In the greater region SaarLorLux, the development of atypical forms of secondment of workers between Luxembourg and Lorraine was followed. This article focuses on the cross-border secondment of temporary workers from Luxembourg to Lorraine. It turns out that French nationals are often seconded to Lorraine as temporary workers by Luxembourgian agencies. Sometimes they will work close to home. This document is structured into three parts. First, it presents the most important socio-economical dimensions of these secondment practices. Then it shows how the different economic dynamics and social legislation between countries contributed to the development of cross-border mobility (which includes the secondment of workers). Finally, it presents the current elements of the debate about secondment from the point of view of the local representatives of Luxembourg's temping agencies, representatives of the labour union and those responsible at the French labour inspection. The temping agencies in Luxembourg therefore play a determining role for Luxembourg and Lorraine. They use the different tax and social legislations on the order of the companies in Lorraine. For them, temporary workers of Luxembourgian agencies are less expensive than temporary workers from Lorraine. These are qualified workers for industry and construction. They are seconded for relatively long periods and for permanent tasks. These are also workers who have worked for Luxembourgian agencies for a long time. The different levels, employer costs, social security benefits and wages form the basis for the development of such practices. According to those responsible in the temping agencies, such practices are legal, even though they are viewed very critically by labour unions and employees in Lorraine. The labour inspectors also consider them insufficiently controlled due to lack of funds.
The articles in this edited collection deal with the conditions and obstacles of the cross-border flow of information. The question is also raised as to why the development of a European media public sphere has been a difficult undertaking. The investigations are mainly concerned with the Greater Region. It is clear that media production is still largely national in character. Above all, the concept of the “journalistic field” (Bourdieu) is used to contribute to an expanded understanding of European media phenomena.
Saarland sees itself as a bridge between Germany and France. Due to historical developments, there is already a great deal of expertise on France, which is to be expanded further.
The France Strategy is designed as a comprehensive and civil society project. In close cooperation with Lorraine, it pursues an internal strategy (strengthening French competence within the country) and an external and communication strategy (marketing Saarland’s French competence externally, i.e. to France and Germany). Even if French competence is the focal point, the France Strategy is essentially a multilingual strategy.
The France Strategy has so far been complemented by two “Feuille de route” (roadmaps), which list milestones.
Saarland’s France Strategy will be discussed in the light of different professional contexts and with the consideration of large regional, national, European and global processes. The contributions are based on a public lecture series in which cross-border realities of life, measures, cooperation and multilingualism in the border region were discussed. The German-French cooperation and the importance of the France Strategy in various fields of action will be discussed, as well as the existing opportunities and challenges, but also possible contributions from academics and society to use the potentials of the border region will be examined from different scientific perspectives.
In the light of the Schengen Agreement border checks at the EU internal borders have largely been abolished. Thirty years after the signature of this agreement, Europe faces “refugee crisis” (EC 2016). After recent events such as the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, some countries decided to re-establish border controls. What are the impacts of the reintroduction of these border controls from a spatial perspective? To answer this question, the authors propose a synthetic literature review on conceptual tools for analyzing the reintroduction of border controls and link these with a set of empirical findings. The focus is on the Greater Region, a cross-border region where functional flows are important.
In order to analyze the importance of national borders for spatial identities in border regions, a multidimensional analysis model will be developed. Using the example of the SaarLorLux Greater Region, both the representation of space and the organization of the everyday practices of the residents of the region as well as the spatial projections in political discourses are examined. It becomes clear that, despite cross-border interdependencies, national borders play an important role in the residents’ processes of identification with and identification by/of. However, they are not regarded as rigid categories.
In this anthology, the authors examine how cross-border regions emerge and what characterizes them. The practices of institutional participants and border area residents in the fields of the labor market, economy, political cooperation, media, everyday life and culture will be analyzed and discussed.
The author examines the question of whether the intensive number of commuters can actually be described - as is usually proclaimed in public discourse – as a sign of progressive integration or whether it can be interpreted more as an indication of persistent socio-economic imbalances between the sub-regions. To do this, he juxtaposes political visions with empirical realities. In the conclusion “Grenzüberschreitender Arbeitsmarkt zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit” (Cross-Border Labor Market Between Demand and Reality) Christian WILLE underlines the asymmetrical configuration of employment. On the one hand, this is due to Luxembourg’s strong expansion of the service sector and the central position with regard to cross-border employment associated with it; on the other hand, it is clear to what extent the regions in northern France, for example, are still suffering from the structural change. It is therefore more appropriate to speak of a regional divergence in employment. At the same time, however, this heterogeneity of socio-economic conditions must be recognized as a driving force for cross-border employment.
The collection approaches the question of cross-border work from different methodological and disciplinary angles, in order to provide an overview of the research on the subject and to analyze the stakes involved in and ways of seeing this activity. The first section describes the configurations, evolution, and scope of cross-border work. The linguistic practices, displacements, and profiles of cross-border workers are elicited in order that these workers may, in the second section of the collection, be compared to others in such regions as the Upper Rhineland and the Canton of Geneva. Rather more analytical, the third section then deals with the dynamic effects of cross-border work on the development of economies, urbanization, physical spaces, and governance. Finally, the fourth and final section raises the question of the social construction of the status of cross-border workers, by way of regulations, conventions, and socio-political representations, etc.).
