Interreg project "Interconnect" successfully finalised
by Adreas Schubert
The Regiopole Rostock sees itself as an efficient city in the Baltic Sea region, ideally located between the metropolitan region of Berlin, Hamburg and Copenhagen / Malmö. Rostock has traditionally been functionally and emotionally intertwined with the Baltic Sea region and owes its prosperity and reputation to the good co-operation in the Baltic Sea Region. This potential had to be leveraged since the 1990s and turned into a development advantage in Rostock's favour. That is why the city administration has been collecting targeted EU funding from the Interreg programmes “Baltic Sea Region” and “South Baltic Area” since the mid-2000s in order to improve the travel conditions for pedestrian passengers between Rostock and southern Denmark. With the Interreg project Interconnect, a project family for Rostock and the partner Municipality Guldborgsund (DK) is coming to an end. The City Light campaign in Rostock, which began on October 6, 2020, is the end of the project.
We have achieved our goals, says the long-time project manager Dr. Andreas Schubert. Thanks to the consistent implementation of our early-formulated goals, we enjoy the reputation of a flagship project in the implementation of the EU's Baltic Sea strategy. It is now attractive again to travel to Scandinavia via Gedser as a pedestrian passenger; in Trelleborg, too, the interfaces between the ferry terminal and local public transport are now well organized. We have new terminals, new ferries, coordinated timetables and worthwhile travel destinations. Now we are also included in the attractive multimodal passenger transport offer in the travel information system of Deutsche Bahn und Rejseplanen.dk. Project Manager Dr. Frede Danborg from the partner association Guldborgsund Municipality adds: Rostock is closer to us than Copenhagen. We like to visit our neighbours in Rostock, we are happy to offer our tourists a flying visit to the beautiful city of Rostock. We are in crowds at the Hanse Sail or at the Rostock Christmas market. We have always been able to rely on the cooperation between the regional bus company Movia (DK), the Warnow transport association and Scandlines. Our Guldborgsund Municipality offers more destinations than is commonly known. For example, do you know our restored Railway Museum in Gedser? (http://gedserremise.dk/auf-deutsch.html) and have you ever been to the Fuglsang Art Museum in Nysted? (https://www.fuglsangkunstmuseum.dk/) or the Medieval Centre in Nykøbing (https://middelaldercentret.dk/praktisk-info/ )? To visit these destinations, you can also use the public transport on the Rostock and Guldborgsund side.
Michael Dietz, Manager at Scandlines Germany says: “We too want to help ensure that even more Danish guests visit Rostock and German passengers visit Guldborgsund. Despite corona. Day visitors are welcome in both Rostock and Guldborgsund. The car and InterCombiTickets (for pedestrian passengers https: //www.intercombi-ticket.de/) can still be conveniently booked online. For passengers who want to travel to the terminal by public transport or car, there are pedestrian tickets in the ferry terminal at the machine. Now in the off-season the price for a return trip per adult is only € 13”. Mayor Claus Ruhe Madsen looks ahead: “The Rostock Regiopole is consolidated. Now it is important, to make the cooperation with partners in the Baltic Sea region becoming everyday life for large parts of the business, science and civil society, and to allow service providers from the Baltic Sea region to find their new home address in Rostock”.
Annex: Improved cross-border passenger transport: a long-term involvement in German-Danish cooperation
Photo: A. Schubert
After the final conference: Karin Wohlgemuth from the Mayors Office shapes future plans with Frede Danborg from Guldborgsund and the (new) Rostock artist Stefanie Rübensal. Thanks to the good infrastructure and attractive travel prices, future cross-border regional integration projects should be more about the lived city partnership. The artist Stefanie Rübensal from Rostock (left) is happy about the invitation to Guldborgsund. She will prepare an art exhibition there.