Transport Minister Wissing has… Report from Berlin denied that the FDP could leave the government because of the budget crisis. However, he sees no potential for savings when it comes to rail and subsidies for company cars.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing has… Report from Berlin emphasizes that the FDP “absolutely” wants to remain in government. The FDP also wants to get Germany back on track for growth and moving forward – as part of the government.
Since the Constitutional Court ruling on the Climate and Transformation Fund (KTF), the traffic light coalition has been fighting over the budget for the coming year and arguing about whether the debt brake should be suspended again. This must be examined carefully and seriously, said Wissing.
In any case, replacing the 60 billion euros planned for the KTF climate fund is a “real herculean task”. Subsidies would have to be checked. However, Wissing opposed the abolition of the tax break for diesel. “But to burden commuters, at the moment especially those who are hit hard, who cannot afford to switch to an electric vehicle because vehicle prices are still too high – I don’t think that is a very social idea,” he said.
Company car privilege should not be touched
Even abolishing the tax incentives for privately used company cars would not bring billions in additional revenue, added Wissing. Above all, he doubts the figures from the Federal Environment Agency. In his opinion, this pursues environmental policy goals: “They generally have the goal of driving less cars. This may all be represented that way from their perspective,” says Wissing.
However, the technically responsible ministry is the Ministry of Finance – and this comes from completely different figures that he trusts. “They come to the conclusion that when it comes to company car taxation, for example, the switch from the one percent flat rate to kilometer-based billing only makes a marginal difference. And for such marginal changes you don’t have to burden the country with bureaucracy.”
Sale of the DB logistics division “as quickly as possible”
Wissing sees no potential for savings in the federal government’s 40 billion investment project for the railways. “I definitely demand that these necessary funds be made available, because without the corridor renovation, without us getting high-performance corridors, we will not be able to get the railway out of this problem situation.”
He himself also called for the sale of the DB Schenker logistics division to be tackled quickly: “We want this to happen as quickly as possible,” said Wissing. This is important for the railway, but also for Schenker itself, which has to position itself internationally. “And we can also make good use of these funds to invest in the railway infrastructure, for example.”