Re-building cross-border collaboration will be vital after the COVID-19 crisis to secure resilient border communities and Nordic collaboration. The measures to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus were disproportionally damaging for border communities. Healing the wounds inflicted on society, business and institutions demand coordinated actions at local, national, and Nordic levels.

This policy brief gives a brief overview of the impact of border restrictions on border communities during the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic. The social and economic implications of closed borders have exposed the fragility of Nordic co-operation.  The ability of border areas to exist side-by-side in an integrated, seamless way corresponds to the Nordic vision of being the most integrated region in the world, but the situation that unfolded shows a different story.