Federal Transport Minister has more problems than solutions

Berlin If you look around for statements by Volker Wissing these days, you will mainly find some about the refugee situation. The Federal Minister of Transport sees the states as having a duty to relieve Berlin when it comes to taking in refugees from the Ukraine. “We need better distribution through early communication and reporting sufficient capacity – even for an entire train,” says the FDP politician.

Wissing has been in office for just 100 days and has been in crisis mode ever since. Last weekend he was specifically at the Polish-Ukrainian border to take a look at the situation in view of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and to discuss with his colleagues from France, Poland, Austria and the Czech Republic how to proceed with aid supplies and those seeking help. The refugee issue is by no means the only problem that doesn’t make Wissing’s 100-day balance sheet look too good.

The mistakes of the previous government are becoming apparent

The crises hit him just a few days before his official appointment on December 18: with the viaduct near Rahmede on the A45, a main axis from the Ruhr area to Frankfurt am Main. Full closure due to danger of collapse, one of tens of thousands of bridges in the country. In the meantime the bridge has been blown up and the republic has gained a bridge peak. There should be more money, regularly from 2026, when the motorway company, which is plagued by massive starting difficulties, will hopefully be able to handle a corresponding number of projects per year without outside help.

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Chaos quickly became apparent on the railways as well, freight trains no longer reached their destination because there were far too many construction sites and too few diversions. The same chaos is threatening this year, even if there has already been a crisis meeting with the railways and the transport industry. On top of that, the costs for the Stuttgart 21 train station project are exploding once again, so that the supervisory board is holding a special meeting this Friday. Infrastructure board Ronald Pofalla has already announced his retirement.

In addition, there is an immense investment backlog in the transport sector: more than five billion euros were not built in 2021. Wissing still has a completely different problem to solve: he has to almost halve the annual emissions in the transport sector by 2030. At the same time, he wants to “enable mobility”, as he emphasizes.

Accordingly, he wants to use tax benefits and subsidy programs, purchase bonuses and countless charging stations to advertise that people “take part” and that they are happy to do so. Wissing rejects bans such as a speed limit, and he doesn’t want to bury the combustion engine just yet, but wants to invest a lot of energy in synthetic fuels, which is causing confusion.

“The climate gap is too big”

Transport experts like Christian Hochfeld were not surprised that the transport sector missed its 2021 climate targets. It was three million tons too much, which could easily be compensated for with individual measures. But the comparatively small number was mainly due to the fact that people worked a lot from home because of the corona policy and were also not very mobile in their private lives.

“The climate gap is so large that it cannot be closed with an emergency program alone. We need a government charter that catches up on what the grand coalition failed to do,” demands the head of the think tank Agora Verkehrswende. “So far, the traffic light has mainly said what it does not want. And what is agreed in black and white in the coalition agreement is not enough.” Without stricter fleet limits, for example, there is a risk of “a temporary end to the German electric car boom”.

>> Read here: Transport Minister Wissing can stroll through the climate targets

The traffic policy spokesman for the Greens, Stefan Gelbhaar, on the other hand, praised Wissing as approachable with knowledge of the problems of local traffic in rural areas and the workings of a traffic light coalition, to which he belonged in Rhineland-Palatinate. But he also said: “The minister must now submit proposals on how he intends to achieve the climate goals. The tasks are also piling up elsewhere: the ministry has to concentrate on the renovation of the sometimes dilapidated infrastructure, and yes, local transport finally needs to be developed further.”

Gelbhaar pointed out that Wissing also has the task of digitizing mobility. “So what is needed now is concrete, rapid project planning: How does the minister intend to advance the digitization of mobility offers quickly?”

In fact, Wissing is no longer just Minister of Transport, like his predecessors. He is the first digital minister in a federal government. “The topic now has top priority,” he says himself and wants to present a “comprehensive digital strategy” together with the other ministries in the first quarter – and a gigabit strategy in advance.

What next for broadband expansion?

Accordingly, Wissing quickly sought confrontation when it came to broadband expansion. It’s about the question of how the federal government’s billions for the nationwide broadband expansion should flow in the future. However, there are already suggestions from associations such as Bitkom, as well as strategies in practice, such as in North Rhine-Westphalia, as to how this could be done quickly and efficiently.

“We can be ready two years earlier than 2030 or five years longer. That depends on the political framework,” explained Jürgen Grützner from the telecommunications association VATM. “To do this, the minister must clarify where he wants to provide support and where not.” A comprehensive analysis of potential, as in NRW, is possible within three to six weeks. “Then every company will know where the expansion is worthwhile and where the state is supporting it.”

This Thursday, Wissing will personally present his plans to the boards of Deutsche Telekom and Co. and the associations, after which he wants to inform the government factions and initiate departmental coordination. However, there is still no agreement with the federal states and municipalities, but it is clear that the districts with the worst Internet supply should be connected to the broadband network first.

Another detail is also certain: the mobile infrastructure company founded by predecessor Andreas Scheuer (CSU) is to shrink: the planned gigabit land register and thus all data relating to broadband and mobile communications expansion are to be managed by the Federal Network Agency in the future.

“There should be gigabit for everyone. And as quickly as possible,” announced Wissing. “With this, after almost 100 days, we are already one step further. It has to go with the beat. We urgently need to become more digital in Germany.”

More: The three illusions of German transport policy

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