Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
[French]
Grand-Duché de Luxembourg
[German]
Grossherzogtum Luxemburg
CAPITAL : Luxembourg
FLAG : The flag is a tricolor of red, white, and blue horizontal stripes.
ANTHEM : Ons Hémecht (Our Homeland) .
MONETARY UNIT : The Luxembourg franc was replaced by the euro as official currency as of 2002. The euro is divided into 100 cents. There are coins in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 cents and 1 euro and 2 euros. There are notes of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, and 500 euros. As of May 2003, €1 = $1.0977 (or $1 = €0.911).
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES : The metric system is the legal standard.
HOLIDAYS : New Year's Day, 1 January; Labor Day, 1 May; public celebration of the Grand Duke's Birthday, 23 June; Assumption, 15 August; All Saints' Day, 1 November; Christmas, 25–26 December. Movable religious holidays include Shrove Monday, Easter Monday, Ascension, and Pentecost Monday.
TIME : 1 PM = noon GMT.
The principal trees are pine, chestnut, spruce, oak, linden, elm, and beech, along with fruit trees. There are many shrubs, such as blueberry and genista, and ferns; a multitude of lovely flowers; and many vineyards. Only a few wild animal species (deer, roe deer, and wild boar) remain, but birds are plentiful, and many varieties of fish are found in the rivers, including perch, carp, bream, trout, pike, and eel.
Livestock breeding is relatively important, particularly because of Luxembourg's dairy product exports. In 2001, livestock included 205,193 head of cattle, 78,540 pigs, 8,476 sheep, and 3,126 equines. A total of 27,200 tons of meat, and 265,900 tons of milk were produced in 2001.
There is some commercial fishing for domestic consumption and much private fishing for sport. The rivers teem with perch, carp, trout, pike, eel, and bream.
About 88,620 ha (218,980 acres) were covered by forests in 2000, of which 53% was private forest. Forestry production in 2000 included 191,716 cu m (6.7 million cu ft) of round wood from broad-leaved trees and 163,504 cu m (5.8 million cu ft) from conifers. Chief commercial woods are spruce and oak.
Tariff policies have been traditionally liberal. Luxembourg adheres to the trade regulations of the European Union. Luxembourg levies its own 15% value-added tax on imports if their final destination is Luxembourg. Non-tariff barriers exist also in the form of health, safety, and packaging regulations.
Luxembourg has no territories or colonies.
Belgium, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Watford, Eng.: Michelin Travel Publications, 2001.
Clark, Peter. Luxembourg. New York: Routledge, 1994.
D and B's Export Guide to Luxembourg. Parsippany, N.J.: Dun and Bradstreet, 1999.
Dolibois, John. Pattern of Circles: An Ambassador's Story. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1989.
Hury, Carlo. Luxembourg. Oxford, England: Clio Press, 1981.
Kurian, George Thomas. Facts on File National Profiles. The Benelux Countries. New York: Facts on File Publications, 1989.
Newcomer, James. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg: The Evolution of Nationhood. Luxembourg: Editions Emile Borschette, 1995.