The 'No Borders' Foundation received the European Citizen's Prize on Friday in Maastricht. No Borders is the winner of the annual European incentive prize. Due to the corona pandemic, the festive gathering was postponed for more than a year.
The chairman of the No Borders Foundation, Huub Spoormans, received the medal from the Limburg CDA MEP Jeroen Lenaers.
Geen Grens is committed to the residents of border regions. During the corona crisis, the foundation stood up for the rights of frontier workers and entrepreneurs when national borders were closed. No Border ensures that problems that have arisen are placed on the political agenda and remain on it.
Those present were welcomed by Danny de Paepe, head of the European Parliament's Liaison Office in the Netherlands. De Paepe praised the work of the winner: “With the Prize of the European Citizen, the European Parliament recognizes the efforts of the No Border Foundation for European cooperation and European values.”
Lenaers emphasized the important work of the winner: “Stichting Geen Grens is a very justified winner! For example, they have campaigned for frontier workers who would have problems with their social security if they started working from home full-time. By quickly sounding the alarm in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, this problem has been solved.”
The No Borders Foundation is proud of the recognition from Brussels. Chairman Huub Spoormans said: “We are very honored with this award! This gives us extra energy to keep going.”
The European Citizen's Prize is awarded annually by the European Parliament to projects and individuals who have contributed to mutual understanding among the citizens of the EU. This edition, the focus was extra on those who are committed to others during the corona pandemic.
From all Dutch entries, five projects were chosen that made it to the final. Usually one winner is chosen per EU member state, very rarely two.