Jarvis Cocker called “the best lyricist working in the US today” comes to do a show at de Gudde Wëllen with his band The Voltage.

They have just released a new album, “Bad Wiring”, packed with often jaunty pop songs whose lyrics deal with depression and anxiety. Louder Than War says that Lewis’s genius “lies in giving a slant, an off-kilter view on the mundane and everyday”.

4 March 2020 de Gudde Wëllen, Luxembourg-Centre ↳ www.deguddewellen.lu

Classical

Orchestre Philharmonique Daniel Harding (photo), whom Sir Simon Rattle hired as an assistant at the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the age of just 17, conducts the OPL in a concert featuring Gustav Mahler’s ‘Symphony No.5’. Now 44, Harding has announced he will step down as music director of the Orchestre de Paris to learn to fly as a commercial pilot.

The programme also features Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s ‘Nobody Knows the Trouble I See’ concerto, with Håkan Hardenberger on the trumpet.

27 February 2020 Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg ↳ www.philharmonie.lu

Photos → Sammy Hart → Julian Hargreaves

On stage

Dance

84

Dance

Patricia Guerrero

Efterklang Danish trio Efterklang have been hailed as pioneers of what came to be labelled the “indie classical movement”. They revel in using swirling strings or choir harmonies to enhance what are basically indie pop songs about what one reviewer called “exquisite gloom and bruised hope”. But latest album, “Altid Sammen” (always together), sees the band opt for much simpler arrangements.

7 March 2020

Grand Théâtre, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg ↳ www.theatres.lu

↳ www.atelier.lu

Electro funk

Tony Allen & Jeff Mills As drummer and musical director of Fela Kuti’s band Africa ‘70 from 1968 to 1979, Tony Allen has every right to “the father of Afrobeat” title. At the Phil, Allen joins forces once again with techno DJ Jeff Mills--with whom he made EP “Tomorrow Comes The Harvest” in 2018. Mills said of the project, “It really is a pure collaboration, not just through music, but in our minds and spirit as well.”

Chick Corea What one critic calls “three of the most gifted instrumentalists in jazz” come together at the Phil for what promises to be an electric evening. Pioneering pianist Chick Corea is perhaps the most famous of the trio, having worked with Miles Davis and composed a number of jazz standards. But bass player Christian McBride and drummer Brian Blade form a formidable musical brotherhood.

14 March 2020 Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg ↳ www.philharmonie.lu

3 March 2020 Rotondes, Luxembourg-Bonnevoie

Jazz

Classical

Magnus Holmander The Swedish clarinettist is one out of six musicians selected as a “Rising Star artist” by the European Concert Hall Organisation, of which the Philharmonie is a member. Here, accompanied by pianist David Huang, he performs a concert featuring works by Debussy, Berg, Brahms and Poulenc, as well as contemporary composers Rolf Martinsson and Molly Klein.

10 March 2020 Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg ↳ www.philharmonie.lu

Pop

Agnes Obel Soulful Danish singer-songwriter Agnes Obel shot to fame with the success of her second album, 2013’s “Aventine”, with which she toured and played venues as big as the Rockhal in Esch. Since then she has released just one album, the critically acclaimed “Citizen of Glass” in 2016. And then, according to one journalist, she entered a phase of “self-imposed creative isolation” to work on new record “Myopia”, which is due for release in February 2020.

21 March 2020 den Atelier, Luxembourg-Gare ↳ www.atelier.lu

7 March 2020 Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg ↳ www.philharmonie.lu

Find more events Check Delano’s digital agenda for the latest happenings: ↳ www.delano.lu/agenda

Photos → Christopher Hästbacka → Andrew Elliott

WINTER 2020 Indie rock

Rising star of the flamenco scene Patricia Guerrero has been talked about as one of the most talented and original dancers of her generation. She brings her latest show, “Distopía”, to the Grand Théâtre for a one-off performance.

