{"id":37859,"date":"2023-12-20T03:39:52","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T02:39:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stage.deutschland-nederland.eu\/projects\/euregionaal-netwerk-arbeidsmigranten\/"},"modified":"2026-08-09T08:03:32","modified_gmt":"2026-08-09T07:03:32","slug":"euregionaal-netwerk-arbeidsmigranten","status":"publish","type":"projects","link":"https:\/\/deutschland-nederland.eu\/en\/projects\/euregionaal-netwerk-arbeidsmigranten\/","title":{"rendered":"Euregionaal Netwerk Arbeidsmigranten"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Euregional Network for Migrant Workers aimed to<br \/>\nstrengthen the approach to tackling the exploitation of migrant workers in the<br \/>\nEUREGIO in a cross-border framework. Until June 2025, the EUREGIO was lead partner of the project and<br \/>\ncoordinated project activities. The municipality of Enschede, the municipality<br \/>\nof Oost Gelre and the Kreis Borken were partners in the project.<br \/>\nFor years,<br \/>\nmigrant workers from eastern and south-eastern European countries have been<br \/>\ncoming to the Netherlands and Germany to work in various sectors such as<br \/>\nlogistics, agriculture and the meat industry. Due to the tight labour market,<br \/>\nthe demand for more workers has increased and temporary employment agencies are<br \/>\nincreasingly being called upon to find staff. The tight housing market also<br \/>\nmakes it difficult to organise proper housing for new employees. Employment<br \/>\nagencies have capitalised on this gap in supply and demand by handling the<br \/>\nrecruitment, transportation and housing of migrant workers in its entirety.<br \/>\nUnfortunately,<br \/>\nthis system is prone to abuse, as labour migrants are highly dependent on these<br \/>\nemployment agencies during their stay. Transport from their home country to the<br \/>\nNetherlands and Germany, commuting during their stay, accommodation and administration<br \/>\nare all taken care of by the employment agency. A situation a few employment<br \/>\nagencies manage to seriously abuse.<br \/>\nExceptional<br \/>\nsituations arise along the border, where migrant workers are regularly employed<br \/>\nby Dutch companies, and subsequently housed across the border in Germany. Such<br \/>\nschemes make it complicated for the bodies responsible for inspection and<br \/>\nsupervision to get a grip on employment agencies guilty of exploitation.<br \/>\nCheaper property prices in Germany play a role in the choice of Dutch<br \/>\nemployment agencies to house migrant workers across the border, but equally the<br \/>\nlack of efficient coordination between Dutch and German authorities makes it<br \/>\nattractive for employment agencies to seek out the border. <br \/>\nWithin the<br \/>\nEuregional Network for Migrant Workers, enforcement agencies and inspection<br \/>\nbodies have therefore worked together to capitalise on each other&rsquo;s strengths.<br \/>\nFor example, the results of accommodation inspections in German border<br \/>\nmunicipalities were shared with the Nederlandse Arbeidsinspectie; address information<br \/>\nwas shared with German border municipalities; and joint inspections were<br \/>\ncarried out using a jointly drawn-up questionnaire. An overview of the<br \/>\naccommodation situation for migrant workers in the Kreis Borken was also<br \/>\ncompiled.<br \/>\nWith the project,<br \/>\nthe partners wanted to bring together the various authorities and enforcement<br \/>\nagencies involved on both sides of the border, including municipalities, the<br \/>\nDutch Labour Inspection, the RIEC Oost-Nederland, the Kreis Borken and the<br \/>\nSteuerfahndung, to gain a better understanding of the cross-border system of<br \/>\nemployment agencies and to make joint agreements for enforcement against<br \/>\nexploitation.<br \/>\nBetween June 2023<br \/>\nand June 2025, four roundtable meetings were organised, where insights were<br \/>\nexchanged, working agreements made and measures devised. At the end of the<br \/>\nproject a Letter of Intent was signed, through which the round table structure<br \/>\nwas embedded with the EUREGIO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"template":"","pr-category":[274],"pr-priority":[290],"pr-stat":[255,257,252],"class_list":["post-37859","projects","type-projects","status-publish","hentry","pr-category-integration-education-and-labor-market","pr-priority-a-europe-closer-to-the-citizens-in-the-border-area","pr-stat-abgeschlossen","pr-stat-completed","pr-stat-neu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deutschland-nederland.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projects\/37859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deutschland-nederland.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/projects"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deutschland-nederland.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/projects"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deutschland-nederland.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"pr-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deutschland-nederland.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pr-category?post=37859"},{"taxonomy":"pr-priority","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deutschland-nederland.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pr-priority?post=37859"},{"taxonomy":"pr-stat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deutschland-nederland.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pr-stat?post=37859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}