Luxembourg's national railway, the CFL, will close its busiest cross-border line, between Luxembourg and Thionville, from 16 July to 23 August 2026 for track works, forcing tens of thousands of French commuters onto replacement buses. The TGV to Paris is suspended for much of the summer too.
Nearly half of Luxembourg's workforce commutes from France, Belgium or Germany. These frontaliers are taxed at source in tax class 1, but can opt for resident assimilation to unlock class 2 and deductions if 90% of household income is taxed in Luxembourg (50% for Belgians). A separate 34-day limit governs how many home-working days stay tax-free; social security uses yet another rule, allowing up to 49% remote work.
The Grand Est Region unveiled at Metz station on 4 May 2026 the first of 16 double-decker trains now running on the Metz-Thionville-Luxembourg line. Each five-car Z26500 set seats 554 passengers, up from 313, and has been cleared to cross into Luxembourg since 29 April. The plan lifts peak-hour capacity toward 21,000 seats by 2030, with Luxembourg co-funding a new Metz-area workshop.
Luxembourg's economy runs on cross-border workers - 231,519 of them, nearly half the salaried workforce. For 2026, two separate thresholds govern their telework: a 34-day-a-year tax tolerance, now identical for France, Germany and Belgium, and a separate social-security ceiling of just under 50%. Mixing them up can be expensive.
An EU revision of social-security rules will shift the cost of unemployment benefits for cross-border workers onto Luxembourg, the country where they work. With frontaliers filling about 47% of its salaried jobs, the Grand Duchy faces an estimated 200 million euros in extra annual cost. It secured a five-year phase-in, extendable to seven, but did not support the text.
France and Luxembourg again failed to lift the 34-day cap on tax-free teleworking for French cross-border workers at December's intergovernmental commission. France wants a 40% threshold plus revenue-sharing; Luxembourg offers only 25% and refuses retrocession. With talks pushed to late 2026, more than 120,000 frontaliers stay stuck on a rule that competitors abandoned years ago.
Luxembourg’s cross-border workers remain central to the economy, but 2026 raises practical questions about unemployment benefits, wage gaps, transport costs and housing pressure.
A possible EU change would affect frontaliers who worked at least 26 weeks in Luxembourg before becoming unemployed.
ADEM’s 2025 report shows more than 42,000 registered jobseekers, a 25% rise since 2022 and growing pressure from cross-border unemployment rules.