It has been described as “a story about female power and vulnerability in a society which deems itself to be perfect”.

home specialist

painting & decorating· indoor plastering· facade refurbishment & thermal insulation· drywalling· flooring· insulation from roof to cellar· light & stretch ceilings· electrical work· joinery work· curtains & sunshades· terrace canopy· windows, doors & gates

© marcwilmesdesign.lu | Picture: unsplash

Showroom: 7, rue de Godbrange L-6118 Junglinster T. 42 64 95 - 1 info@phillipps.lu www.phillipps.lu

We wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year

Winter is time for comfort and warmth, it‘s time for home – specialist !

86

special feature

Spirits

WINTER 2020

Seasonal cheer Nothing makes winter cosier than homemade liqueurs. ’Tis the season for gatherings aplenty with friends, family, colleagues, neighbours and après-ski pals*. Here are three digestifs that are easy to make yourself and will add a festive touch to the moment.

*

Skiing not required for any of these recipes

photos

Patricia Pitsch and Oriane Pawlisiak

87 Time: 20-30 minutes

How to make it

For: 1 litre

Ingredients ripe sloes

250g

golden caster sugar

1 litre of good-quality gin 1 pinch of ground almonds 1

large mason jar

1

muslin cloth

2. Place them into a dry, sterilised mason jar with capacity for more than 1 litre.

3. Pour over the sugar, ground almonds and gin and seal shut.

4. Shake well once a day every day for the following week and then store the jar in a cool, dark place for up to three months.

5. When ready, strain the mixture through a muslin cloth and bottle it.

Sloe Christmas words

Jess Bauldry

Sloe gin is a taste of home for me. I grew up in a rural Sussex village where, during the local pheasant hunts, the “guns” and “beaters” would carry it around in hip flasks, taking a slug to ward off the English winter chill.

My brother told me how, as a beater, he was too young to drink sloe gin and so, to fit in with the hunters, he would fill his hip flask with neat blackcurrant cordial, similar in colour to sloe gin. Needless to say, he had a fair few fillings.

My dad would make his own sloe gin in giant, empty whisky bottles filled with good

quality Gordon’s gin and then stuffed with sloes which, over a period of months, would turn the liquid the colour of strong tea. The locations of blackthorn bushes, on which sloes grow in October-November, were a well-kept secret in the village. I knew of only one.

So, when, while out walking a few years ago in our Luxembourg village, I stumbled across a countryside path flanked by several blackthorn bushes studded with hard black bullet-like berries, I rushed home for a bowl.

I since learned that Luxembourgers call them

“Schleiwen”. In the past, I’ve had some good crops, picking along the country lanes close to the village of Schleiwenhaff in the south of Luxembourg.

Traditionally, you’re not supposed to pick sloes until after the first frost. I get around this by collecting the berries and freezing them in 1-kilo quantities. It also means you can prepare your gin all year round. Like the village hunters, I enjoy sloe gin neat although I give away most of the sloe gin I make. ×

Spirits

500g

1. Clean your sloes before freezing. If using non-frozen sloes, prick their skins.

88 For: 1 litre Time: 40 minutes-1 hour

How to make it Step one: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients 10 or 25 or 4

lemons or limes small clementines large grapefruit

WINTER 2020

1. Peel or zest fruit, avoiding white pith.

500ml non-potato vodka or 500ml 100 proof grain alcohol

2. Place in a sealable container and add vodka.

750g

3. Close up tight. Let infuse for 1-2 weeks (or longer for a stronger flavour) at room temperature, stirring daily. (You can press fruit for juice or save for another dish.)

white sugar

500ml water Decorative or recycled bottles and caps

Step two: 20-30 minutes

1. Create a sugar syrup by heating the sugar and water together, letting it boil for 5-10 minutes.

2. Let cool. Mix sugar syrup and alcohol infusion together.

3. Strain into bottles and cap.

Let age for 1-2 weeks at room temperature.

4. Chill overnight before serving.

When life gives you more than lemons... words

Aaron Grunwald

I’ve always loved limoncello, the southern Italian lemon liqueur, but when a colleague gave me a bottle of clemoncello from her native Sicily, it opened my eyes to the wider “cello” universe. After finishing that delicious bottle, I wanted to try more. But, aside from the classic limoncello, other varieties are a bit hard to find around here. So I finally decided to make some myself.

