Some key dates in the history of Luxembourg:
1839 – Treaty of London gives the western part of the country to the recently-created state of Belgium – giving Luxembourg its modern-day borders.
1866 – Luxembourg crisis nearly sees war between France and Prussia as neither is willing to concede influence in Luxembourg to its rival. The crisis is solved by an agreement on Luxembourg’s independence and neutrality at the Second Treaty of London in 1867.
1914 – Outbreak of World War One. Luxembourg is occupied by Germany until 1918.
1920 – Luxembourg joins the League of Nations.
1921 – Luxembourg enters economic union with Belgium. The use of the Belgian currency in Luxembourg is permitted.
1940-44 – Luxembourg is again occupied by Germany during World War Two.
1948 – Luxembourg abandons its neutrality and forms an economic union with Belgium and the Netherlands – the Benelux countries.
1949 – Luxembourg joins Nato.
1957 – Luxembourg becomes founder member of the European Economic Community (now the European Union) which comes into effect in January 1958.
1964 – Grand Duchess Charlotte abdicates in favour of her son, who becomes Grand Duke Jean.
1992 – Luxembourg adopts the Maastricht Treaty creating the European Union.
2000 – Crown Prince Henri becomes Grand Duke of Luxembourg on the abdication of his father, Jean.
2002 – Euro introduced as national currency.
2008 – Parliament approves reform restricting the monarch to a purely ceremonial role after Grand Duke Henri’s threat to block a bill legalising euthanasia sparks a constitutional crisis.
2009 – G20 adds Luxembourg to “grey list” of countries with questionable banking arrangements. Shortly afterwards the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) commends Luxembourg for improving financial transparency with agreements with a dozen countries.
2014 – Luxembourg’s parliament votes to legalise same-sex marriage. The so-called LuxLeaks scandal casts light on how Luxembourg helped hundreds of multi-national companies – Apple, Ikea, and Pepsi among them – save billions of dollars in tax payments.
2016 – In a continuation of the so-called LuxLeaks scandal, two former employees of accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers are given suspended prison sentences for leaking confidential documents revealing corporate tax deals.
Source link : https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-17548470
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Publish date : 2023-11-20 08:00:00
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