Prof. Hildegard Schneider
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Five years have passed since ITEM first started in 2015. I am very happy to announce that Maastricht University and the Province of Limburg will continue to support us for the next five years with financial funding for 2020 - 2025.
ITEM is looking back on 5 intense but very successful years. Supported by a report from an external evaluation committee, we look with confidence to the next five years. During the upcoming years cooperation with other national and international border regions and stakeholders will be developed and intensified.
It is a continuous effort to prove how important cross-border cooperation is. ITEM is trying to do this on a small scale, but with always the bigger picture in mind. Whether it be cooperation in the area of health care, safety and security, migrant integration, labour mobility or recognition of diplomas, we try to work together on issues that citizens feel on a daily basis. I hope that our contribution can be developed for a small Europe first and then expanded to many more regions in a larger Europe.
That is exactly what ITEM will do. Together with you we will keep working on cross-border cooperation and Mobility. And I am happy to announce that the upcoming ITEM annual conference 2020 will be held in the Dutch province of Zeeland.
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Border regions: example for the rest of Europe
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ITEM anniversary conference 'Building cross-border cooperation' a success
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On 21 and 22 November, the fifth annual conference, so an anniversary edition, of ITEM took place in the Province of Overijssel.
Policy makers, politicians and scientists came together in Enschede to build cross-border cooperation. Highlights were the best cases on cross-border cooperation in security and care, and the presentation of the annual border effects report of ITEM.
The Commissioner of the King of Overijssel, Mr. Heidema, the Mayor of Enschede, Mr. Van Veldhuizen, the German ambassador to the Netherlands, Mr. Brengelmann, and the German MP Mr. Fricke also gave their views on cross-border cooperation. The languages spoken were German, Dutch and English, which of course gave the whole a European touch.
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Province of Limburg supports ITEM with 3 million euro
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The province of Limburg will support expertise centre ITEM with a grant of 3 million euros over the next 5 years. According to the province, ITEM contributes to the economic strengthening of Limburg and to a better business climate for the Euregion.
The expertise centre was established in 2015 to contribute to the development of a well-functioning transnational society on a scientific level. "ITEM has, more than expected, gained a place in the field of cross-border mobility. Our work is appreciated at local level, but also in The Hague and Brussels", says ITEM Director Prof. Hildegard Schneider. ITEM director Prof. Dr. Anouk Bollen explains how ITEM does this.
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ITEM illustrates again the need for proper assessment of border-effects of national legislation
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The ITEM Cross-Border Impact Assessment 2019 has been published!
From 1st of January 2020, the new Dutch law on the legal status of civil servants could prevent certain employees of Dutch universities – those who live in Belgium or Germany – from working at home. Different from their situation so far, it will matter how much time they work in their office or at home. Hence, the changes could mean that their situation with respect to social security coverage (and possibly pensions) will dramatically change, as will the situation of the employer regarding the payment of these employees’ social contributions. As shown in ITEM’s impact assessment 2019, the consequences of this national piece of legislation for cross-border workers were detected after the law’s adoption with certain uncertainties and ad-hoc investigation of the consequences. The case again illustrates the need for proper assessment of border-effects of national legislation.
With its annual Cross-Border Impact Assessment, the Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross-border cooperation and Mobility / ITEM is precisely doing that: it provides more insight into European and national legislative and policy initiatives. The report 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 for (cross-)border regions. In particular, these impact assessments help to identify existing or future cross-border effects. Notably, the results of individual research dossiers contribute to the political debate and may provide constructive input during the legislative process. This article provides an overview of the most important insights generated by the ITEM Cross-Border Impact Assessment 2019.
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Survey - ITEM cross-border impact assessment 2020
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With its annual Cross-Border Impact Assessment, the ITEM Expertise Centre provides more insight into 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. More information about the ITEM Cross-Border Impact Assessment can be found here.
The stakeholder consultation is the important first step of the annual ITEM Cross-Border Impact Assessment. 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 19 January 2020. You can send your dossier suggestion to ITEM via the following links:
In English
In Dutch
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Second category of people affected by childcare allowance: PhD students with grant
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As ‘grant PhD students’ are not paid by the university but receive funding via an external (foreign) scholarship, they are not entitled to a child care allowance in the Netherlands.
There are several cases of scholarship PhD students who do not receive a childcare allowance, or who suddenly have to pay back their received allowance worth thousands of euros. Last spring, Minister Van Engelshoven of Education, Culture and Sciences answered parliamentary questions about the right to child care allowance for PhD students.
The ITEM Expertise Centre questioned her arguments on the basis of European law and for this reason had already initiated a test case before. Last month, however, the District Court of Limburg dismissed this appeal as unfounded. ITEM is appealing to the Council of State. Do you want to know exactly what the situation is and what you can do yourself as a PhD student? Then read on.
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Working on the other side of the border: a bureaucratic maze
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The Halloween Brexit didn’t take place. However, the lead-up to Brexit made it clear that it isn’t so easy to just cut off EU ties. Because when the UK leaves, it will have big consequences for the way its borders work. Now it is quite easy to travel and move to the UK, whereas Brexit will make this much harder. The free movement of workers is an important idea that the EU is built upon. Maastricht University researcher Bastiaan Didden, studied how the free movement of workers in The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany works in practice. He looked into how the EU borders affect pensions, social security and taxes when working across a border.
Didden, ITEM PhD candidate in tax law, has found out that there are quite some uncertainties when it comes to these subjects. This is because the EU-member states are in large part independent concerning their taxes, pensions and social security rules. With more than 1.4 million cross-border workers in the EU (in 2017), the pensions of a significant amount of EU citizens are at stake. Because it could be the case that the pension you are building up in Germany can’t be continued in Belgium when you start working there.
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Successful Completion B-Solutions Project “Roadmap and factsheet for the recognition of qualifications for highly demanded professions”
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The B-solutions project ‘Roadmap and factsheet for the recognition of qualifications for highly demanded professionals’ has been successfully concluded with the launch of the first roadmaps and factsheets. Whereas roadmaps are aimed at first line supporters such as job mediators and cross-border information point employees, factsheets are aimed at citizens. The documents and project results were presented at a workshop organised by the Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross border cooperation and Mobility / ITEM and the Province of Limburg (NL) on 29 October 2019 in Maastricht.
The project, which was submitted by the Province of Limburg as lead applicant and was carried out by ITEM, aimed at boosting cross-border mobility and employability by improving recognition. In particular, the documents were proposed to increase the transparency of recognition procedures in the border region of the Netherlands with Belgium (i.e. the three Communities) and Germany (i.e. North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony). In order to increase transparency, the documents would provide information going beyond that readily available online and via first line support services.
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ITEM researcher co-authors WODC study on migration of asylum permit holders
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On Thursday 10 October, a report concerning migration of asylum permission holders was published by the Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Security and Justice (WODC) and Statistics Netherlands (CBS). This report is co-authored by Marloes de Hoon, a PhD candidate who is conducting research into mobility of refugees under the umbrella of the Institute for Transnational and Euregional cross border cooperation and Mobility (ITEM) at Maastricht University and affiliated to Statistics Netherlands. The report is co-authored with Arjen Leerkes, professor at Maastricht University and research fellow at WODC.
The publication provides insights into migration of people who applied for asylum in the Netherlands in the nineties and obtained a Dutch residence permit (permit holders). Did they stay in their country of asylum or did former asylum seekers decide to engage in international migration once more? How do asylum permit holders who left differ from those who decided to stay? And what were the main destinations of those who registered their emigration?
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ITEM Scientific Publications
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