Prof. Hildegard Schneider
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The year 2018 is slowly coming to an end and Christmas holidays are right around the corner. Everyone still seems busy trying to finalise urgent matters and run the last necessary errands.
Looking back on the year 2018 from an ITEM perspective, I think we can be content with the results we have achieved in the past months. We have actively participated in many projects, trying to help citizens and institutions in border regions to overcome obstacles they have been facing when crossing borders for work or trying to set-up a cooperation project. Not all problems that were brought to us could be solved directly. However, step by step, we can contribute to practical and sustainable solutions.
During the past months, we have been engaged in many conferences and workshops. Together with the BENELUX, we organised a workshop on the recognition of diplomas.
In November, we celebrated ITEM’s 4th annual conference, which we organised together with the European Committee of the Regions and DG Regio of the European Commission in Brussels. We can look back on a successful event where we seriously discussed some of the most urgent problems with regard to cross-border cooperation. For example, when talking about the need for cross-border impact assessments on national levels, there is a need to look into other ways of data-collection. Our annual conference was also a meeting with many old and new friends from all over Europe, who work in border regions on similar problems. The exchange of ideas and solutions was very fruitful. We will continue this dialogue and exchange of knowledge in the years to come.
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ITEM cross-border impact assessment 2018
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With its annual Cross-border Impact Assessment, the ITEM Expertise Centre provides more inside about European and national law and policy initiatives and their effects on border regions. The assessment is intended as a valuable tool for policy makers at regional, national and European level when taking decisions on legislation and regulations with (additional) effects on border regions.
The ITEM Cross-border Impact Assessment 2018 contains six dossiers on a wide range of cross-border issues that deal with effects on border regions and/or cross-border mobility.
For example, the Baukindergeld dossier examines the border effects of the proposed German measure to promote the residential property of young families. This proposed measure appears to be contrary to EU law as it penalises frontier workers who work in Germany but live outside Germany. The ITEM Expertise Centre recommends that a coherent analysis of the impact of the new legislation on cross-border workers be included on this point during the parliamentary debate on new legislation. The Social Security dossier examines the social security position of non-standard workers (e.g. platform workers working for Uber, Deliveroo etc.) in a cross-border working relationship. One can no longer ignore the increase of new forms of employment and employment contracts such as on-call work, part-time work, irregular work, etc. However, the current European rules still assume a physical presence at a workplace. The ITEM Expertise Centre recommends that both current national legislation and European regulations should be tightened or amended.
ITEM cross-border impact assessment 2018
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Survey - ITEM cross-border impact assessment 2019
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Each year ITEM's stakeholders are given the opportunity to make dossier suggestions for ITEM's cross-border impact assessment based on their experiences. For this a survey is available.
The survey allows you to feed ITEM with issues regarding legislation, policy and enforcement on a European, national and regional level. Based on the full list of dossier suggestions, ITEM will draw up a shortlist of dossiers that will be analysed by its researchers and experts.
Grab the opportunity to share your experiences with ITEM! Dossier suggestions can be made up to and including 17 January 2019. You can send your dossier suggestion to ITEM via the following links:
In English
In Dutch
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Frontier workers not eligible for Baukindergeld?
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In March the German coalition agreed to a subsidy aimed at stimulating young families' own home ownership financially. Only people living in Germany are eligible. What does this mean for taxpaying frontier workers? According to expertise centre ITEM the condition to apply for Baukindergeld constitutes a restriction on the European freedoms. The Baukindergeld was examined in the framework of ITEM’s annual Cross-border Impact Assessment.
In the Koalitionsvertrag, the CDU, CSU and SPD have agreed, within the framework of the so-called Wohnraumoffensive, to a subsidy aimed at stimulating young families' own home ownership. The Baukindergeld ('Building children benefit') is a child dependent subsidy that can be obtained for a period of ten years for the purchase of an existing or newly built home in Germany. The subsidy is € 1,200 per child per year (up to the age of 25). A condition for the benefit is that the annual taxable family income does not exceed € 75,000, to be increased by € 15,000 per child. The subsidy can be requested since September 2018 and is retroactively valid from 1 January 2018. As a part of the ITEM Cross-border Impact Assessment 2018, the expertise centre ITEM investigated this if the Baukindergeld constitutes a restriction on the freedom of movement and the freedom of establishment of persons.
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PhD scholarship students should be allowed to childcare allowance
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Are doctoral researchers entitled to childcare allowance in the Netherlands?
