On Wednesday 11 May 2016, Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Nicolas Schmit, launched an expanded Benelux portal for cross-border workers involving the recognition of diplomas and professional qualifications.

Launched on behald of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Benelux Union, the portal will allow young graduates and job seekers to be immediately informed of the recognition of their diplomas and the regulation of a profession as part of the Grand Duchy's priority regarding job mobility and education. Luxembourg receives over 162,000 cross-border workers from neighbouring countries.

"Benelux has been a pioneer in mobility," declared Nicolas Schmit. "This has contributed to its economic dynamism and promoted employment by inspiring European integration. With the new trilingual portal and the mutual recognition of diplomas we are continuing to promote the mobility of workers which is a great achievement."

In 2015, Luxembourg signed an agreement, known as the "Décision Germain Dondelinger", with the Netherlands and Belgium concerning the mutual recognition within the Benelux zone of higher education diplomas issued by colleges and universities. This decision will provide each Benelux citizen with legal certainty for the automatic recognition of Bachelor or Masters diplomas officially recognised in the three countries.

The trilingual portal in the languages of French, Dutch and German, is a digital tool providing workers with information on a range of issues regarding working on the other side of the border. As working in one country and residing in another can have consequences on the social and fiscal status of workers, the portal can direct those concerned to the relevant information from national authorities.

The portal has now been officially expanded with additional useful information in a new section. Cross-border workers in the Benelux area can therefore quickly find out, in the form of a condense overview, the specific requirements needed for certain professions abroad. These may relate both to degrees and professional qualifications and information on diploma recognition procedures and regulated professions.

In this way, cros-border workers in Benelux and neighbouring areas can become better informed, which in turn should have a direct positive impact on cross-border mobility - one of the three priorities of the Luxembourg Presidency. The Benelux region has a total of 37% of cross-border workers in the entire European Union, representing some 300,000 people, of which over 170,300 (60%) come to Luxembourg to work.