Europeanisation in a reluctant border region: The Danish-German Case

The Danish-German border region enjoys a solid reputation of being a successful case of dealing with past nationalisms and with minorities. At the same time it is hardly ever mentioned as a shining example, when it comes to European crossborder cooperation. Most recently, the closing of the border during the pandemic represented a heightening in restrictive border policies following Danish reactions to the migration crisis of 2015, the erection of a fence to keep out wild boars, and a general lukewarm position towards the Schengen Border Agreement. The closed border during COVID-19 led to widespread frustration with its management by the distant governments, perhaps even causing a new consciousness about the needs and potentials inside the border region. Compared to other places, cross-border cooperation and activities in general must be characterised as quite modest. Efforts to establish a Euroregion ended in a quite limited version (Sønderjylland-Schleswig, 1997). One way to justify this is the claim that cross-border contacts and projects have a more pragmatic character here as people of the North tend to be sceptic towards symbolic ations. Still, the progress in cross-border cooperation is not impressive in this region. This intervention will give a critical assessment of the cross-border cooperation since Denmark's entering of the EEC 50 years ago. It will discuss prominent areas of cooperation (infrastructure, health care, labour market, education) and their mostly unfulfilled potentials. Although the balance seems rather moderate, it is worth a closer look at this border region from the perspective of Europeanisation. With the development of the European integration and the cross-border incentives, the EU has had its share in changing the Danish-German borderland by confronting the region with parallel examples and introducing a European(ised) discourse.