THE HAGUE, 02/05/07 - Employees from the countries that joined the EU in 2004 can easily pocket generous jobless benefit (WW) in the Netherlands. If Polish employees work for just six months there, they can receive WW payments of over 10,000 euros, Algemeen Dagblad reports.

The Lower House decided last week to open the Dutch borders completely as of 1 May 2007 (yesterday) to workers from the Central and East European countries that joined the EU in May 2004. Earlier, easy access to welfare payments was precluded. But regarding the WW, there is a loophole in the law, the newspaper says.

If a Pole who has been working for six years in Poland works for six months in the Netherlands, he has the right to six months' WW after this. The minimum payment in the Netherlands is 900 euros a month. In Poland, such an employee would have the right to a payment of just 141 euros a month.

The construction is so lucrative because the domestic employment history also counts for the Dutch WW payment. For every year the employee worked in Poland, he receives one month's WW payment. This means the payment can last longer than the period for which the employee has worked in the Netherlands. Additionally, the payment is based on the last-earned, high Dutch salary.

For Poles with 12 years' work experience in Poland, the WW payments last a maximum of one year. In total, their Dutch payments would then be over 10,000 euros higher than their payments in Poland. This is over three times their Polish annual income.

Benefit payments administrator UWV confirms the calculations and acknowledges that the WW payments can last longer than the period worked in the Netherlands. "This however follows directly from EU rules," claimed spokeswoman Joyce Duivenvoorde.

Conservative (VVD) MP Stef Blok is shocked and wants measures to prevent 'WW tourism.' He proposes adapting the system such that the WW payment is based on the average salary earned in recent years. "Additionally, people cannot be allowed the right to WW for a long time after a short period of work in our country."

Labour (PvdA) MP Ton Heerts however foresees no great problems. "The rules for WW are strict. Poles come here to work, and work will be found quickly for a jobless Pole. For this group in particular, there is much suitable work," he told Algemeen Dagblad.

The minimum wage in Poland is 1.34 euros an hour, compared with 8.11 euros in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, the jobless receive up to 75 percent of the last salary earned; in Poland, this is 61 percent.

The previous cabinet amended the law in 2005 to prevent abuse of welfare payments. Everyone who has no right (any more) to WW receives welfare. In the first three months of residence, EU workers can receive no welfare in the Netherlands. WW is available to everyone who has worked in the Netherlands for at least 26 weeks.

"The agreement that work experience from the country of origin counts was made within the EU in 1958," commented social insurance law professor Frans Pennings. "We have also had that with workers from Portugal and Spain who came to the Netherlands," he added. In the House debate on opening up the borders, the WW problem was never discussed.