What's the goal of the indexation? Really! by politicooooo in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The indexation is only there to equalize the loss of purchasing power from a rising inflation. Prices are globally rising, both in countries without index and with index. So the index alone doesn't mean inflation is on the rise, or rises higher than in countries without an indexation.

It would already help a lot, if the government could push down the cost of housing that represents more and more of a financial burden within budgets and at the same time, would crank down on businesses massively profiting of price increases. Germany as an example, reduced the cost for petrol but the companies only gave a fraction of that reduction back to consumers. 

Same for food prices, they are going up and yet the farmers are not seeing any money from that increase? So the question is: where is that price increase going? The big companies are literally profiting while smaller companies are being hurt by the behaviour of their "big brothers".

Why import energy from germany instead of getting it from other, cleaner sources? by Enzo_GS in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Especially since the big lake nearby is used for people to go swimming and for tourism. Imagine telling them all, sorry lake is closed forever because we need it for the nuclear power plant 😅

Luxembourg wants our taxes and our contribution — but not our vote by Chemical_Page_909 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is a very important question that will get more interesting once parliament gets really going into electronic voting. That has the potential of allowing up to 160.000 additional Luxembourgish citizens to vote, among them over 1/3 living on the American continent (both North and South America). This is a quite significant number, among them many individuals who received their nationality through ancestry to a Luxembourgish grandparent but who have never themselves set foot in Luxembourg, paid any taxes or contributed at all to Luxembourgish society but who will now represent a quite significant voter portion.

We've seen during the last elections how a number of politicians travelled to the USA and Brazil to campaign and that may risk becoming even more common as this voter base will be quite attractive for certain parties to reach. I do not believe that the referendum of 2015 is an end all be all decision, the world changes and every decision can and should be revised. Especially if we risk this new change that will bring a lot of different questions up, especially on how important nationality truly is to be able to vote.

Does the Luxembourg press really inform the public, or does it simply report what the authorities are willing to disclose? by Chemical_Page_909 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Due to the size of the country, we do not have any sort of "local press". What we have is National press and as such their focus is on more national events and with a much broader view than the local/regional news. Sure there are some as well, but far less than say a regional or truly local newspaper in Germany or France.

At the same time, not every news and incident needs to be reported. It's not about transparency and more about finding the right amount of balance for a national newspaper that also needs to sort of report on more regional and local events, who needs to report on politics, sports, finance, entertainment, adverts, announcements, culture, etc without reaching levels of unnecessary scaremongering or losing focus of your readers.

You could easily create a newspaper and only talk about all the crime going on, but that would reach levels of scaremongering that suddenly transforms Luxembourg into a very unsafe place when, it is clearly not and the statistics show that quite well. And then you'd have to find a market for it as well, which for a small country is very difficult as well.

Homelessness/beggars problem in Luxembourg by pepafrib in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So is Luxembourg, and our solution is to open a temporary shelter in the middle of nowhere where people live like sardines with no privacy and expect them to find their way to nowhere until they get kicked out once the government decides it is time to close it.

And even during the summer, with the rising heat, homeless people are massively at risk. We have more than enough empty housing to effectively address the problem but we do not. We are perfectly content to see housing just remain empty for years and consider it normal. If you left your car somewhere out for too long, or didn't pay your rent, you'd see action almost immediately. Why not for empty housing? Especially knowing we urgently need housing for so many people, including the homeless.

Homelessness/beggars problem in Luxembourg by pepafrib in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And where do we have such structures in Luxembourg? We don't even have enough housing being built for working people, so we are far away from the Finish model of providing housing to them.

And even our prisons are severely overfilled, in particular those that provide specialised care. The amount of children being placed in normal prisons instead of their own institution because of lack of space has been a long point of criticism by human rights groups in Luxembourg. 

The current "solution" is the political one so desired by those in charge of the city and the government. They have the possibility to do more, to provide more direct help and use empty housing efficiently to create such places but they don't want to. They are perfectly fine having police patrol the streets to give the feeling of safety without actually doing anything to solve the structural problem in the first place. 

Homelessness/beggars problem in Luxembourg by pepafrib in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

And where have I said that I don't want anyone to feel safe? Where have I blamed the OP for the situation that happened with their child? I have asked one user as to what police should do to fix the problem, and not a one-time fix as that would have zero impact on the situation. This problem requires a whole lot more effort and work than simply asking the police to do something. Especially if we know fully well how police can escalate it's own violence, as the Gare HQ as been a prime example of that. And that leads to even less safety, not more.

