Clear targets will be set for the number of Walloon unemployed who go to work in Flanders, and provinces across the language border will cooperate more closely. Flemish prime minister Jan Jambon laid the groundwork for these measures on Wednesday with his Walloon counterpart Elio Di Rupo.
Jambon travelled to Namur for the first official working visit between Flanders and Wallonia since the COVID-19 pandemic. Labour market policy was high on the agenda. The Flemish labour market is under enormous pressure, while Wallonia has more than 200,000 unemployed. Some 45,000 Walloons currently work in Flanders.
A cooperation agreement with Wallonia was signed at the beginning of the legislature, but it did little to help. At the moment, the Walloon employment service Forem has no insight into the number of unemployed who make the crossing. To ensure that the agreement produces real results this time, specific targets will be set.
Cooperation across the border
The new agreement, which should be ready within a few weeks, divides Belgium into three regions. East and West Flanders will cooperate with Hainaut, Flemish Brabant with Walloon Brabant and Limburg and Antwerp with Liège.
"Wallonia commits itself to a much faster dissemination of job vacancies within these regions," Jambon said in Namur on Wednesday. "At the same time, Wallonia promises to put more effort into vocational training and knowledge of the Dutch language."
Source: belganewsagency.eu
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