BWVL sees party populism in coalition decisions

On the occasion of its board meeting, the Federal Association of Economy, Transport and Logistics (BWVL) e.V. concludes that the discussions in the coalition committee primarily involved party-political appeasement politics. Substantive issues were only seemingly addressed, in some cases not addressed at all, or led to an impossible redistribution.

(Bonn) From the BWVL’s perspective, the decisions regarding the CO2 toll ultimately represent a covert tax increase. The toll increases only seem to affect road freight transport at first glance; in reality, citizens will face price increases for goods and services. “For years, there will be no alternatives to road freight transport because the railways cannot offer the capacities that our companies from trade and production would like to use for their transports. Without realistic steering effects towards other modes of transport or vehicles with alternative drives, this lack of alternatives remains a reality, but is apparently ignored for ideological reasons,” says BWVL President Quick. “Instead, the citizen pays the price when a new chapter of the endless story called railway reform is opened through the road transport mode, without knowing where the money actually flows: Because if the investment needs of around 45 billion euros by 2027 cannot be implemented in practice – and I assume that – the citizen is only paying off the railway’s debts through the truck, which I then call label deception – without fundamental structural reform, this will not work,” Quick continues.

The BWVL does not fundamentally reject a CO2 toll but sees it as a meaningful steering instrument only if alternatives exist. Solely discussing additional revenue opportunities polarizes between the modes of transport to the detriment of road freight transport and ignores its significance for the economy and society. “Using the additional revenues from the CO2 toll for mobility is supposed to end the financing cycle for roads, but this is conditional on excluding a double burden from the CO2 price. I miss a clear statement on this. – Selling only half-baked burdens as solutions is not a solution but leads to new burdens,” says BWVL President Quick.

No statement on the topic of Long Trucks

The BWVL also misses a statement on the topic of Long Trucks. The Federal Ministry for the Environment has been practicing passive resistance towards the Ministry of Transport for over a year – not only regarding the approval of route extensions but also concerning the bilateral agreement with Denmark. The coalition talks also fail at this point in their original task of providing solutions to real conflict situations within the government.

Photo: © BWVL