Fixed link to bring additional growth

In the summer of 2011, what the county and city administration had already been expecting for quite some time was finally made public: the Steering Committee of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region (MRH) gave the green light for incorporating Lübeck and Eastern Holstein. This step means that the first milestone has been reached on the path to even more intensive regional cooperation in the German part of the Fehmarnbelt region. The only item still pending to close the deal on membership is the approval of the 14 counties that belong to the MRH.

Both Lübeck and Eastern Holstein expect a lot from their incorporation into the Hamburg Metropolitan Region and stressed the significance of the Fehmarnbelt fixed link for future regional cooperation . For Reinhard Sager, Eastern Holstein Regional Council, the Fehmarnbelt development was the initial "trigger" for the county to pursue membership. The Steering Committee’s decision is also "good news" for Matthias Schulz-Kleinfeldt, managing director of the Lübeck Chamber of Commerce and Industry: "The construction of the Fehmarnbelt fixed link means that strengthening the metropolitan region will be of strategic importance through close ties and coordination of the metropolitan region of Hamburg, the counties of Stormarn and Eastern Holstein, and the Hanseatic city of Lübeck," said Schulz-Kleinfeldt.

Since the 1990s, Hamburg and the surrounding area have been pursuing the implementation of specific development concepts in the greater metropolitan area. The plan to link the economic and transport infrastructure of Lübeck and Eastern Holstein to Hamburg makes strategic sense to the extent that the neighbouring Öresund region would be closer to Northern Germany as a result of the construction of the Fehmarnbelt fixed link. The infrastructure connection to one of the transnational European metropolitan regions of the future along the Hamburg-Copenhagen-Malmö axis means that international competitiveness will also improve. Joining the Hamburg Metropolitan Region is thus a logical step to capitalize on the opportunities created by the Fehmarnbelt fixed link.