Bornholm and Ystad: Remember, we are also part of the Øresund

As tens of thousands head to Bornholm this week, the ease of travel to and from the island came under scrutiny

Freedom of movement for travellers to and from Bornholm was the topic of a debate held by the Swedish party Ystad Havn at Folkemødet yesterday.

“Let’s make it easier to travel to and from Bornholm and remove the ‘border bump’,” said Ystad Havn’s leader Björn Boström.

Boström; Bente Johansen from the municipality of Bornholm; the former tax minister and member of the Freedom of Movement Council, Ole Stavad Stavad; and Jacob Lund, an MP based in Bornholm, discussed ways to make it easier for residents, tourists and businesses to travel to Bornholm.

“We all came here, right?” said Stavad. “It should have been easier to get here.”

Hard to leave, hard to come home
Native Bornholmers took the microphone during the debate to lament the many rules and regulations that exist, both when they try to head to Copenhagen and then come back home.

“The Øresund is not just Copenhagen and Malmö,” said Boström. “Essential to making the journey via Ystad and Sweden easier is better infrastructure, more ferry departures and Danish and Swedish politicians beginning to talk.”

Stavad did not entirely degree, saying that if the Swedes did not want to relax their rules, Denmark had no power to force them to do so.

“We must do what we can to make things easier, and since Denmark has the presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers this year, which includes the ability to look at border regulations, now is the chance to create better conditions in the Nordic region.”

READ MORE: Number of people living on Bornholm at a 100-year low

About 96 percent of all travellers to and from Bornholm make the trip through Sweden to Ystad and then sail from Ystad to Rønne.

It is primarily the transporting of animals, be they house pets, animals headed to slaughter or other livestock, that creates headaches and increases transport costs for both private and business travellers.

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