Transport Minister Wissing fights with the countries

Berlin Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) should be sure of a majority in parliament this Thursday: At least the governing coalition of SPD, Greens and FDP should plead in the Bundestag for the nine-euro ticket for local transport that he is propagating. But that doesn’t mean that from June onwards, a super saver price for a monthly ticket will drive people into buses and trains for three months. Disillusionment could follow on Friday: Then the federal states in the Bundesrat should agree to the law. But it doesn’t look like that at the moment.

According to information from the Handelsblatt from coalition and state circles, a number of federal states want to reject the planned regionalization law or abstain from voting if the Bundestag should pass it unchanged this Thursday. The law would then go to the mediation committee. As a result, the discount ticket would not be introduced at the same time as the discount at the gas stations, as planned.

The traffic policy spokesman for the Greens in the Bundestag, Stefan Gelbhaar, only told the Handelsblatt at the weekend: “Both laws should come into force simultaneously on June 1st. We will secure that in the further proceedings. ”And SPD parliamentary group leader Detlef Müller had also warned the federal states against “tactical games”.

A federal dispute has broken out about local transport

But a real power struggle has now broken out between the Federal Minister of Transport and his state colleagues over the discount ticket. The federal states are responsible for local transport. They order and organize buses and trains via public transport authorities or municipal transport companies. They actually set the prices they charge too. The federal government, however, is obliged by the Basic Law to adequately finance local transport. This dual role is currently igniting the federal dispute once again.

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The federal states agree in principle: the federal government should pay more, but Wissing rejects it. At the showdown, it is above all those federal states in which the CDU or CSU are co-governing that are rebelling. But there is also loud resistance from the SPD-governed Saarland. “In order for the nine-euro ticket to have long-term positive effects, a sufficient increase in regionalization funds must be guaranteed, otherwise, in view of the energy prices of public transport, in the long term it will be less than more,” said Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger’s government spokesman to the Handelsblatt. ÖPNV is local public transport. “The federal government has to deliver. As of now, Saarland’s approval is by no means certain.”

>> Also read here: Volker Wissing’s climate plan: Train travel should replace short-haul flights

Saarland only has three votes in the Bundesrat. However, the states governed by the Union include North Rhine-Westphalia, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Bavaria and Brandenburg as well as Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein. Overall, these states combine 39 of the total of 65 votes in the Bundesrat, with Saarland there are 42 – so they would be clearly in the majority.

In Hesse it was said that the voting behavior was still open, as was the case in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. Economics Minister Bernd Althusmann (CDU) told the Handelsblatt that if the federal government does not increase the regionalization funds, “Lower Saxony will vote against it or abstain”. Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg had already announced resistance. If the federal states abstain, then this corresponds to a no, which would miss the majority in the Bundesrat.

A protocol statement is intended to reassure the countries

The traffic light coalition had taken the federal states by surprise with the project for the nine-euro ticket: In order to implement the fuel discount proposed by Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), party friend Wissing had submitted the proposal for the local transport discount to the coalition committee at the end of March.

The next morning, the state transport ministers and the representatives of the transport associations were flabbergasted. For months, they have been demanding 1.5 billion euros more from the federal government in order to modernize and expand their local transport. After all, by 2030 they should lure significantly more people from their cars to buses and trains in the name of climate protection. In the short term, they had also demanded compensation for the increased energy prices, a one-time further 1.5 billion euros.

Instead, a deep hole in the coffers is now threatening: According to initial forecasts, it will be at least 2.5 billion euros if the monthly ticket is offered for three months at such a low price. But Federal Minister Wissing sticks to his line: he calls for fundamental reforms in local transport before he puts fresh money into the system.

The losses from the discount ticket affect local transport companies, the bus industry and regional rail transport providers. At a hearing in the Transport Committee of the German Bundestag on Monday, their association representatives spoke clearly of a “flash in the pan” and called for sustainable concepts instead of a three-month campaign.

But the criticism died down: the SPD, Greens and FDP drafted an amendment to the law that evening, in which there was not a word about transferring more federal funds to the states.

As it was said, two options are now being negotiated: On the one hand, the traffic light coalition could not only pass the law on Thursday, but also a protocol note. A corresponding proposal comes from Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, as it was said.

Accordingly, the coalition would commit to providing a further 1.5 billion euros as regionalization funds for local transport this year. Or Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD), together with Finance Minister Lindner and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens), would make a corresponding statement publicly.
“The chances are 50:50,” said the governing coalition on Tuesday. “Without a protocol statement, it’s likely to come down to the conciliation committee.”

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