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Europe labours to put its migrants to work

Known as frontier or cross-border workers, they too can face alienation as outsiders in their host work country.

For the past few years the biggest story in Europe has been a refugee crisis. Millions fleeing conflict or economic desperation have found their way to the continent, then faced more hardship, possible prejudice and loss of identity as they attempt to adapt. It is the tale of the displaced since time immemorial.
But another form of dislocation is a part of daily life in Europe. On working days, more than 1.5 million Europeans commute to another country to work and then return home. Known as frontier or cross-border workers, they too can face alienation as outsiders in their host work country.
Leaders of the grand experiment in the European Union began the first steps to break down barriers and borders in 1950 following the nationalistic conflicts of WWII. By the time the EU was established in its full form in 1993, member countries had fully committed to integration.
But in lands historically separated by cultures and language, the theories of economists and promises of politicians have hit the hard reality of ancient differences. Outside workers even from the EU are not always embraced.
Adding to distrust are the newer immigrants that have legal status in one country and might seek work in another.
"There is a growing xenophobic sentiment," says Paolo Barcella, Professor at the University of Bergamo, who recently organised a symposium on the issue. "Resentment is strengthened by the feeling that cross-border workers tend to create tensions in the labour markets of their host countries."
Workers from northern Italy have been travelling to the Ticino region of Switzerland in since the 1950s, but their numbers boomed in the '60s. Agreements between Switzerland, the EU and Italy have codified the arrangement. Today the daily commute continues, but cultural tensions remain. Italians say they are sometimes treated as second-class visitors.
Under European Commission treaties, individuals are entitled to move freely from one EU member state to another for work without discrimination in hiring or pay. A recent study by the commission noted that frontier workers are a very small part of the overall labour force, but they are a litmus test of sorts on whether the EU truly implements universal rights.
"The phenomenon is more significant in terms of indicating the progress and limitations of European integration in connection with the achievements in freedom of movement for people," said the study.
Five countries - France, Italy, Belgium, Germany and Austria - are the most important 'suppliers' of cross-border labour. And five countries - Switzerland, Luxembourg, Germany, Monaco and the Netherlands - are the main importers. France is the biggest "exporter" of cross-border labour in Europe with some 179,000 French nationals working in neighbouring countries, most of them in Switzerland and Germany. France is followed by Italy with around 70,000 cross-border workers commuting to in Switzerland.
As a share of the overall population, the ratio of cross-border commuters is particularly high in Slovakia (5.7 per cent), Estonia (3.5 per cent), Hungary (2.4 per cent) and Belgium (2.3 per cent).
Driving the phenomenon is "an important gap between labour conditions and living costs in two neighbouring countries", says Barcella. The pay is much higher in Switzerland and the cost of living significantly lower in Italy, so tens of thousands in northern Italy travel across the border every working day.
Because Switzerland is not a member of the EU, bilateral agreements govern the details. Many times workers must have a contract and work permit and "historically live within 20 kilometres of the border", says the professor. Other regulations govern how much tax is paid and benefits received in respective countries.
With open borders yet different tax and benefit regimes in each country, the EU has developed a range of special work regulations. One is for the airline industry whose workers are so mobile it was hard to define their tax home. A regulation was needed to close a loophole that enabled some low-cost airlines to pick country with the least costly and generous social security systems and apply those to their crew.
It defined their tax and benefit home as the place they normally start and end their work day. Irish media reported that the new rules could mean Ryanair would face rising social welfare costs as 8,500 cabin crew and pilots at the low-cost carrier now have Irish work contracts.
Frontier workers also face many of the same obstacles as transient workers such as knowledge of the local language and difficulty in getting degrees and occupational qualifications recognised in the host work country. But according to the European Trade Union Syndicate, frontier workers  "are the ones most exposed to forms of indirect discrimination - those which most often go unnoticed and are the most difficult to eradicate".
Simply put, they are tolerated as a fact of economic necessity but not always welcomed. Language, dress and even culinary preferences continue to divide the continent.
But there are examples of beneficial synergy, says Barcella. In the border town of Neuchâtel, the Swiss government finances French nationals to study watchmaking to develop skills needed make the country's iconic timepieces.
Jon Van Housen and Mariella Radaelli are editors at the Luminosity Italia news agency in Milan