Regional Opportunities of the Fehmarn Belt Link

Master's Thesis from the year 2009 in the subject Business economics - Business Management Corporate Governance grade: 75 Erasmus University Rotterdam (European Institute for Comparative Urban Research (EURICUR)) course: Management of the European Metropolitan Region language: English abstract: The basic intension of this thesis is to analyse the potential of the Fehmarn Belt Region (FBR) which will gain in importance through the construction of the Fehmarn Belt Bridge (FBB) - as the last missing link between the two metropolitan regions of Copenhagen and Hamburg. The interest behind is the fact that the construction of the FBB is one of the few century structures with expected enormous wide-ranging effects. Many questions concerning the construction have arisen and this thesis has the intension of giving answers to some limited research questions. Now almost 50 years later this last missing link will be completed. Expectations as well as concerns on both sides of the Belt are enormous. We can infer from the treaty between Denmark and Germany concerning the fixed link it should improve the traffic infrastructure to stimulate freight- and passenger traffic on a regional and European level. Moreover it has to accomplish better preconditions for an intensified cultural and economic cooperation and promote integration and dynamics in the region. It should forge new competitiveness and development in the relevant regions. In the meantime the treaty was ratified on March 26 2009 by the Folketinget and on July 10 2009 by the Deutscher Bundestag. However the bridge is not only of interest between the two national parliaments who are regarding this project as a transport policy key project that will cause positive economical effects for northern Europe and which can offer an alternative for migration out of the region. In early 1989 the two regional districts of Storstrøm and Ostholstein have handed in a resolution where they have formulated a demand to upg