News item | 31-03-2022 | 15:32
At the fourth Grensland Conference, which took place in Aachen this year, the project EnerPRO won the Grensland Prize 2022. Enerpro is committed to cooperation between the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia in a special way, by helping organizations save energy. The winner received the prize from the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Hanke Bruins Slot and Minister für Bundes- und Europaangelegenheiten Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner.
The Grensland Conference brings together people who are working hard to remove barriers at the border on themes such as security, the labor market and mobility. In recent years, a network has been created that extends not only across borders, but also across all political and administrative levels. This meeting is the perfect moment to look back together, to take steps in the collaboration and to formulate ambitions for the future.
Minister Bruins Slot: “This Grensland Conference takes place annually, but the collaboration between the Netherlands and North Rhine-Westphalia continues every day. The past years and today’s current affairs show how important our cooperation is. We are good neighbors and good friends. In the coming years I will continue to work for this cooperation and the quality of life of the regions on the border.”
Projects
A specific task at the border is to take advantage of cross-border opportunities on the labor market. For example, the SGAs (Service Points for Cross-Border Job Mediation) ensure that obstacles to finding a job in their own region, but on the other side of the border, are reduced. In addition, the GrensInfoPoints (GIPs) inform residents about living, working and studying in the neighboring country. In 2021, for example, a total of 1,540,733 people visited the GIPs website and the GIPs on the border between North Rhine-Westphalia and the Netherlands together advised 10,248 border commuters in a total of 24,472 contact moments.
However, cross-border employment also has a different face. If the border is used to make it more difficult to monitor working and housing conditions for migrant workers, often vulnerable workers can become victims of open borders. For this reason, German and Dutch labor inspectorates conduct joint inspections in the border area.
Finally, the corona pandemic in the border region has also been the major challenge in recent times, in addition to, of course, last summer’s flood. Of course we would rather not experience these events. However, much has been learned from cross-border crisis management.
General information about the Borderland Conference
The Grensland Conference North Rhine-Westphalia – Netherlands takes place annually. After Venlo (2019), Duisburg (2020) and Enschede (2021), it was the turn of the German city of Aachen this year. The next conference will be held in Nijmegen in the fall of 2023.
In the morning, an administrative consultation took place consisting of the Minister für Bundes- und Europaangelegenheiten sowie Internationales of North Rhine-Westphalia, the State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations, the King’s Commissioners of the provinces of Overijssel, Gelderland and Limburg and the Regierungspresidents of the Bezirksregierungen Münster, Cologne and Düsseldorf. In the afternoon there was a plenary programme, preceded and followed by various workshops and a networking event.