According with the information provided by the EU Commission’s Communication (2017) 534 "Boosting growth and cohesion in EU border regions", labour mobility and employment, have been recognized as the most important areas affected by border legal obstacles especially with regard to processes such as, i.e.,completing and apprenticeship, having one’s skills and competences fully recognized, accessing job vacancies, obtaining legal certaintiy on legal issues and social security coverage, etc…

Within the pilot initiative b-solutions, launched by the EU Commission’s DG REGIO and managed by the Association of the European Border Regions (AEBR), among the 33 cases that will receive consultancy by legal experts within the next 4 months, 6 have been identified under the thematic area of "Employment".

Despite having adopted already several tools and measures at European level, in fact, there is still room for improvement and for delineating innovative and sustainable solutions for boosting the employment at a cross-border level.

Take a look to the cases’ identified under b-solutions’second call for proposal and see if you face similar obstacles in your area:

183 days rule obstructing cross border mobility - Provincie Oost-Vlaanderen (BE-NL)

The so-called 183 days rule has both financial and administrative downsides for the employers and the employees working in the North Sea Port. When employees cross the border for more than  183 days a year, they are considered cross-border workers. This results in a confusing double tax declaration and social security contributions.

Juridical obstacles in establishment and financing of trans-national business incubator - LazdijaiDistrict Municipality (LT-PL)

In the LT and PL legislations, there is no indication on how to proceed for establishing a business incubator to reinforce the cross-border market and employment opportunities. The current practices envisage the principle “what is not allowed is forbidden”, which definitely prevents to undertake further steps towards cooperation.

Dutch-German cross-border employment of students originally from outside the EU - The Economic Board Arnhem-Nijmegen (DE-NL)

Due to differences in legislation, International students from outside the EU cannot apply for internships and jobs just across the border. This is hampering the implementation of a full CB labour market, especially in sectors where more technical, English-speaking, professionals are needed.

Cross-border work for non-EU citizens - Euregio Rhein-Maas-Nord (DE-NL)

Non-EU citizens need a variety of permits and need to fulfill different criteria to qualify for cross-border work. As long as the worker has a Schengen permit, he/she would need in addition a work permit. However, since it is the employer who needs to apply for it, most of them shy away from the effort of filing the complex application.

Current social and health insurance regulations as problem for borderland inhabitants working on both sides of border at the same time - Borderland Association "Nasza Suwalszczyzna" (NGO) (LT-PL)

Professionals knowing Polish and Lithuanian usually spend 2-3 days they in one country and rest of the week in the another. However, this leads to overlapping insurance payments by the employers, who have to bear these costs in both countries and that are so prevented to send their employees abroad.

Double personality is a single reality: working in Portugal and quoting in Spain due to legal and/or administrative impediments - EGTC Duero-Douro (PT-SP)

The EGTC is located in Spain, therefore, its CIF presents a Spanish format and, as such, Portuguese systems do not recognize it. Hiring workers in Portugal, with the Portuguese social security and quota system is impossible, while doing it through the Spanish system is not attractive to the Portuguese professionals, leading to an unbalance of nationalities within the EGTC.