Luxembourg is a member of the European Union, NATO, OECD, the United Nations, Benelux, and the Western European Union, reflecting the political consensus in favour of economic, political, and military integration. The city of Luxembourg, the largest and capital city, is the seat of several institutions and agencies of the EU.
Luxembourg culture is a mix of Romance Europe and Germanic Europe, borrowing customs from each of the distinct traditions. Luxembourg is a trilingual country; German, French and Luxembourgish are official languages. Although a secular state, Luxembourg is predominantly Roman Catholic.
Land and People
Luxembourg is drained by the Sûre (Sauer) and Alzette rivers, both tributaries of the Moselle (Mosel), which forms part of its eastern border. The Ardennes Mts. extend into N Luxembourg. The southwestern section is part of the Luxembourg-Lorraine iron-mining basin, once one of the most productive iron and steel manufacturing regions in the world; Esch-sur-Alzette is its main center. The people are an amalgam of Celtic, French, and German ancestry. In the Letzeburgesch language, which is a prevailing Low German dialect, the duchy is called Letzeburg. German and French are both administrative languages, and English is also widely spoken. The majority of the population is Roman Catholic; there are Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim minorities.
Economy
Iron ore made the fortune of modern Luxembourg, and although its ores are now depleted, the steel industry continues, using iron imported from France. Much of the labor force consists of foreign workers. The country is an increasingly important center for information technology and telecommunications industries, as well as a hub of banking and financial services. Tourism is also important, and Luxembourg derives great economic benefits as a center for many European Union functions, including the European Investment Bank and the European Court of Justice. Other industries are food processing, cargo transport, and the production of chemicals, metal products, tires, glass, and aluminum. Grapes, grains, potatoes, and fruits are grown and livestock is raised. Machinery and equipment, steel and rubber products, chemicals, and glass are the main exports; imports include minerals, metals, foodstuffs, consumer goods, and fuel. Germany, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands are the principal trading partners.
Transport in Luxembourg
Luxembourg has efficient road, rail and air transport facilities and services. The road network has been significantly modernized in recent years with 147 km of motorways connecting the capital to adjacent countries. The advent of the high-speed TGV link to Paris has led to renovation of the city's railway station while a new passenger terminal at Luxembourg Airport has recently been opened. There are plans to introduce trams in the capital and light-rail lines in adjacent areas within the next few years.
The number of cars per 1000 persons amount to 680.1 in Luxembourg—within eurozone only British overseas territory Gibraltar and the Principality of Monaco score higher in this respect.
Communications
The telecommunications industry in Luxembourg is liberalized and the electronic communications networks are significantly developed. Competition between the different operators is guaranteed by the legislative framework Paquet Telecom of the Government of 2005 which transposes the European Telecom Directives into Luxembourgean law. This encourages the investment in networks and services. The regulator ILR – Institut Luxembourgeois de Régulation ensures the compliance to these legal rules
Luxembourg has modern and widely deployed optical fibre and cable networks throughout the country. With its central position in Europe, stable economy and low taxes, Luxembourg is an ideal gateway to the European telecommunication markets.
It ranks 2nd in the world in the development of the Information and Communication Technologies in the ITU ICT Development Index and 8th in the Global Broadband Quality Study 2009 by the University of Oxford and the University of Oviedo.
Luxembourg is connected to all major European Internet Exchanges (AMS-IX Amsterdam, DE-CIX Frankfurt, LINX London), datacenters and POPs through redundant optical networks. In addition, the country is connected to the virtual meetme room services (vmmr) of the international data hub operator Ancotel. This enables Luxembourg to interconnect with all major telecommunication operators and data carriers worldwide. The interconnection points are in Frankfurt, London, New York and Hong Kong.
Several providers interconnect Luxembourg to the major European data hubs
Teralink (P&TLuxembourg, also called EPT Luxembourg: incumbent operator)
LuxConnect (shareholder : Government) LuxConnect tested in June 2011 the 100G coherent transmission of data signals between Luxembourg and Amsterdam.
Artelis/Cegecom(alternative telecommunications provider in Luxembourg and Saarland)
Satellite connectivity – Teleports (SES Astra), Broadcasting Center Europe and P&T Luxembourg-Uplink Cloche d'Or.
