In December last year, Differdange's municipal council voted in favour of purchasing 120 hectares of land across the border in France to prevent the opening of a garbage dump. ADR MP Fernand Kartheiser addressed a parliamentary question to Minister for Home Affairs Taina Bofferding to ask whether or not this project could be legally authorised.
Several ministers had already previously explained that there was no law that explicitly banned the purchase of land abroad. Local municipalities, however, should in theory only pursue local interests. This would for example mean that a given municipality cannot simply purchase a piece of land from a neighbouring municipality (either in Luxembourg or abroad) to prevent certain projects from taking shape simply because the latter would go against municipal interests. For this reason, Bofferding initially stated that she was not in favour of the project.
The Minister of Home Affairs and the Minister for the Environment have since changed their stance. Replying to Kartheiser's question, Bofferding and Carole Dieschbourg explained that Differdange was planning on becoming the owner of the piece of land in question in order to realise a cross-border project of an "ecological and socio-economic dimension." The project, the ministers explained, is therefore in the best interests of the municipality and does not contradict Luxembourg's laws. French officials also reportedly welcomed the project. Bofferding concluded that she consequently saw no reason not to greenlight the purchase.
Differdange buys 120 hectares of land in France to prevent opening of garbage dump
