Is the Deutschlandticket threatened with extinction? Before the Prime Minister’s discussions, SPD state ministers are pushing for a decision on financing. They warn of a price increase.
The main topic of the Prime Minister’s Conference next Monday is actually migration policy. But a paper by the SPD transport politicians from the federal and state governments is now drawing attention to a successful project by the traffic light government.
The SPD politicians are “urgently” calling for a political decision to finance the so-called Germany ticket. Spiegel first reported on the two-page paper. Dem ARD capital studio it is also available.
Termination “not an option”
In it, the authors warn against an end to the project, as financing is only secured until the end of the year. The federal and state governments would therefore have to agree on the financial framework next Monday, according to the paper. Ending the Germany Ticket is not an option.
The federal and state governments had previously agreed to each provide 1.5 billion euros to finance the ticket. However, for the years 2024 and 2025, experts expect a financing gap of between 1.1 billion euros in 2024 and 1.6 billion euros in 2025.
rejection Price increase
The SPD politicians are demanding that the federal government share these additional costs between the federal and state governments. Otherwise, the ticket price will have to rise to 64 euros from May 2024. However, this could lead to customers switching to other modes of transport – apparently this means private cars. The potential of the Germany ticket is not being exhausted. The goal of selling at least 13 million tickets will then not be achieved.
However, the wish of the transport ministers of all states and the SPD parliamentary group is to give the Germany ticket the necessary time and to maintain the ticket price of 49 euros for the time being.
The paper is addressed to Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the SPD Prime Ministers. It was signed by five SPD state ministers, the deputy SPD parliamentary group leader Detlef Müller and the transport policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group Isabel Cademartori. The appeal also shows the dissatisfaction in the SPD at the state level and in the parliamentary group with their own traffic light policy.