Drivers owe more than €20m to Luxembourg
Vitalii Khodzinskyi, Unsplash
In Luxembourg, 17.9 per cent of all fines, or more than €26.5 million in monetary terms, have remained unpaid over the past five years and have not been paid into the state treasury. The problem of unpaid fines came to light following the response of Interior Minister Léon Gloden and Justice Minister Elisabeth Margue to a parliamentary enquiry by MP Mars Di Bartolomeo of the Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party (LSAP).
In 2024, the situation was particularly acute. Of the 184,100 fines issued, almost one in five remained unpaid, resulting in a loss of more than €7.3 million. In total, some 3.9 million fines were issued over the last five years, of which 702,351 remained unpaid, equivalent to 17.9 per cent of the total. This has been a significant loss to the Luxembourg budget, amounting to more than €26.5 million.
However, motorists who ignore fines should not think that they have escaped punishment. Over the past five years, more than 75,000 cases of non-payment of fines have been referred to the Luxembourg prosecutor's office. Of these, 21,600 cases were closed without consequences, but more than 32,000 cases ended in criminal judgements, resulting in additional fines of €7.4 million.
Justice Minister Elisabeth Marg confirmed that the state continues to work actively to collect debts and is also considering new methods to strengthen control over the payment of fines. The measures include expanding the powers of bailiffs and improving the system of notification of fines.
The main reasons for non-payment of fines were ignoring notices, avoiding responsibility and problems in collecting debts from foreign drivers who do not reside in Luxembourg. This is particularly relevant given the international traffic in the country.
Interior Minister Leon Gloden noted that the government is actively working to address these gaps. Modern driver identification systems are being introduced, and international agreements are being developed to simplify the collection of fines from drivers from neighbouring countries.
