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Cross-border
economic
development
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Territory portraits: economic development on different borders
Players in cross-border economic
governance
It has proved difficult to establish lasting economic cooperation between
the two countries on account of the differences between Germany’s
federal and Denmark’s centralist structures. The Land of Schleswig-
Holstein has competence in the economic domain, whereas this is
divided between national and municipal levels in Denmark. Greater
involvement is therefore seen by paragovernmental organisations
(universities, research centres, etc.) and consular bodies at the cross-
border level, notably via INTERREG. The development bank of the Land
of Schleswig-Holstein is thus the managing authority for the forthcoming
German-Danish INTERREG programme and has historically played a
role as a cross-border inter-sectoral intermediary for businesses.
In terms of economic cooperation, it should however be noted that
macro-regional strategies predominate over strictly local cross-border
relations. These are structured more around the metropolitan areas
of Copenhagen-Malmö and Hamburg-Lübeck, as well as the Jutland
corridor in the continental part of the territory.
The German-Danish border, Flensburg Harbour
FotoFrank