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Cross-border cooperation during a cross-border pandemic
21 January 2022Not out of possibility, but out of necessity The last couple of weeks of 2021 were dominated by the cross-border nature of the COVID-19 crisis, and the fight against it. While the Netherlands went into the holiday season under a lockdown, complete closures were largely absent in Germany and Belgium. This leads to so-called cross-border effects, where people move, like a waterbed, to the neighbouring countries to enjoy eating and drinking out, as well as shopping. In response, the governments of the Netherlands, Flanders and North Rhine-Westphalia urged people not... -
Greece’s Covid-19 Response: Not Beyond Reproach
16 March 2021Greece emerged as the EU’s poster child in the fight against Covid-19 during the first few months of the pandemic. Its approach, while effective, is not beyond reproach. We analyse two such contested areas of Covid-19 regulation: permits of movement obtained through SMS, and restrictions to the freedom of movement of asylum seekers. Our analysis draws from our forthcoming article in the European Journal of Risk Regulation (2021). -
Quarantine exception insufficient for border region
17 November 2020Continued disproportionate impact on daily life in the border region With the circulation of the Coronavirus, governments are trying to restrict the movement of people. Staying at home and limiting unnecessary travel and visits is a frequently used and successful recipe against the flare-ups of Corona infections. To this end, border traffic is also being restricted. Travel advice is issued and quarantine rules are put in place. Recently, Dutch policy has changed in this respect, but not sufficiently as described in this blog. -
Do institutions help achieve greater value for spending European taxpayers’ money?
19 October 2020The European Union (EU) budget is about one percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of all Member States amounting to about €240 per annum, per citizen. The EU budget redistributes more than €150 billion annually. These funds are directed towards agriculture and regional policy, which operate to help less developed countries and local communities. Millions of euros are spent on rebuilding roads or hospitals or for the educational and vocational training of thousands of European citizens’. A significant proportion of this money goes towards underdeveloped and...
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