Following the same basic recipe, I made four different batches. One with lemon, one with lemon-lime (limon-limecello), one with

clementine (clemoncello) and one with grapefruit (pompelmocello). The digestif can equally be made with mandarins, oranges or any other citrus.

The clementine and grapefruit versions took a bit longer to prepare, as I zested their skins. I tried peeling the clementines, but the skin separated too easily. The grapefruit skin was too thick to peel easily.

On the other hand, peeling the lemons and limes was fairly quick and easy. That said, next time I will probably grate the lemons

and limes too, as I think that adds a richness to the final flavour.

During the fruit infusion phase, I was most sceptical of the grapefruit. It did not seem to take. However, I was pleasantly surprised with the result. Meanwhile, the lemon-lime was a bit more distinct than I had imagined as a digestif and I’ll use it to mix in cocktails.

We’re set for after dinner time this winter, but I’m already thinking about the next batch.

Kumquats, anyone? ×

Live the French way Sofitel Luxembourg Europe, 6 rue du Fort Niedergrünewald, L-2226 Luxembourg.

Sofitel Luxembourg Le Grand Ducal, 14 boulevard d’Avranches, L-1160 Luxembourg.

Book your stay at sofitel.com PARIS – LONDON – NEW YORK – BEIJING – BALI – Coming soon: MEXICO CITY

LUXEMBOURG

90 Time: 30 minutes

How to make it

For: 750ml

Ingredients 50

stem ginger

1 cup sugar 1.5 cups 1

water orange zested

WINTER 2020

1.5 cups brandy

1. Peel your ginger and slice into thin strips.

2. Place it in a saucepan with the water and sugar, and bring to the boil.

3. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes, until the ginger is soft.

Let the mixture cool.

4. Place the orange zest in a sealable glass container with cooled mixture and brandy.

5. Seal, shake and leave it to steep for a day.

6. Strain the mixture through a muslin cloth or paper coffee filter and let it sit for a day before sampling.

Ginger binger words

Jess Bauldry

Ginger packs a peppery punch which is often welcome at this bug-filled time of the year.

Stem ginger also has tonnes of health benefits, which make you feel virtuous consuming it, even in alcoholic drinks. Among them is the fact that it helps the digestive process-something that should not be overlooked when you overindulge during the holidays.

Ginger originates from Asia, and was brought to Europe with the spice trade. Despite being a tropical plant, people do grow ginger in Europe. For anyone who likes to source

their ingredients locally, it’s something to consider for the indoor garden next spring.

This was my first attempt at making a ginger liqueur, and it was that simple it’s inspired me to make more, perhaps throwing in some seasonal spices. It took around half an hour to prepare, not including the resting time.

Ginger liqueur is pretty saccharine if you’re planning to drink it neat. I’d recommend mixing it in a cocktail, for example with vodka and lemon juice to make a ginger martini.

For anyone suffering from the sniffles, have

a bash at a ginger hot toddy by mixing the liqueur with hot water, turmeric and cinnamon.

The mixture can apparently be stored for up to a year, assuming there’s any left after Christmas! ×

N IO

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Ilse Theunissen

Restaurant review

92

WHAT’S NEW? Oneul BiBim WINTER 2020

A Korean restaurant has taken over the space that used to be the popular Danish Deli.

The menu includes a range of Korean classics including a very good Kimchi and varieties of Bibimbap. Service is friendly and helpful and the prices are reasonable.

3 rue Beck, Luxembourg-Centre 2620 1391 ↳ www.oneulbibim.lu

Foodzilla Not a restaurant, but a new publication from Maison Moderne, the owner of Delano. Foodzilla is a lively 32-page newspaper style publication about food and drink in the grand duchy, and includes several pages in English. There is also a regular e-newsletter.

