Minister of Interior and of Land Management Jean-Marie Halsdorf of Luxembourg

Jean-Marie Halsdorf was born on 1 February 1957 in Luxembourg.

Deeply involved in local politics, but also in issues relating to health and social security, Jean-Marie Halsdorf was elected Municipal Councillor of the municipality of Pétange on 1 January 1988.

Since 2000, Jean-Marie Halsdorf has occupied the post of secretary general of Syvicol (the Association of Luxembourg Towns and Municipalities.

In 2003, Jean-Marie Halsdorf was also designated as rapporteur on the Government’s budget for the 2004 financial year.

During his term of office as deputy, Jean-Marie Halsdorf was also a full member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly and a deputy member of the European Union’s Committee of the Regions, the Benelux Interparliamentary Consultative Council and the Inter-regional Parliamentary Council.

Following the elections on 13 June 2004, Jean-Marie Halsdorf was appointed on 31 July 2004 as Minister for Home Affairs and Town and Country Planning.

Halsdorf says his role in the political process was to act primarily as a coordinator and a motivator, who also brought know-how to the table because the process was almost unprecedented in that it committed the communes to working in a horizontal manner and not in a vertical way.

The statutes are now being drawn up for a Communauté Urbaine, based on the French model, which, Halsdorf says was necessary because the convention signed between his ministry and the Comité Politique Nordstad does not provide a solid enough legal basis for the longer term.

Meanwhile, Halsdorf is busy redrawing the map of Luxembourg.

Police arrested a man, whom witnesses claim started the blaze by setting fire to a newspaper, Interior Minister Jean-Marie Halsdorf said at the scene.