Christian Bernreiter, the chair of the Committee of Transport Ministers (CSU), is scheduled to meet with Chancellor’s Chief of Staff, Nina Warken, next week in an effort to resolve disputes surrounding the financing of regional rail transport. This is according to the magazine Politico.
During their recent autumn conference, the federal states reaffirmed their demand for an additional 14 billion euros from the federal government to cover Regionalization Funds, which finance the regional train network. If their demands are not met, the states have threatened to cancel local rail services.
Politico, citing attendees from the Committee of Transport Ministers, reports that an initially planned meeting between Bernreiter and a state secretary from the Federal Ministry of Finance was abruptly cancelled due to an office error. Such a meeting makes no sense for the Ministry of Finance unless a commitment to increased funding is secured. For now, the federal government maintains that there are no budgetary resources available to satisfy the states’ demands. Instead, the federal government is requesting greater transparency from the states regarding how the allotted funds are used and asking for the reduction of existing reserves.