Luxembourg is connected through an optical DWDM network, called Teralink to several Tier 1 upstream providers like Level3 and Global Crossing. Teralink offers connectivities up to 100 Gbit/s. P&TLuxembourg has established in 2011 a coherent 100Gbit/s IP connection between Frankfurt and Luxembourg with live traffic.
The Internet IPV6 protocol has been introduced to the country by Restena and P&T Luxembourg.
Luxembourg has two Internet exchange points and one Carrier Ethernet Exchange points.
LIX is a neutral Internet exchange operated by the RESTENA Foundation. Its aim is to easily interconnect the different Internet Service Providers (ISPs) within Luxembourg.
LUX-CIX is Luxembourg's neutral and commercial Internet Exchange Point which was founded in 2009 by Cegecom, Datacenter Luxembourg, Global Media Systems, INEXIO, LuxConnect, P&T Luxemboug and Root eSolutions. It offers a short, fast and efficient route to the major European Internet networks.
LEX is the Luxembourg Ethernet Exchange located in the Tier IV certified ebrc datacenter
The online portal De Guichet of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a single one-stop online shop for citizens and companies to realize different sorts of administrative steps (procedures, online forms, downloadable forms and advices) by Internet.
PSA Peugeot Citroën, with P&T Luxembourg as its partner, has introduced an integrated mobile telecommunication solution for the development of its telematic services in Europe.
Government
Luxembourg is a constitutional monarchy governed under the constitution of 1868 as revised. The hereditary monarch is the titular head of state. The government is headed by the prime minister, who is appointed by the monarch with the approval of the legislature. The 60 members of the unicameral legislature, the Chamber of Deputies, are elected by popular vote to five-year terms. The 21 members of the Council of State, an advisory body to the legislature, are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. Administratively the country is divided into three districts.
Culture of Luxembourg
Edward Steichen, Luxembourgish photographer and painter
Luxembourg has been overshadowed by the culture of its neighbours, although, having been for much of its history a profoundly rural country, it retains a number of folk traditions. There are several notable museums, mostly located in the capital; these include the National Museum of History and Art (MNHA), the Luxembourg City History Museum, and the new Grand Duke Jean Museum of Modern Art (Mudam). The National Museum of Military History (MNHM) in Diekirch is especially known for its representations of the Battle of the Bulge. The city of Luxembourg itself is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, on account of the historical importance of its fortifications.
The country has produced some internationally known artists, including the painters Théo Kerg, Joseph Kutter and Michel Majerus, as well as the photographer Edward Steichen. Steichen's The Family of Man exhibition is now permanently housed in Clervaux, and it has been placed on UNESCO's Memory of the World register. Movie star Loretta Young was of Luxembourgish descent.
Luxembourg was the first city to be named European Capital of Culture twice. The first time was in 1995. In 2007, the European Capital of Culture was to be a cross-border area consisting of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Rheinland-Pfalz and Saarland in Germany, the Walloon Region and the German-speaking part of Belgium, and the Lorraine area in France. The event was an attempt to promote mobility and the exchange of ideas, crossing borders in all areas, physical, psychological, artistic and emotional.
Luxembourg was represented at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China from 1 May to 31 October 2010 with its own pavilion. The pavilion was based on the translation of the word Luxembourg into Chinese, which means ‘Lu Sen Bao’: Forest and Fortress. It represented Luxembourg as the ‘Green Heart in Europe'.
Media
Luxembourg is known in Europe for its radio and television stations (Radio Luxembourg, RTL Group). It is also the uplink home of SES Astra, carrier of major European satellite services for Germany and Britain.
Due to the audiovisual law of 1988, which established a special tax regime for audiovisual investment, the film and co-production in Luxembourg has grown steadily. There exists approximately 30 by agreed production companies in Luxembourg.
Sport
Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck are two famous professional cyclists for Leopard Trek. They are best known for the Mountain stages of the Tour de France.
Gilles Müller is a professional tennis player, Ranked No. 42 as of (3 October 2011), competing in the fourth round of the 2011 US Open.
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