Sorry, Denmark, we Swedes won’t give you back Skåne that easily

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/mar/06/denmark-swedes-skane-greater-copenhagen

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“Where in Sweden are you from?” I’ve lived in the UK for long enough to know that the Brits are polite and that new acquaintances often ask this question. The relief on their faces when I say that my family lives in Stockholm is, for the most part, great and many people admit they wouldn’t have recognised the name of any other city. Maybe the idea put forward by Denmark of rebranding the southern Swedish region of Skåne as Greater Copenhagen isn’t such a bad one after all.

In the past year I have lost count of the number of British friends of mine who have gone to Copenhagen for weekend getaways. Many of them made use of the travel links across to Sweden, treating the trip as a two in one kind of deal. I’ve only been to Malmö and Copenhagen for two very short stays and having recently devoured Swedish/Danish crime series The Bridge, my girlfriend and I have started dreaming of exploring the area further. Maybe it could be called Bridgeland?

Related: Denmark wants to rebrand part of Sweden as 'Greater Copenhagen'

In Sweden and Denmark the whole region is of course called Öresund (Øresund in Danish); the transport system is called Öresundstrafiken and the bridge is simply Öresundsbron. Although I don’t understand why we can’t continue to call it this internationally, I can see the point in cashing in on Copenhagen’s popularity and drumming up more Swedish interest in the region; Skåne is stunning.

I know I was disappointed when The Eurovision song contest was held in Malmö in Skåne instead of my hometown Stockholm (yes, I love Eurovision even if many Brits don’t) in 2013 but I can see why they did it that way. Sweden, or maybe I should say Stockholm, is keen to promote its gorgeous southern tip and in fact a poll by Swedish public service television company SVT suggests 60% of people are in favour of the proposed name change.

In Skåne however, reception of the idea of Greater Copenhagen has been lukewarm. I spoke to a good friend who lives there and she says the people of Skåne don’t really care; they have wanted to be their own country for decades. The fact that Denmark wants to impose itself on the area in one way or another is hardly a new occurrence – Skåne was under Danish rule longer than it has been under Swedish.

Having scanned Swedish newspapers for news on this, I don’t think that too many people actually have very strong feelings on the matter. Including southern Sweden under the umbrella of Greater Copenhagen might be a good marketing strategy internationally and it might pull some focus from Stockholm, which can only be a good thing.

Just remember when you plan your Copenhagen trip that if you want to be down with the locals, you call it “Öresund” and that Skåne, the part on the other side of the bridge that the tourist information wants to call Greater Copenhagen, is Swedish, not Danish. You’re not having it back that easily, Denmark!