Mission Opérationelle Transfrontalière
Fonction
Mission Opérationelle Transfrontalière
Organisation
Mission Opérationelle Transfrontalière
Lien université
La mobilité frontalière entre la France et la Belgique
La mobilité frontalière entre la France et la Belgique
Border Region
France, Belgium
Language(s)
Français
Main Category
Introduction
This study was conducted as part of a collaboration between the French and Belgian public employment services, both of which are members of the EURES network, with a view to drawing up a cross-border action plan.
Summary
The objective of this detailed study on cross-border mobility between France and Belgium and more particularly between the Department of Ardennes and Wallonia was, first of all, to provide the French and Walloon public employment services with knowledge of workers' movements between the border areas of the Department of Ardennes and the provinces of Hainaut, Namur and Luxembourg.
This information was intended to allow actions plans to be drawn up that would be better adapted to the characteristics and specificities of the Ardennes and Walloon employment areas in order to facilitate the geographical and professional mobility of cross-border workers, in terms of both information and advice and assistance, service provision and recruitment.
Accordingly, this work is intended, in an initial stage, to enable local stakeholders and professionals in the employment sector to have socio-economic analysis of the Ardennes/Hainaut-Namur-Luxembourg cross-border territory, presenting the demographic specificities of the population (age, gender, educational level, level of qualification, socio-professional category, etc.) and the nature of the activity engaged in (salaried employee, employer, type of employment contract, length of contract, branch).
Secondly, the intention is to explore the issues relating to the labour market, in both its border and cross-border dimensions (characteristics, actors, demand, etc.) and in particular the question of the flows of cross-border workers, about which little was known until now on this portion of the Franco-Belgian border. The flows researched correspond to the movements of cross-border workers within the Department of Ardennes and the three Belgian province of Hainaut, Namur and Luxembourg. The cross-border flows into the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg are also presented in a complementary analysis.
The work then addresses the comparative study of the public employment services on either side of the border, looking at the points they have in common and their differences and taking into account the recent changes they have undergone. The question of vocational training, a corollary to the issue of job seeking, is also dealt with.
Finally, the study endeavours to review the situation with regard to the cross-border cooperation initiatives that exist on this segment of the Franco-Belgian border, focusing the analysis on employment-related projects in particular, with their successes and their limitations.
Content
This report consists of 8 different sections, including an introduction and a reminder of the objectives of the study that begins this work.
After this introduction and reminder, the methodology and the difficulties encountered are described in detail.
Then comes chapter 3 entitled "comparative socio-economic profiles of the territories on different scales. It is subdivided into five sub-chapters: the general contextual data (the physical geography of the territory, the demographics, the accessibility of the territory and the transport infrastructures), the demographic dynamics, economic development, employment (branches the employees work in, key sectors of activity on either side of the border, employment, activity and unemployment rates) and finally, the recruitment plans on either side of the Franco-Belgian border.
In the fourth chapter, the study looks at the question of the cross-border integration of the territories studied, the flows of cross-border workers between France and Belgium as well as the population's levels of qualification (their educational level and the presence of students from the neighbouring country).
Then the next chapter contains the comparison of the employment and vocational training systems in France and Wallonia. This chapter mainly focuses on job seeking in Belgium as well as vocational training, in both Belgium and its neighbouring country, France.
The areas of cross-border cooperation are discussed in chapter 6, which is broken down into six sub-chapters: perception of cross-border cooperation and knowledge of the neighbour, the cross-border cooperation framework from a political and institutional point of view, a review of cross-border cooperation between 2007 and 2013, the flagship projects in the field of economic development and innovation, other examples of cooperation projects and, to finish, cross-border cooperation in the field of employment and training.
The penultimate chapter lingers on the obstacles and limitations of this study, in the fields of cross-border cooperation, employment and vocational training.
To finish, the last chapter contains some recommendations and perspectives for the fields of employment and vocational training. The study ends with a conclusion and a few annexes containing other documents on the subject.
Conclusions
This study has attempted to answer the initials questions raised concerning knowledge of how the Franco-Belgian cross-border territory works, at inter-regional and cross-border level, knowledge of workers' mobility on either side of the border and of the systems in place on the Belgian and French sides, by conducting a genuine and very up-to-date diagnosis of the situation, made up of maps, statistics, diagrams and analyses.
This work has also allowed the measurement of the involvement of different stakeholders in this issue, a better understanding of what the obstacles to be overcome were, and of what points in common brought the two sides of the border closer together.
It should be borne in mind, in concluding on this work, that in view of the potential in evidence on either side of the border, there is real room for progress in terms of cooperation between the public employment services (better reciprocal knowledge, better cooperation for better links between systems and the defining of a joint policy). This objective will not be able to be reached without strong political will, without links being forged between the driving forces in the territory (local authorities, socio-economic actors), without the support at national level of the public employment services and without the benefits of networking with the stakeholders in other cross-border territories, which the MOT (Transfrontier Operational Mission) can facilitate.
The encouraging results seen by Pôle emploi Sedan show that, even with limited means, carefully constructed, structured and proactive actions can bear fruit and improve the employability and mobility of cross-border workers. And that can only be an argument in favour of the potential for the development of flows on either side of this border, as long as a more extensive involvement on the part of the local employments services is encouraged.
The unknown factor, however, remains the forthcoming reform of the Franco-Belgian tax treaty with regard to flows of workers.
Lead
Mission Opérationnelle Transfrontalière
Author of the entry
Perrine
Dethier
Keywords
Contact Person(s)
Date of creation
2019