Paperjam Foodzilla

Mousel’s Cantine Hearty fare words

Duncan Roberts

I arrive at Mousel’s Cantine at

replenished by perhaps one too many beers at a nearby after-work drink. For some inexplicable reason, it is a first visit to the establishment for several years. We are a lively group, a mix of Luxembourgers, French, Belgians, Americans and a couple of Brits. But the waiting staff take everything in their stride, and show us, 9.30 in the evening,

without fuss, to a back room where we can dine in almost complete privacy. Drinks are ordered, with the majority at our table plumping for the brasserie’s renowned Clausel “Gezwickelt”--an unfiltered beer that is refreshing without being overpowering, and a great accompaniment for the type of food we are about to dive into.

The Cantine is famous for being “authentically” Luxembourgish. That means the menu is heavy on meat, and especially pork in all its varieties. There are sausages, pig’s trotters braised in beer, pork filet mignon, and those Luxembourg staples

of “mixed” ham (meaning raw and cooked) with chips and salad or Judd mat Gaardebounen (smoked pork shoulder and beans).

I thought I was porked out having just returned from England, where I had enjoyed a favourite at my local village pub of pork belly with black pudding and scallops, and a dish of Asian marinated pork chops in Manchester’s famous Mackie Mayor. But seeing it on the menu, I cannot resist going for the brasserie’s pièce de résistance, the Schwéngshax. The pork knuckle comes with cabbage and some nicely sautéed potatoes. However, they are all but forgotten as the knife crunches through the thick crisp crackling to reveal succulent dark pork meat and unleashes a rich, slightly smoky aroma.

There are hearty shouts for more beer, which arrives with good haste. Others on our table try the bouchée à

la reine, the cordon-bleu crème champignons and even an entrecôte, which all look passable if rather uninspired compared to the mighty shiny glaze of the Schwéngshax.

Offers of dessert are rebuffed with the groans of overstuffed bellies, though a digestif--I plump for a framboise eau-de-vie--provides welcome respite. The bill is surprisingly reasonable and the walk up the hill into town is the perfect postprandial exercise. It may be several years before I enter the old place again, but for simple but hearty winter fare in jovial company, Mousel’s Cantine is just the ticket. ×

Delano gives it:

46 montée de Clausen Luxembourg-Clausen 47 01 98 Brasserie Mousel’s Cantine

The caterer FOR YOUR PRECIOUS MOMENTS

FIND US ON

JUST ONE BITE AHEAD FROM THE FESTIVE SEASON. info@niessen.lu | www.niessen.lu

 99 81 03

 44 65 45

 31 20 80

Kids page

94

Rapunzel reimagined

Building on the critical acclaim and commercial success of

words

Duncan Roberts

Myriam Muller’s production of Ian De Toffoli’s “Rumpelstilzchen”

in 2017, the Théâtres de la Ville have turned to another favourite story for a follow-up twisted fairytale. Luxembourg author Jeff Schinker has adapted “Rapunzel” into Luxembourgish as “Rabonzel” and created a modern myth in which the heroine with the iconic hair dreams of becoming a famous singer.

Helping her to achieve that goal is a mysterious character called Lone, described as a casting agent and hypocritical sorcerer “whose intentions remain dubious…” According to the theatre, “Rapunzel quickly realises that Lone is in fact cooking up his own plans for her. She gets to know a rather clumsy but charming prince. Will Rapunzel see her dream come true?”

Youthful aspiration

ALSO COMING UP

Mudam Go!

Library of Sounds

BIG Nightmare Music

A series of observation games and family activities enables visitors to learn more about Anri Sala’s “Le Temps coudé” exhibition in a playful way.

The museum also hosts regular family tours in English aimed at visitors aged 6 and above.

These are part of Mudam’s outreach to younger audiences to connect them with art at an early age.

Musician Enric Monfort from Amsterdam and artist José Antonio Portillo from Valencia have joined forces to create a very special show. “The Library of Sounds & Noises” builds on a harmonious score that evokes a variety of emotions in the audience. The show underlines the importance of the library as a meeting place, place of remembrance, and a resource used to help us understand the universe.

