A lighting assembly (100) includes an electronic driver circuit (110) and a discharge lamp (10). The discharge lamp (10) is driven with a steady-state average power of 20-30 W. It includes a discharge vessel (20) of a maximum inner dimension ID of less than 3 mm with two electrodes (24). A discharge vessel filling comprises a rare gas and a metal halide composition provided in an amount per volume of the discharge vessel (20) of less than 13.2 μg/μl. Electrical energy is supplied as an alternating current IL where pulses (150a-150d) are superimposed. The pulses occur in a time interval of 20% of a half-cycle time before or after a polarity change of the alternating current IL. During the pulses the current IL reaches the current value of at least 1.2 times the RMS value of the current IL.