The goal set by the Nordic Council of Ministers of being the world’s most sustainable and integrated region is ambitious. Integration in the Nordic Region is already strong, but barriers that impede living, working and doing business across borders still remain. The fragility of integration in the border regions was highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Differing responses to the pandemic mostly ignored the reality at borders and hit those regions hard. Better integration might be achieved if border regions are given more autonomy on specific issues, providing them with the leeway for more dynamic implementation of decisions taken at the national level that have serious implications for cross-border integration.
Understanding these regions better is also crucial. There is a lack of reliable statistics on cross-border commuting and on cross-border integration overall. Representatives from the cross-border regions we interviewed also underlined the importance of relaying their concerns and realities to the national level. That might include visits to cross-border regions for increased awareness of the realities in those regions.
The next steps for strengthening integration in cross-border regions might include the identification and development of sharing-potential, either by sharing capacities between regions in more efficient ways, promoting sharing of specialisations by mapping such potential, ensuring the resilience of shared services and solving legal challenges to cross-border services. This can be promoted in particular with detailed statistics on cross-border exchanges and needs.