Aleksey Igudesman and Hyungki Joo return to the Phil for another of their “inspired madness” shows. This time they perform works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Rachmaninov, Strauss and Vivaldi, as well as their own compositions, for a concert with the OPL. The show is packed with humour and surprises aimed at audiences of all ages.

1-5 January 2020 Mudam, Luxembourg-Kirchberg ↳ www.mudam.lu

30 January-2 February 2020 Rotondes, Luxembourg-Bonnevoie ↳ www.rotondes.lu

Charles Muller directs the production and Grammywinning composer Gast Waltzing has written the music. The songs in the show are said to evoke the theme of youth, its aspirations and ideals, and the way in which these are often exploited by adults.

The cast features a host of familiar names, including Fabienne Elaine Hollwege, Tom Heck, Sophie Mousel, Leila Saint James, Pitt Simon and Timo Wagner.

The show is in Luxem­ bourgish with English surtitles and is aimed at children over the age of 6.

The weekend performances are at 5 p.m. to accommodate the younger audience. ×

1 February 2020 Philharmonie, Luxembourg-Kirchberg ↳ www.philharmonie.lu

Rabonzel 14, 15 & 18 December Grand Théâtre, Luxembourg-Limpertsberg ↳ www.theatres.lu

Photo → Boshua → Illustrations → Jan Hanrion/Maison Moderne

WINTER 2020

A great cast get to let their hair down in a modern adaptation of a favourite fairytale

CHARGE F O E E FR

NEW ACCREDITED EUROPEAN SCHOOL

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…primary classes P1, P2 and P3 (English and French); …secondary classes S1, S2 and S3 (English, French and German) leading up to the European Baccalaureate.

JOIN A WHOLE DAY SCHOOL OFFERING

…7.00 to 19.00 before and after school care (Primary) and extracurricular activities for all interests (Primary and Secondary).

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2, Route de Burmerange, L-5659 Mondorf-les-Bains / + 352 281 288 - 1 / secretariat@eimlb.lu / www.eimlb.lu

Index

96

A

E

K

WINTER 2020

ADR

26

Daniel Eischen

72

Allan Alaküla

26

Excellium Services

50

Athome

58

Fennel Aurora

50

B Jim Barthel

8

Olivia Katrandjian

F

Langar 50

Jean Lasar

40

Brian Field

26

LSAP

26

Foyer Assurances

50

Luxembourg Institute of Health Luxembourg Institute

58

of Science and Technology

François Bausch

26

Bausparkasse Schwäbisch Hall

58

Beki

40

BGL BNP Paribas

58

BHW Bausparkasse

58

Gigja Birgisdottir

16

Catharina Biver

18

Aude-Marie Breden

58 72

G Ghost Army

14

Guichet.lu

58

H

Research Fund (FNR)

Jas Madhur

Frédéric Helias

50

Gaëlle Haag

70

Max Hilbert

40

CFL

26

Icarus Complex

Yoann Chevalier

50

Ilnas

44

Olivier Coppin

26

ING

58

Suzanne Cotter

78 50

CSV

26

Jean-Claude Juncker

Jean-Claude Dahn

14

Luis Da Silva Arêde

44

Déi Gréng

26

Déi Lénk

26

Design Friends DP

8 26

8

J Jerome Jean

D

8 36

Mag Culture

50 3

8 8

Mazars

58

Mouvement Écologique

26

Musée National d’Histoire 42, 56

Myenergy

58

Mudam

78

Mousel’s Cantine

92

N Alessandra Nonnweiler

26

50

R Afsaneh Angelina Rafii

58

Marc Schiltz

36

Securitymadein.lu

50

Laurent Simeoni

58

Laure Simon

26

Startalers

70

Statec

26

Markus Stegmann

58

Pascal Steichen

50

Survcoin

40

Swedish Women's Educational Association

18

Bruno Teheux

8

Gilbert Théato

58

Eva Gram Toft

18

U University of Luxembourg

8

8, 36

V Ursula von der Leyen

P Proofpoint

Soufiane Saadi

T

M

I

Jim Cox

8

Luxembourg National

et d’Art

C

9

F-Secure

Banque Raiffeisen

for Luxembourg

15

L

Banque Centrale de Luxembourg 56

British Chamber of Commerce

S

3

W David Wagner

26

Wüstenrot Bausparkasse

58

Auntie Eleanor Unused tracks

WINTER 2020

This month, Delano’s advice columnist answers reader questions on the tram extension, winter hibernation and royal baby news.

