The government council made decisions on a number of issues on Friday, ranging from logistics to development aid.
In the future, ministers will no longer have assigned drivers for journeys in official vehicles. Following the debates on Friday in the government council, cars will be used for multiple ministers, thus pooling official vehicles as part of a pilot initiative.
Other plans to reduce the environmental impact of governmental cars were discussed, such as the sharing of cars and shuttles for international trips. When purchasing new vehicles, electric cars are to be prioritised. These new measures will not just be valid for ministers, but for all civil servants using governmental vehicles for their professional travel.
An amendment to the divorce law was approved on Friday. It will permit the retroactive recovery of pension rights in cases where one person did not work, or worked limited hours for the duration of the marriage. Income brackets will be refined in future, in order to avoid potential misunderstandings if the "maximum contribution" is exceeded.
For the year 2019, the wastewater discharge tax amount is fixed at €0.12/m3.
Luxembourg will once again commit to the fight against the Ebola virus, granting the sum of €500,000 in funding following an appeal by the World Health Organisation. This sum is in addition to the Luxembourgish government's annual half a million Euro investment into the WHO's health emergency programme. The Republic of Congo has once again been affected by the virus as the situation becomes ever more concerning.