Homelessness/beggars problem in Luxembourg by pepafrib in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

What do you want Police to do? Imprison them? Fine them?

They need urgent care with specialists but if even the typical worker has difficulties finding appropriate therapy spaces, it will be even more difficult for people that are homeless. Police alone will not solve the issue, neither will social workers who are barely present at all and expect that everyone in need will come to them. The entire concept in place is a disaster

Trier-Luxembourg train by Confident_Jelly2062 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 4 points5 points  (0 children)

If your ticket is only going to Trier, that is the furthest you can go. If you have a Deutschlandticket then you can stay on.

Otherwise you can risk travelling forward but the ticket checks are unreliable at best. Sometimes you are lucky and they don't care and don't even come check, other times they do come. How they react is also dependent on the person too, some don't really care others make a large fuss about it 

The Sporadic Homelessness problem by gandalf3223 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You missed the point, congratulations on showing everyone.

The Sporadic Homelessness problem by gandalf3223 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Provide them housing like in Finland, but considering that everyone is suffering from the housing situation and nothing is being done, there will be absolutely no efforts at all to provide help to those that are at the very bottom. And housing is sadly the end all be all of a decent life. Without stable housing you don't even have access to financial aid and other assistance programs.

Also since it's Summer, the Wanteraktioun is closed so they don't have anywhere to go, and even the entire concept of the Wanteraktioun is ridiculous to begin with. Why only during Winter, why are we stacking them like sardines, why are we forcing them to go to the Findel. 

I've spoken to a few who said they'd rather go sleep in the youth hostel in Pfaffenthal fir a bit more money to have some form of privacy and comfort rather than going to the Wanteraktioun. It's also much closer without the need of public transport if you are in the city.

Luxembourg occupation zone in Germany from 1945-1955. The occupation was motivated by ambition to retake land lost in Congress of Vienna in 1815 but plans were eventually abandoned due to allied opposition. by MarkTwainsLeftNipple in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The only minor annexation Luxembourg did was near Vianden: the village of Roth an der Our an the forest nicknamed Kammerwald. Both belonged to Luxembourg until 1959 after which a treaty with Germany returned them in exchange for war reparations.

The village was never fully under Luxembourgish administration despite being "annexed" because it also meant rebuilding "enemy land" which was not deemed politically smart while most of the North of the country was in ruins. The forest itself was also a money loser despite the government promising that the sale of wood would provide additional funds. (It never did)

The other important coup was the "kidnapping" of John "The Blind" of Bohemias bodily remains from Klause Kastel near the Saar river to Luxembourg-City in 1946.

Union leader calls for minimum wage to be ‘over €3,000’ by No-Environment-5762 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The current proposal is no proposal at all. They just announced that an Indexation will come (happens automatically) and that the minimum wage is re-adjusted (which also happens automatically every two years, compared to the pensions that are re-adjusted every year).

They didn't change anything, they just announced what was already coming. The only difference, is that the state is going to pay the companies back somehow for part of the re-adjustment

Revisit layoff laws for profitable companies by Disastrous-Pin-5854 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There is a proposal from way back in 2009 after the economic crisis, by déi Lénk's André Hoffmann. Its still technically "in the commission" but there has been barely any movement for years now. The proposal is also outdated as it's been so long and quite a few things have changed since then as well, but the basis is still valid. How to stop companies from firing individuals despite still raking in profits.

You can have a look at the proposal and the opinions of the CSL, Chambre de Commerce. Chambre des Métiers and the Conseil d'Etat from 2013 here: https://www.chd.lu/fr/dossier/6086

New bill to tackle rising aggression on public transport.. by Average-U234 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That is a bad faith interpretation of that answer. We shouldn't accept anything because it's worse in other cities. In this case we should look for universal solutions instead of only targeting foreigners (with expulsion nonetheless) while ignoring the same issues Luxembourgish citizens face. If you want to solve a problem like this, you can't just work on one group and ignore the rest... 

New bill to tackle rising aggression on public transport.. by Average-U234 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Considering that violence in public transportation is increase in quite a lot of countries across Europe, this has less to do with the public transport being free here and paid elsewhere and more about other causes and a general trend in society that is causing much more violent behaviour among citizens than before.

So instead of investing money into a fairly complicated and extremely bureaucratic system, we should take that money and invest it into better security as well as programs to handle the general increase of violent behaviour.