Dear Auntie Eleanor, of all the things I am looking forward to in 2020, the opening of the tram line extension to the central train station in Luxembourg City in December has to be the highlight.

What are you most eager about for 2020?

Kerry in Kayl

Gentle reader, I have to admit, I’m at an age where I tend to look back rather than forward.

I still remember trams in Luxembourg City the first time around. That said, it will be nice to sit comfortably in one of these new trams and travel directly to the cinema in Kirchberg to watch the new James Bond movie, “No Time to Die”. I won’t be drawn into debates over who is the best Bond actor. I much prefer to discuss the villains. Since you asked, my favourite is the Russian military officer General Orlov, played by the magnificent Steven Berkoff in “Octopussy” (1983). How many villains do you know use Fabergé eggs to buy nuclear bombs? Speaking of villains, I am rather looking forward to the trial of three former Luxembourg secret service agents in March with Jean-Claude Juncker as a key witness. I’ll let you decide who is the villain. Perhaps it will inspire a new Luxembourgbased Bond film: “The spy who bugged me”.

Dear Auntie Eleanor, I noticed they dug up the tram tracks on Pont Adolphe, before

they’ve even used them. It smells to me like Luxembourg is burning money on these roadworks or are the workers all just high?

Sally in Sanem

Gentle reader, if you smell burning, it is not because the workers are getting stoned.

The highways and bridges agency have blamed the dig up on another kind of joint.

Apparently, the expansion joints weren’t available when the rails were laid in 2017 and could only be placed once the buses had been redirected on the other bridge.

These joints are a little like stretch pants that absorb the expansions and contractions caused by holiday excesses.

They’re not pretty, we don’t want them, but sometimes they might just help keep the appearance of unsightly cracks and protrusions at bay.

humans travelling in space required less resources, this means a reduction of mass--and costs--thereby likely increasing the chance for missions to be successful.

But back here on Earth, remember: from Yule celebrations and Saturnalia to wassailing, there have historically been plenty of traditions to light up the dark days and find moments with friends and loved ones over the cold months. Some centre on rebirth, so why not do a quasi-hibernation yourself?

Turn inward for reflection, cosy up with a good book, take care of the little things around your home. Either that or book a flight to Brazil--one for me too, while you’re at it.

Dear Auntie Eleanor, I have just learned via your estimable website that Crown Prince Guillaume and Princess Stéphanie are expecting a baby in May. Isn’t this →

wonderful news with which to end a miserable year?

Harry in Hollenfels (temporary address)

Gentle reader, 2019 has been a bit of a stinker, hasn’t it?

And I write this before the results of the British elections have been announced, good grief! Yes, anticipation of parenthood is one of the purest forms of joy a human can experience. Whether actually being a parent can ever measure up to that expectation is another question. I wonder if the royal couple is planning one of those dreadful “gender reveal” parties? Also--and you can gladly call me an old cynic--I wonder if the government is expecting some really bad news in May for which a royal birth could serve as a handy deflection. ×

Dear Auntie Eleanor, do you think I could just hibernate all winter? I’m serious.

Ursula in Useldange

Gentle reader, I feel your pain.

Winter isn’t my favourite season, especially after the holiday markets end. The grey months seem never-ending with cold, darkness, snow, slush, ice--not to mention people forgetting to change their winter tyres. Yet your question is valid. Interestingly, European Space Agency scientists are researching human torpor and hibernation, which could be a game changer for space travel: if

SEND IN YOUR QUESTION Want to know something about Luxembourg?

Contact Auntie Eleanor via AuntieEleanor@delano.lu.

Please indicate if Delano can publish your name or if you wish to remain anonymous.

Illustration → Jan Hanrion/Maison Moderne

98

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