The Dutch province of Limburg shares a long stretch of border with Germany and Belgium. It is home to three large border regions, i.e. Euregios: the Euregio Rhine-Waal, the Euregio Rhine-Meuse-North and the Euregio Meuse-Rhine. It is therefore no surprise that the Province of Limburg is one of the most important users and financiers of the GrenzInfoPunkte network and Team Grenzarbeit.
On 14 December 2023, representatives of the GrenzInfoPunkte (GIP) and Teams Grenzarbeit in Aachen-Eurode, Maastricht, Mönchengladbach and Kleve met with Elianne Demollin-Schneiders, the new Provincial Minister for Administration, Education and Labour Market, Regional Agreements and European Funds of the Province of Limburg, and Dominique Steins, Labour Market and Economy Officer, to discuss the tasks and opportunities, as well as the necessity of the information points. They also addressed the financing period of the GIP, which ends in 2024 and starts again in 2025.
In the discussions and presentations, it became clear that the work of the GIP and cross-border job placement through cross-border work will continue to be indispensable in the future. Due to the complex situations and regulations, the individual situations of companies and cross-border workers must always be considered and evaluated individually in order to provide all customers with the right information. The situation in the areas of taxes and social security is becoming even more complicated. The demand for modern working methods and the emerging shortage of skilled labour are also contributing to this. These were not fully taken into account in previous regulations and were therefore only partially adapted to today’s working reality.
Of course, Ms Demollin-Schneiders was not yet able to make any commitments for the funding period from 2025. However, it was clear from the discussions that she values and recognises the achievements and relevance of GrenzInfoPunkte and Grenzarbeit.
