Your Weekly RecapWhat you need to know at the end of this week

RTL Today
Your Weekly Recap for 14 - 18 November.
  • Luxembourg heads to Elections in 11 Months.
  • Gender Pay Gap closed in Luxembourg
  • Echternach tries to rejuvenate its streets
  • The G20 Leaders Declaration
  • COP27 concludes (more to follow)
Cooperation Policy Debate
Cooperation Policy Debate
© Chambre des Députés

1. Luxembourg will head to the polls on October 8, 2023

  • The date for the legislative elections was confirmed by the Chamber this week: October 8, 2023.

  • Legislative Elections are national elections, only citizens can participate, to elect 60 Members to the Chamber and form a new national government.

  • 2023 will be a double election year: the municipal elections are set for June 11, 2023, 6 months earlier.

≈ 70,000 recently naturalised citizens, (having acquired nationality since 2010) will be voting for their first or only second time.

A number of draft laws remain to be passed, before next years elections. Here’s a list.

📑 Why 2 Elections?

Luxembourg's Gender Pay Gap is the lowest in Europe.
Luxembourg’s Gender Pay Gap is the lowest in Europe.
© Eurostat

2. Luxembourg closed the gender pay gap, while women in France now ‘work for free’.

  • Women in Luxembourg earn about the same as men, a milestone achievement.

  • Eurostat estimates that the hourly pay gap in the Grand Duchy is just 0.7%

  • However, whilst the hourly-pay gap has been nearly eliminated, annual pay remains more unequal.

Women have higher-paying jobs, according to STATEC. Women have a higher median pay and a higher level of education than men and are more likely to work in higher-paying professions, sectors, and large corporations.

No other European country compares to Luxembourg. Not even Scandinavian ones, the pay gap in Sweden is 11.2% and 13.9% in Denmark Our neighbours Belgium, France and Germany have 5.3%, 15.8% and 18.3% pay gaps respectively.

Working for Free: On 4 November, women in France marked the day from which point onwards they will be “working for free” for the rest of the year.

Echternach is the oldest town in Luxembourg.
Echternach is the oldest town in Luxembourg.

3. Echternach planned to become an ‘Outlet’ Shopping City.

  • After struggling for years with empty stores and a lack of local businesses the city developed a plan in 2017 to transform Echternach into a “City Outlet”.

  • It wants to attract big brands in pedestrian zones and the main market square.

  • Proponents of the plan argue this is good for the city, as it would spread out the stores.

7,000 m2 of space across 46 business premises are currently empty and considered for the plan, said Mayor Yves Wengler (CSV).

The City’s Green (dei Greng) councillors are opposing the plan: saying that outlets create “mass instead of class”, however, a sustainability study has yet to be discussed.

Joe Biden speaks with Emmanuel Macron at the G20 meeting in Indonesia.
Joe Biden speaks with Emmanuel Macron at the G20 meeting in Indonesia.
© AFP

4. The G20 focused on macroeconomic and financial policy stability.

Disagreement over Ukraine: The declaration says that most participants strongly condemned the war but that “there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.”

Check out the full 2022 G20 Action Plan on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and G20 Development Commitments.

Xi Jinping scolded Canadian PM Justin Trudeau in an on-camera dressing down at the G20 summit, an unusual public spat that could further complicate their strained relations.

Here’s 2 more things you should know:

“I’m not suggesting this is kumbaya,” Biden said after a 3-hour long talk with Xi Jinping, where he told the Chinese leader ‘I’m not looking for conflict’, in a meeting aiming to improve rapidly deteriorating relations.

France warned the US that its new Climate and Energy law threatens the economies of Europe. Macron urged Biden to ensure that subsidies for American electric vehicles do not put European carmakers at a competitive disadvantage. The EU went a step further and threatend retaliation.https://today.rtl.lu/news/world/a/1993130.html
What were the main themes at the G20?
Brazilian President-Elect Lula said he plans to protect every bit of the Amazon rainforest at COP27.
Brazilian President-Elect Lula said he plans to protect every bit of the Amazon rainforest at COP27.
© AFP

5. The COP27 UN Climate Change Conference Concludes.

Relevant stories also on the Climate Change section below.

  • The first draft from COP27 includes text on everything from managing emissions to human rights, technology and food.

  • The ambassador of Belize called the text a “long shopping list at the moment.”

  • Some of the most contentious issues, such as loss and damage, have yet to be resolved.

No Climate Security for the world without a protected Amazon: that’s what President Lula said at CO27, pledging to reduce deforestation in the Amazon to zero adding that Brazil will “do whatever it takes to have zero deforestation and degradation of our biomes.”

The G7 launched a new insurance system called ‘Global Shield,’ backed by the V20 - a group of 58 climate-vulnerable nations to provide financial aid to vulnerable nations hit by the effects of climate change.

Update (Friday evening):

COP27 talks were extended to Saturday after countries failed to agree.

Update (Sunday morning):

A historic agreement was reached on loss and damages, but talks failed to strengthen commitments to curb the use of fossil fuels.

Climate Change

  • The world’s biggest rainforest nations (Brazil, Indonesia, DRC) launched a climate partnership to work together on conservation, signing a deforestation pact. 🌴

And in case you missed it

Your Weekly Recap is published every Friday at noon. Read earlier versions.

What did you think? What would you like the Weekly Recap to include? Let me know: christos.floros@rtl.lu

Christos Floros covers News and Politics for RTL Today @christosfloros

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