Vivre ensemble study guide

How this study guide is organised

The Vivre ensemble exam has 40 multiple-choice questions in three areas: 10 on fundamental rights, 20 on state and communal institutions, and 10 on the history of the Grand Duchy and European integration. This study guide follows the same three areas, so you always know how much a chapter is worth.

The institutions area is split into three chapters because it is half the exam and covers a lot of ground. History and the European Union have one chapter each. Rights have one chapter, with a separate page on the 2023 Constitution, which matters for both rights and institutions.

6

chapters, plus a page on the Constitution

10 / 20 / 10

exam questions per area

21

subtopics in the official syllabus

Each chapter explains the topic in plain English, lists the facts that come up in questions, points out the common traps and ends with a few practice questions with answers. The chapters are based on the official study material, which is described on the study materials page.

Fundamental rights (10 questions)

Fundamental rights

What fundamental rights are and where they come from: the French Declaration of 1789, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Then the rights in the Luxembourg Constitution and how they are grouped, the situations in which rights can be limited (age, legal incapacity, a criminal conviction, nationality), and who protects them, from the national judge to the European courts.

The dates of the four rights texts are one of the most common sources of mistakes in practice, so this chapter spends time on them.

The 2023 Constitution

The new Constitution came into force on 1 July 2023. This page explains what changed, how rights and constitutional objectives are set out, and which parts are most useful for the exam.

State and communal institutions (20 questions)

These three chapters together cover half of the exam. If your time is short, study them first.

The State and its institutions

Luxembourg as a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, the separation of powers and the symbols of the State. Then the main institutions one by one: the Grand Duke, the Chamber of Deputies, the Government and the Council of State, with who is appointed or elected, for how long, and what each body can and cannot do.

Courts and justice

The two separate court orders, judicial and administrative, and the Constitutional Court, which belongs to neither. Which court hears which case, at first instance and on appeal. This chapter contains the single most-missed fact in our practice data, so read it carefully.

Communes, elections, parties and consultative bodies

The municipal council and the board of mayor and aldermen, legislative, municipal and European elections, compulsory voting, the political parties and coalition governments, and the consultative bodies: the professional chambers and the Economic and Social Council.

History and European integration (10 questions)

History of the Grand Duchy

From the founding act of 963 to the present: the County and the Duchy, the Burgundian, Spanish and Austrian periods, French rule, the Congress of Vienna, independence and neutrality through the Treaties of London of 1839 and 1867, industrialisation, the two world wars and the post-war years. The chapter is built around a timeline you can learn.

Luxembourg and the European Union

The five treaties in order, the EU institutions and what each one does, the European institutions based in Luxembourg, and the Luxembourgers who shaped European integration. It also explains the difference between the Council of Europe and the European Union.

How to use the guide

A simple plan works for most people. Read the three institutions chapters first, since they carry 20 questions. Then read rights and history. Keep a list of the facts you keep mixing up and review it every few days.

Give each area study time in proportion to its weight. If you have ten evenings, spend about five on the three institutions chapters, two or three on rights and two or three on history and the EU. Do not skip an area you find boring: every area has a full quarter or half of the questions, and there is no published pass mark to aim at, only the SFA's confirmation of your result.

Test yourself as you go with the 20 practice questions, which follow the exam's split, and check the most-missed questions to see where other learners go wrong. If you have not decided whether to attend the 24-hour course or take the exam directly, read course or exam first; the guide is useful either way.