Attorney general criticises new law on removing loiterers

Luxembourg’s attorney general has criticised government plans to give police further powers to remove people blocking public roads and buildings, saying she expects the country’s de-facto upper chamber to raise objections to the proposals.

Martine Solovieff said there was “a lot to be said” about changes to the Platzverweis legislation, in an interview with RTL on Saturday. “We are usually presented with such legislative proposals for review,” she said, adding that had not yet happened.

The existing law, introduced in 2022, restricts police officers in moving on people who obstruct entrances to public or private buildings. However, the coalition government vowed to review the law after taking office last year, arguing it did not go far enough.

Under a new draft law, police officers will be given powers to intervene in a range of new scenarios, including for obstructing traffic on public roads and in cases when an individual is deemed to be “disturbing the public peace”.

The attorney general raised several objections to the draft legislation, saying that ultimately the interpretation of violations of the new law would come down to the subjective assessment of the police officer.

It is also difficult to comprehend how the police will be able to inform someone without a fixed address of an exclusion order banning them from a certain area, Solovieff added, questioning how the proposal to deliver a registered letter to such individuals will work in practice.

The State Council will also be critical of the proposed legislation, Solovieff said. The Grand Duchy’s de-facto upper chamber must submit opinions on all pieces of legislation before they can come to a vote in the Chamber of Deputies, the country’s parliament.

The attorney general also complained of “indirect interference” by politicians in the judiciary’s work during the introduction of a begging ban in Luxembourg City earlier this year.

In March, Solovieff had complained that 110 officers of the judicial police (police judiciaire), which is in charge of criminal investigations and which she oversees, had been drafted into enforcing the begging ban, making them unavailable for other responsibilities.

The public prosecutor’s office was not asked at the time for its views about the transfer of the officers, Solovieff told RTL on Saturday.

In a letter sent earlier this year, Solovieff said that over 880 working hours were lost due to the officers being reassigned to enforce the begging ban, at a time when more than 1,200 investigations remained open.

The attorney general, who will retire in February and be replaced by her current deputy John Petry, also reiterated previous comments that the judiciary’s task is being hindered by staffing shortages.

(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translation and editing by John Monaghan.)