Euregionaal Netwerk Arbeidsmigranten

The Euregional Network for Migrant Workers aimed to
strengthen the approach to tackling the exploitation of migrant workers in the
EUREGIO in a cross-border framework. Until June 2025, the EUREGIO was lead partner of the project and
coordinated project activities. The municipality of Enschede, the municipality
of Oost Gelre and the Kreis Borken were partners in the project.
For years,
migrant workers from eastern and south-eastern European countries have been
coming to the Netherlands and Germany to work in various sectors such as
logistics, agriculture and the meat industry. Due to the tight labour market,
the demand for more workers has increased and temporary employment agencies are
increasingly being called upon to find staff. The tight housing market also
makes it difficult to organise proper housing for new employees. Employment
agencies have capitalised on this gap in supply and demand by handling the
recruitment, transportation and housing of migrant workers in its entirety.
Unfortunately,
this system is prone to abuse, as labour migrants are highly dependent on these
employment agencies during their stay. Transport from their home country to the
Netherlands and Germany, commuting during their stay, accommodation and administration
are all taken care of by the employment agency. A situation a few employment
agencies manage to seriously abuse.
Exceptional
situations arise along the border, where migrant workers are regularly employed
by Dutch companies, and subsequently housed across the border in Germany. Such
schemes make it complicated for the bodies responsible for inspection and
supervision to get a grip on employment agencies guilty of exploitation.
Cheaper property prices in Germany play a role in the choice of Dutch
employment agencies to house migrant workers across the border, but equally the
lack of efficient coordination between Dutch and German authorities makes it
attractive for employment agencies to seek out the border.
Within the
Euregional Network for Migrant Workers, enforcement agencies and inspection
bodies have therefore worked together to capitalise on each other’s strengths.
For example, the results of accommodation inspections in German border
municipalities were shared with the Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie; address information
was shared with German border municipalities; and joint inspections were
carried out using a jointly drawn-up questionnaire. An overview of the
accommodation situation for migrant workers in the Kreis Borken was also
compiled.
With the project,
the partners wanted to bring together the various authorities and enforcement
agencies involved on both sides of the border, including municipalities, the
Dutch Labour Inspection, the RIEC Oost-Nederland, the Kreis Borken and the
Steuerfahndung, to gain a better understanding of the cross-border system of
employment agencies and to make joint agreements for enforcement against
exploitation.
Between June 2023
and June 2025, four roundtable meetings were organised, where insights were
exchanged, working agreements made and measures devised. At the end of the
project a Letter of Intent was signed, through which the round table structure
was embedded with the EUREGIO.