Christian Lindner (FDP) has confirmed that the €9 Travel Pass, which allows citizens to use German public transport at heavily discounted prices, will not be extended beyond 31 August, the finance minister said. told Funke Media Group on Saturday.
From the beginning of June, citizens will be able to use a ticket that will take them anywhere in Germany on buses, trams, metro, light rail, regional and regional express trains for just €9 ($9.19). became.
The tickets, introduced by the coalition government to offset rising fuel costs due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were hoped by many to be extended beyond their original expiration date.
However, Lindner dashed those hopes by saying, “The €9 ticket is a temporary measure and the federal budget does not consider it to be continued.”
Lindner confirmed that reimbursement of fuel prices, intended to mitigate the economic impact of the Ukrainian war on the German population, will also not be extended.
A poll conducted by the research institute Kantar for the German news magazine Focus found that a clear majority of Germans believe that local and regional transport will be cheaper when their €9 ticket expires. It turns out that you want
About 79% of respondents were in favor of state-subsidized and affordable airline tickets, 16% were against it, and 5% were undecided or had no opinion. 90% of respondents under the age of 30 supported such subsidies.
What is a 9 euro ticket?
To ease the financial burden of rising fuel and living costs, German parliamentarians have introduced discounts on national travel passes in June, July and August.
Anyone could take advantage of this offer, including non-German residents and tourists. By early July, some 21 million tickets had been sold, according to estimates from the German Association of Transport Companies (VDV).
The ticket does not include travel on long-distance ICE (Intercity Express), IC (Intercity), EC (Eurocity) or Thalys connections. However, you can also make a similar trip by local train, albeit for a longer journey.
Specific ferry connections in Berlin and Hamburg were also included in the ticket.
Lindner was questioned about his relationship with the auto industry
The Finance Minister found himself in the middle of a political storm over his relationship with German automaker Porsche.
Public broadcaster ZDF claimed Friday that the FDP chairman was “updating” Porsche boss Oliver Blum “almost every hour” during last year’s coalition talks, but Lindner countered. ing.
The impact of the Porsche-Lindner relationship is related to Germany’s electronic fuel policy.
On his official Twitter account, his team wrote that Lindner’s “position on electronic fuels has been known for years. So in June he commented on the EU’s planned termination of combustion engines. There was no previous contact with Mr Bloom and no other consequences.”
In that agreement, signed last December, the coalition government will bring together the Social Democrats, the Greens, and LDP — Commit to have 15 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030 and to phase out sales of petrol and diesel vehicles before the EU ban scheduled for 2035 takes effect.
In April, Porsche increased its investment to $75 million in developing climate-neutral e-fuels intended to replace gasoline in conventional combustion engines.
jsi/jcg (AFP, epd)