Two PhD students from outside the EU but working in the Netherlands are married and have a child together. To combine their parenting and research activities in the Netherlands, they make use of childcare. They have applied for childcare benefit for this purpose. According to the Dutch tax authorities, however, they are not entitled to this benefit because according to the Dutch administration, the labour of the researchers cannot be regarded as an employment.
The ITEM expertise centre investigated this case and concluded that the tax authorities do not sufficiently take European rules in account here. A test case is being prepared, and a decision is expected soon.
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Update complaint procedure: Dutch Child care workers in North Rhine-Westphalia
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In order to cope with labour market shortages and abundances in the area of child care work it has been proposed that Dutch child care workers be employed across the border in Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia). However, recognition procedures have proven to stand in the way of the swift labour market access of Dutch child care workers.
A current complaint procedure led by several parties in the region of The Netherlands / North Rhine Westphalia (Expertise Centre ITEM and the Service Grensoverschrijdende Arbeidsbemiddeling in particular) is aimed at finding out whether the cross-border mobility of child care workers may be facilitated. In particular, the complaint procedure is aimed at examining whether partial recognition as Erzieher could be enabled for Dutch child care workers.
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ITEM ANNUAL CONFERENCE 2018
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Successful 4th edition ITEM annual conference 'Cross-border cooperation: challenges ahead'
On 16 November, the fourth annual ITEM (Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross-border cooperation and Mobility) conference took place. Around 120 experts and scientists from several countries gathered in Brussels to discuss the theme 'Cross-border cooperation: challenges ahead'. The conference was organised in collaboration with the European Committee of the Regions and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Regional Policy and Urban Development (DG Regio).
The meeting was opened with a welcome speech and keynote by Prof.Dr. Hildegard Schneider (Professor of European Law and Board of ITEM). Prof. Schneider referred to the 15th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty, which gave birth to European citizenship. Schneider: "The Maastricht Treaty entered into force 15 years ago. The European Union's promise is a free area without borders, yet it is still often difficult to cross borders because of time-consuming procedures. It is the European citizen who builds the European Union, so it’s important that the citizen has confidence in the EU, not only in the preservation of peace, but also in the organisation of processes that directly affect the citizen, such as free movement, free rights and the ability to cross borders.
Strong networks and mutual trust The main objective of the meeting was to exchange views in order to support strong networks for citizens and society in European border regions. Networks enable border regions to cooperate in cross-border labour markets, improve information on the impact of legislation on border regions and build mutual trust. The theme of mutual trust was the common thread throughout the conference and was mentioned by several speakers. They argued that building mutual trust between the borders should receive structural attention. Succesful cross-border collaboration first requires investment before practical challenges can be tackled.
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ITEM expertmeeting: Revival of the so-called thirteenth country system?
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On 8 November an expert meeting on the so-called thirteenth country system took place in the Gouvernement in Maastricht. Professors, policy officers and young scientists were part of the meeting. After the opening speech by Governor T. Bovens, an introduction by Prof. D. Pieters and some reflections by F. De Wispelaere and Prof. M. Weerepas, a lively and pleasant discussion took place under the inspiring leadership of Prof. H. Verschueren.
In the nineties Prof. D. Pieters and S. Vansteenkiste published a proposal to introduce a thirteenth country system. The thirteenth system should be a system for intra-Community migrants that is in addition to national social security legislation. One of the outcomes of the meeting was to consider the possibility of a thirteenth system 2.0.
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ITEM/Benelux expertmeeting: Recognition of qualifications
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Successful ITEM-Benelux Workshop on qualification recognition in Europe
The workshop, jointly organised by ITEM and the Benelux, focused on how qualifications are recognised in the EU. The objective of the day was to analyse recognition and transparency in different regional and institutional contexts. Two panels focused on challenges and good practices in the Benelux-Germany region and in the EU as a whole. During the panels initiatives such as the German platform "Anerkennung-in-deutschland.de", Europass and the European Qualifications Framework were discussed. Through presentations, participants were introduced to, among others, Swiss recognition practice and the current European Commission initiative for automatic recognition. During the workshop, the B-solutions project to develop roadmaps and fact sheets for the recognition of highly demanded professions was also presented.
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ITEM Scientific Publications
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Some examples of ITEM's recent scientific publications:
See for a complete overview of ITEM's scientific publications the ITEM website.
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