1. Martin Klatt, PhD. Centre for Border Region Studies, Sønderborg
Borders of Denmark
Martin Klatt, PhD.
Centre for Border Region Studies, Sønderborg

2. Denmark in Europe

3. Issues I: Denmark and Germany-Sweden
Flows: Trade and traffic

4. Issues II: Denmark and Sweden Metropolitan policies
Øresund-region – Greater Copenhagen and Scania Region
Fixed link in 2000
Transborder metropolitan area
Political goodwill
Cross-border integration
Challenged by Swedish border controls
Challenged by an uneven policymaking: ”Greater Copenhagen”

5. North Sea borders: UK and Norway
Issues
Fishery post Brexit?
Off-shore wind parks
Tourism, tax-free sale on ferries

6. Issues III Denmark and Germany
Germany figures high in Danish export policy (”Tysklandsstrategi”)
Construction of a fixed link across Fehmarn Belt (to open in the mid-2020s)
Political project
Delayed because of a complicated planning process in Germany, which has annoyed Danish politicians considerably
Danish border controls introduced in January 2016

7. Troubled Pasts (Germany): Peace building?
Narrative connected with the minority situation
Applied on the people-to-people activities

8. Troubled pasts II Sweden Rivalry on dominating the Baltic
Loss of Scania in 1658, ”Swedification”
Norway
Colonial power
Different interpretation of the ”union”
Today: Nordic brethren (broderfolk)

9. Unfamiliarity? Transnational borderlanders?
”Danes”, ”Germans”, ”Danish minority”, ”Deutsche Volksgruppe” = is it that simple?
Result of nationalisation during the 19th and 20th centuries
Regional identity – ”Die Dänen sind uns näher als die Bayern” – ”Northern Germans are more like Scandinavians than Southern Germans”
Blurred identity within the so-called minorities – which are socially integrated and thus very open groups
So, are they living together?

10. A Europe of Cross-Border Regions (CBRs)?
Source: Association of European Border Regions

11. Sønderjylland-Schleswig – from territorial to functional?
Region Sønderjylland-Schleswig was founded as a euroregion in 1997
Historic reference to the Duchy of Schleswig
Territorial reference

12. Today’s Framework of German-Danish coop.
South-Western Baltic Sea Transregional Area Implementing New Geography (STRING)
Fehmarn Belt Region
Pushed by infrastructure project
Cooperation Schleswig-Holstein – Region South Denmark
Border Triangle
Region Sønderjylland-Schleswig
Interreg Germany-Denmark

13. Best practices: cooperation by bottleneck?
Ambulances: use decreased after establishing Danish facitilies
Rescue helicopter: the same
Cancer treatment: stops January 2017 after establishing Danish facilities
New topic: vocational training (Denmark lacks facilities)

14. Minorities as “Regionauts” or “the last Schleswigians”
’Regionalist’ political agenda dominates the election campaigns
Apparently successful for the SSW since the 1970s – government participation since 2012
SP increased their votes significantly in 2009 and 2013

15. Challenges

16. Re-bordering? Two strings:
Land border: regional politics of cooperation vs. security paradigm
”Greater Copenhagen” concept: links to Malmö (Sweden) and Hamburg (Germany) metropolitan areas – concept of cross-border metropolis in global competition
Security paradigm: domestic political pressure vs. interest in free markets and open borders