Victim Support Europe (VSE)

Preparedness as Impact: Pro Bono Compliance for Erasmus+ 

Not every pro bono engagement ends with the outcome originally imagined – but that doesn’t mean the legal support delivered isn’t valuable. This is the story of how Baker McKenzie‘s Brussels employment law team helped Victim Support Europe (VSE) get compliance-ready to host an international intern, and what happened when circumstances outside anyone’s control changed the plan.

A pan-European organisation preparing for a new chapter

Victim Support Europe is the leading European umbrella organisation advocating for the rights and needs of victims of crime. With the 2026 revision of the EU Victims’ Rights Directive marking a pivotal moment for the sector, VSE’s 2026–2030 strategy is focused on translating victims’ rights into operational systems across EU Member States. Part of building that long-term capacity means investing in people – including welcoming the next generation of practitioners through structured mobility programmes like Erasmus+.

VSE had signed a Learning Agreement for Student Mobility for Traineeships and was preparing to host an intern from Turkey for a two-month placement in Belgium, starting in October 2026, fully funded through Erasmus+. As with any cross-border placement involving a non-EU national, the arrangement raised a set of compliance questions that needed clear answers before the placement could begin.

Hosting a non-EU Intern 

Hosting a non-EU Erasmus+ intern in Belgium touches several distinct areas of law at once. VSE, as an AISBL (a Belgian international non-profit association), needed to understand:

  • whether the intern would need to be registered with Belgian or other authorities before starting the placement;
  • what social security or insurance obligations, if any, would fall on the host organisation;
  • whether the intern’s non-EU nationality triggered additional employment-law formalities, despite the placement being unpaid and Erasmus+-funded.

These are the kind of questions that sit at the intersection of employment law, social security law, and immigration/administrative law – exactly the sort of multi-disciplinary compliance question that can stall an otherwise ready-to-go placement if it isn’t addressed early.

Matching mission with expertise

Pro Publico matched VSE with Baker McKenzie’s Brussels employment law team, with pro bono manager Meryem Bouguern establishing the collaboration. The advisory memo was prepared by associates Jerome De Ruyver, Ellen Herinckx and Alexandra Stoica, under the supervision of partner Dimitri Van Uytvanck, and addressed the registration, social security, and administrative obligations applicable to VSE’s specific situation. 

The team worked through the questions methodically: clarifying what registration steps, if any, applied to a short-term, unpaid Erasmus+ trainee; setting out the insurance and social security position for the host organisation; and confirming what employment-law formalities did (and did not) apply given the intern’s nationality and the nature of the placement.

By the time the advice was delivered, VSE had a clear, practical compliance roadmap: something the organisation could act on immediately, and something it can reuse for future international placements, regardless of the country of origin involved.

When the placement didn’t go ahead

Shortly before the internship was due to start, VSE learned that the visiting student’s home university had withdrawn from the mobility arrangement, for reasons unrelated to VSE, to Belgian compliance, or to the legal advice it had received. The placement itself was cancelled before it began.

It would be easy to treat a cancelled placement as the end of the story. VSE didn’t see it that way – and neither do we. The compliance work stands on its own: VSE is now better prepared than it was before to host international interns going forward, with a clear understanding of what Belgian and EU rules require. 

Moreover a relationship was built with Jerome De Ruyver, Ellen Herinckx, Alexandra Stoica, and Dimitri Van Uytvanck at Baker McKenzie and, by VSE’s own account, one it hopes to continue.

In VSE’s words

“We had the pleasure of connecting with Baker McKenzie through Pro Publico, and we are very grateful for the support they have provided to our organisation. Their legal expertise and commitment to pro bono work have been invaluable, providing us with meaningful guidance and assistance. We greatly appreciate the team’s generosity and professionalism, and their contribution demonstrates the important impact that pro bono legal support can have on organisations like ours. We hope to continue this valuable collaboration in the future.” – Keti Varoshlija Botterman, HR and Administrative Officer, Victim Support Europe

Why “readiness” counts as impact

Pro bono legal support isn’t only valuable when it resolves a live dispute or unlocks a specific transaction. Sometimes its value is in removing uncertainty before it becomes a problem – so that when the right opportunity comes along, the organisation is ready to move on with confidence. VSE’s compliance roadmap, built with Baker McKenzie’s team for hosting non-EU Erasmus+ interns, didn’t get used this time. It will be there the next time VSE (or, through this kind of shared learning across the pro bono network, another civil society organisation facing similar questions) needs it.

This case is also a reminder that pro bono legal support across Europe isn’t a Belgium-specific phenomenon: the same cross-border compliance questions VSE faced here – registration, social security, employment formalities for non-EU nationals – arise for civil society organisations hosting international staff or interns anywhere in the EU. Belgian law was the specific lens in this case; the underlying pattern is pan-European.

Pro Publico connects civil society organisations across Europe with law firms willing to provide free legal assistance on exactly this kind of question. If your organisation is navigating a compliance question before it becomes a crisis, get in touch.

 

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Thanks to @Jerome De Ruyver, @Ellen Herinckx, @Alexandra Stoica, @ Dimitri Van Uytvanck, @ Meryem Bouguern, @ Baker McKenzie, @Patrycja Kowalczyk, @Keti Varoshlija Botterman, @Sara Savoini, @Victim Support Europe, @Francesco Zatelli @Pro Publico