A joint Danish-Swedish study on Øresund infrastructure and capacity, including the need for a potential new connection, is under intensive discussion in Greater Copenhagen. This was highlighted by Greater Copenhagen’s director, Jan Juul Christensen, in a video statement.
Members of Sweden’s Riksdag Transport Committee and Denmark’s Folketinget Transport Committee met over two intensive days in Copenhagen. They held discussions with Greater Copenhagen, the Swedish Embassy in Denmark, Øresund Bridge Consortium, Trafikverket, and Copenhagen Airports – and, of course, took the opportunity to engage directly with one another.
Improved coordination needed
Rasmus Prehn (S), Chair of the Danish Transport Committee, and Ulrika Heie (C), Chair of the Swedish Transport Committee, told Greater Copenhagen that the two countries need to improve coordination on infrastructure.
– Looking 25 years ahead, we will need new connection options across the strait, and that is why we must start now, said Ulrika Heie. She continued:
– I hope we at least identify the prerequisites we need to examine. The security situation demands that we act, and we must begin tomorrow. If tomorrow is sometime in 2025, I believe we will see steps from both Sweden and Denmark toward coming closer together and developing our countries in tandem, said Ulrika Heie.
Conversations will start
Rasmus Prehn (S), Chair of the Danish Transport Committee, supports this sentiment:
– We have agreed, from the Danish side, that we would like to start a conversation with the Danish Transport Committee, the Swedish Transport Committee, and our ministries on how we can investigate and gather as much knowledge as possible to prepare ourselves in the best way for a potential new connection, said Rasmus Prehn.
– The arguments we discussed today have made a significant impression on us Danes. We will take this forward, and I can clearly see, in light of the new challenges we face, that the time has come to discuss capacity and what the next step should be, added Rasmus Prehn.
