- I usually compare the Nordic countries with a bunch of siblings, and we know how tough siblings can be against each other, says the moderate Hans Wallmark from Ängelholm.
In addition to being a foreign policy spokesperson for the Moderates, he is also the chairman of the Swedish delegation to the Nordic Council.
- A point of view that I occasionally hear here in Scania is why we should have an open border with Scania and Sweden when there is a closed border with Denmark, Zealand and Jutland. Then we should also have a closed border, some say. But I think that is the wrong way to go, says Hans Wallmark.
Closed bordersWhen the corona pandemic was in its first and most acute phase, Denmark closed its borders to all Swedes. At the same time, Sweden kept its borders open to Danes, among others.
On the other side of the northern Sound, Wallmark's concerns are shared by Elsinore's mayor, the Conservatives' Benedikte Kiaer. She has experienced up close what closed borders and a harsher tone between Sweden and Denmark mean. For several months, the city has been closed to eager Swedish tourists and many companies have been forced to close.
- We sit together with each other across the Sound, we see that historically, says Benedikte Kiaer.
- We are many who want to open up the border properly and be together again. Without the statements and descriptions that really do not belong anywhere, Benedikte Kiaer points out and means the occasions when Swedes during the pandemic were pointed out as plague-infected and undesirable. Something that Swedish healthcare staff, working in Denmark, told Helsingörs Dagblad.
But is the cooperation across the Sound that we have become accustomed to for several decades threatened?
- It could be if we politicians do not take our responsibility and re-establish the opportunities for people to move across the Sound as they are used to, says Hans Wallmark (M).