Celebrities write to Scholz
Engelke is fighting for an extended 9-euro ticket
8/31/2022, 8:29 p.m
Germans have used the 9-euro ticket more than 60 million times. The cheap tariff expires today. In an open letter to Chancellor Scholz, numerous celebrities call for the “summer fairy tale” to be continued. Finance Minister Lindner gives hope for a solution.
In the middle of the ongoing debate about a continuation of the 9-euro ticket, a large group of celebrities spoke up in an open letter to Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This was reported by the mirror that received the letter. In it, the signatories call for the immediate introduction of a permanently cheap local transport card. “Take the chance, give yourself a jerk and Germany the 9-euro ticket,” write the celebrities, according to the report. It is an “important first step towards a better, fairer and climate-neutral future.”
The signatories include numerous prominent names, including comedian Anke Engelke, comedian Torsten Sträter, climate activist Luisa Neubauer, media manager Fabian Tobias (“Endemol Shine”) and doctor and author Eckart von Hirschhausen.
The initiator of the letter is the author and comedian Sebastian Rabsahl, who appears under the stage name “Sebastian 23” and claims to have used the ticket a lot himself. Now it should not remain a one-off “summer fairy tale”. “For me, the 9-euro ticket is an unprecedented opportunity to enable climate protection without deprivation, without bans,” Rabsahl told the magazine. Instead of a shower or eating ban, the population was given mobility: “The message was: You can drive!”
Lindner announces a turnaround
Together with the fuel discount, the 9-euro ticket was part of the traffic light coalition’s second relief package to cushion rising energy prices as a result of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Both measures were introduced on June 1st and expire on Wednesday. According to the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV), the ticket was sold a total of 52 million times within the three months. There were also another 10 million tickets that went to subscription holders.
At noon, Federal Finance Minister Lindner indicated that he could imagine a follow-up ticket. While the FDP politician had always rejected a follow-up solution, he said at the end of the traffic light retreat at Schloss Meseberg that Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing had convinced him. Wissing will implement a significantly cheaper successor if the countries participate. Lindner did not give any details.