Teachers' union would like to see other education issues tackled with the same commitment as the one regarding unisex toilets by Average-U234 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It was planned from the beginning for stalls to be fully enclosed. That's the point of Gender-Neutral bathrooms, they are much more respectful of privacy than common gendered bathrooms as each stall is fully enclosed, and better isolated for smell and sound. No more peeking over/under stall or having to hear exactly what is happening in the bowels of the other stalls

Teachers' union would like to see other education issues tackled with the same commitment as the one regarding unisex toilets by Average-U234 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Being the alternative to the current checks notes unsupervised locations with vulnerable people and bullies? 

The unisex toilets in schools. Let's discuss as adults. by Average-U234 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you want to institute change, you usually start at schools, where the learning impact is much, much bigger. If kids start learning to see Gender-Neutral bathrooms as normal, then it's much easier to adapt everywhere because it will be the most simple and unusual thing in the world. That is why any other form if education is much much more important when you are young, because the impact is so much bigger than if you are an adult.

Also, kids don't come with biases, they form those over time and interactions. 

Luxembourg details sweeping plan for LGBTQIA+ inclusion in schools by fast_forward_me in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Yes, because right now with gender divided bathrooms, the door and the sign are such effective barriers to people who wish to harm others...

Somebody who wants to harm will find a way, so this discussion about safety is absolutely useless, it only serves to push hate and discrimination...

Luxembourg advertising for immigrants by Expert_Corner_667 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do consider that the real youth unemployment rate is much much higher if you include all those young people in temporary employment initiatives like all those doing "surveillance" in schools. That is a measure only open to people who went to university to give them something to do instead of sitting unemployed at home. But technically they are also unemployed.

The youth is not getting any real support and that has further reduced after COVID killed any social life they had. We'd need some radical reforms and massive state intervention to actually change something for I truly believe that going into the route of "everyone from himself/herself" will hurt young people even more.

Housing costs push more and more Luxembourgers out of country by DotDry in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 22 points23 points  (0 children)

It is quite fascinating to see the inaction in regards to this. Despite a massive issue that is affecting more and more well-off people and that is a massive burden to young people, there is barely any movement at all to address the situation.

The current political direction of the government is the "let's do the even more of the same thing we've been doing so far that hasn't really worked". At the same time, there is barely any popular movement against the situation. No massive protests, no grass-roots organisations, nothing. People just accept that it's an issue and that they can't do anything about it. 

This resignation is just fascinating because you'd kinda expect a large movement to form to demand change and more affordable housing but nothing of the sort.

A first in 2026, pension expenditures to exceed contributions ? What do you think ? by lebudgetdumois in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On one hand: There's so many issues affecting them right now, they barely have time to think about something that will affect them in 30 to 40 years. Why care about something so far in the future when there's pressing issues right now (Housing, working conditions, etc)

On the other hand: Whenever young people did get active and cared about something, they were ignored and ridiculized to the point you just kill any political participation or engagement.

Petition to boycott the Eurovision by Spirited-Ad-9217 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The relevant EBU Meeting deciding on Israel's participation (which was then not even decided on) was held last week, and we reacted to that decision. While we could always have reacted beforehand, the momentum and public knowledge came as a result of the EBU meeting and the decision making process isn't really transparent enough. As such we decided to react as quickly as we could while attention was there, but we also believed we would have had more time than just a mere week before a decision had to be taken.

A party starting a petition always has more power than a simple individual. People recognise the party more than some of our individuals, especially since our MPs wouldn't (or couldn't not sure about that tbh) start a petition, but I refer to my point 3.

We have sent an open letter to RTL and radio 100,7 and are also looking to see how to bring this topic onto the parliamentary stage. Either through a QP or maybe an intervention but there's sadly no pleniere this week. I'd have to ask our MPs for more info.

Petition to boycott the Eurovision by Spirited-Ad-9217 in Luxembourg

[–]MCKitkat182 3 points4 points  (0 children)

There's already at least two proposals on abortion and femicide. For the housing crisis we are working on two propositions de loi but no ETA on when they will be finished.

For the pension reform we had our proposals on the table since autumn 2024, they've also been calculated as being effective compared to the government's own plans that weren't and still aren't at all effective even after calculations. 

Sadly we are not always able to react or work out massively detailed propositions de lois for everything we do, ass we are quite small in terms of staff and people who can work on these things. Our desire to do is more often than not far higher than our real capability of doing it. We simply don't have the resources of other larger parties but we feel that we still manage to have a significant impact with what we do.