Luxembourg's communes: municipal council, college of aldermen and competences
How the local level works in Luxembourg: bodies, six-year mandates, municipal competences, State supervision and voting rights for foreign residents.
Contents
The official syllabus refers to the institutions of the State and of the communes. Candidates often neglect that second part, concentrating their revision on the Grand Duke and the Chamber of Deputies. That is a mistake: the local level is part of the twenty heaviest questions in the paper.
It is also the most concrete level: your commune issues your residence certificates, authorises building works and organises primary schools.
Territorial organisation
Luxembourg has about a hundred communes, grouped into twelve cantons. The exact number of communes changes with the voluntary mergers encouraged by the State — check it on an official source if you want a current figure.
The former administrative districts — Luxembourg, Diekirch and Grevenmacher — were abolished in 2015. Do not cite them as a current level.
So remember the architecture: State → cantons (administrative division) → communes (autonomous local authorities).
The commune's two bodies
Each commune has two distinct bodies, and the distinction is regularly tested.
The municipal council — the deliberative body
Composition. Councillors elected by direct universal suffrage by the commune's residents, for a six-year mandate. The number of councillors depends on the size of the commune.
Role. It deliberates and decides: municipal budget, municipal taxes, municipal by-laws, major planning decisions, creation of services.
It is the local equivalent of a parliament: it decides, but it does not administer day to day.
The college of the mayor and aldermen — the executive body
Composition. The mayor and the aldermen.
Role. It implements the municipal council's decisions, runs day-to-day administration, manages municipal staff and represents the commune.
It is the local equivalent of a government: it applies what the council has decided.
The typical question: "Who runs the administration of a commune?" — Answer: the college of the mayor and aldermen. Not the municipal council, which deliberates; and not a prefect, which does not exist in Luxembourg.
| Municipal council | College of aldermen | |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | Deliberative | Executive |
| Composition | Elected councillors | Mayor + aldermen |
| Mandate | 6 years | Duration of the municipal term |
| Function | Decides | Implements and administers |
Municipal competences
Communes exercise their own competences, the main ones being:
- civil status: births, marriages, deaths, residence certificates;
- town planning: development plans, building permits;
- primary education: school buildings, organisation of schools;
- municipal roads and street lighting;
- water and waste: distribution, sanitation, collection;
- local services: after-school care, crèches, cultural and sports facilities, local social assistance.
These competences are exercised under State supervision. Certain municipal decisions — notably the budget and the most important by-laws — must be approved by the supervisory authority. Municipal autonomy is real but framed: that is precisely the point the exam tests under the heading "interaction between the State and the communes".
Municipal elections
They take place every six years.
The classic trap: legislative elections = five years, municipal elections = six years. The longest mandate is the local one. These two durations are systematically offered as alternatives.
Voting rights for foreign residents
This is the most important feature of this chapter, and it directly concerns candidates for nationality.
Foreign residents entered on the electoral roll may take part in municipal elections, subject to conditions. EU citizens may in addition vote in European elections in Luxembourg.
By contrast, participation in legislative elections is reserved to Luxembourg nationals. It is one of the most tangible differences naturalisation brings — and it concretely illustrates the syllabus chapter on the limits of fundamental rights linked to nationality.
The conditions for registering on the electoral roll and the residence requirements evolve: check them with your commune or on guichet.public.lu.
Voting systems
Luxembourg uses two systems depending on the size of the commune: a majority ballot in the smallest communes and a proportional ballot in the larger ones. The population threshold separating the two regimes has changed with successive reforms: if you want to cite it, verify it on a recent official source.
Revision card
| Notion | To remember |
|---|---|
| Number of communes | About a hundred (changes with mergers) |
| Cantons | 12 |
| Districts | Abolished in 2015 |
| Municipal council | Elected, 6 years, deliberative body |
| College of aldermen | Mayor + aldermen, executive |
| Municipal elections | Every 6 years |
| Foreign residents | May vote in municipal elections, subject to conditions |
| Supervision | The State approves certain municipal decisions |
Three questions in the simulator deal with the local level; it is also the subject where a few minutes of revision pay off most, because it is short and often neglected.
Read next: Elections in Luxembourg and Luxembourg's institutions explained.