On Friday in Maastricht, the ‘Geen Grens’ Foundation received the European Citizen’s Prize. Geen Grens is the winner of the annual European encouragement award. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the festive event had been postponed for more than a year.
The chairman of the Geen Grens Foundation, Huub Spoormans, accepted the medal from the Limburg CDA Member of the European Parliament, Jeroen Lenaers.
Geen Grens advocates for the residents of border regions. During the coronavirus crisis, the foundation stood up for the rights of cross-border workers and cross-border entrepreneurs when national borders were closed. Geen Grens ensures that emerging problems are placed and remain on the political agenda.
The attendees were welcomed by Danny de Paepe, head of the Liaison Office of the European Parliament in the Netherlands. De Paepe praised the winner’s work: “With the European Citizen’s Prize, the European Parliament recognizes the commitment of the Geen Grens Foundation to European cooperation and European values.”
Lenaers emphasized the important work of the winner: “The Geen Grens Foundation is a very deserving winner! They advocated for cross-border workers who would have faced issues with their social security if they had to work full-time from home. By quickly raising the alarm in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany, this problem was solved.”
The Geen Grens Foundation is proud of the recognition from Brussels. Chairman Huub Spoormans said: “We feel very honored by this prize! It gives us extra energy to continue.”
The European Citizen’s Prize is awarded annually by the European Parliament to projects and individuals who contribute to mutual understanding between EU citizens. This edition focused especially on those who helped others during the coronavirus pandemic.
From all Dutch submissions, five projects were chosen to reach the final. Usually, one winner is selected per EU member state, with two only in exceptional cases.