The federal government sees the responsibility of the states

DB regional express

The federal government refuses to talk to the states every year about how high the ticket price should be.

(Photo: imago/Ralph Peters)

Berlin The federal government refuses to be responsible for the Germany ticket it initiated. This emerges from the Federal Government’s statement on the ongoing legislative process, on which the federal states had previously commented and addressed demands to the federal government. The paper is available to the Handelsblatt.

According to this, the federal government insists that “it is not the federal government that introduces the Deutschlandticket”. It must be “unequivocally” clear that the federal states are responsible for local public transport.

The distancing is explosive, as the states insist that the federal government participate equally in the Germany ticket. In its statement on the planned amendment to the Regionalization Act, the Chamber of States had decided that the federal government would commit itself to “permanent half co-financing” “or limit the introduction of the Deutschlandticket to the years 2023 to 2025, analogous to the period of validity of the federal government’s cost sharing”. The introduction is “a legal obligation of the states” by federal law.

The federal government does not share this position. “The implementation of the project is the responsibility of the federal states,” the federal government clarifies. The federal government only helps with the financing by obliging itself, like the federal states, to pay 1.5 billion euros a year, not with the additional costs.

The Bundestag wants to decide in the coming week, at the end of March the Bundesrat should agree. From May 1st, the ticket should be valid nationwide. Before that, the EU Commission has to give the green light.

New deficits with the semester ticket

The federal states, on the other hand, expect that the federal government will not only contribute half of the total costs for the nationwide ticket this year, but also in the following years. Bavaria’s Transport Minister Christian Bernreiter (CSU) called for “a binding commitment from the federal government that the federal government will also contribute to the additional costs of the Deutschlandticket in 2024 and 2025 if the three billion euros provided are not sufficient. Municipalities and companies need financial planning security.”

ticket machine

According to the Basic Law, the federal states are responsible for local transport.

(Photo: IMAGO/Ulrich Wagner)

The deficit of the transport companies could be higher than the previously estimated three billion euros by 2024 at the latest. A cost block that has not yet been taken into account is a discounted ticket for students, which could cause annual additional costs of up to half a billion euros from the winter semester.

The federal government, on the other hand, rejects any obligation to make additional payments beyond 2023. According to the counter-statement, the Federal Chancellor and Prime Minister did not reach such an agreement at the last conference in December. “Of course, sustainable follow-up financing is needed beyond this year, should it become apparent that the three billion are not enough to compensate for the loss of income,” said a spokesman for the Association of German Transport Companies.

>> Read here: The Germany ticket costs more than planned

It goes on to say: “From the point of view of the industry, however, it is completely clear that the continued existence of the Deutschlandticket requires secure financing that does not put the transport companies and associations in economic difficulties.” It is the task of the federal and state governments to avert this danger . The industry is currently concentrating “fully on a successful introduction of the Deutschlandticket”.

States feel pressured by the federal government

“Many companies are concerned that there will not be enough money and that the deficit will remain with them,” said Winfried Hermann, Minister of Transport in Baden-Württemberg, on Friday at the debate in the Bundesrat. “That would be fatal.” There is a risk that the quality of local transport would then drop. The federal government wanted the Germany ticket and “to a certain extent forced it on us,” he clarified.

local transport

A cost block that has not yet been taken into account is a discounted ticket for students, which could cause annual additional costs of up to half a billion euros from the winter semester.

(Photo: dpa)

According to the Basic Law, the federal states are responsible for local transport. Therefore, the federal government also refuses to talk to the states every year about how high the ticket price should be. The countries are insisting on the option so that companies can compensate for further losses.

The government coalition in Berlin said it was important to implement the ticket now. All other questions, such as how local transport can be permanently financed and gain market share, are being clarified by a federal and state working group. She is to forge an “expansion and modernization pact”.

>> Read here: Will the Germany ticket be more expensive as early as 2024?

The federal government points out that the ticket will have to be renegotiated in 2025 anyway. For the period from 2026, a new legislative process is necessary to secure funding. By then there should also be a new mechanism for how the countries divide the income among themselves. To do this, they have to collect extensive data on who uses local transport where and how often.

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