Price of €49 monthly transport ticket to remain the same in 2024
Millions of commuters and travelers in Germany can expect to keep paying €49 for the popular ‘Deutschlandticket’, which allows unlimited trips on local and regional transport.
The decision to keep the cost stable was made by transport ministers of the Germany‘s 16 states on Monday evening following a special online conference.Â
The ministers agreed that, in addition to the €3 billion from the federal and state governments, unused funds to offset the deficit from 2023 can be carried over to 2024.Â
They were also hopeful that more customers would sign up for the ticket and thus also ensure price stability. However it remains to be seen whether the price of €49 per month can be maintained in 2025.
READ ALSO: Could Germany's €49 monthly transport ticket soon get more expensive?
Train strike to affect German auto industry
Not only passengers, but also German industry will have to adjust to considerable restrictions from Tuesday evening, when the GDL train drivers union strike for freight traffic begins.
"The announced six-day rail strike is having a negative impact on transport logistics in Germany and Europe and therefore also on companies in the German automotive industry," said the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) in response to an inquiry from DPA.
When possible, companies have already began adjusting their supply and logistics chains.
"However, a short-term shift from rail to road is extremely difficult," VDA said. Many companies in the sector had already shifted their transportation to the road in recent years. "As a result, this potential has largely been exhausted."
According to the VDA, it is mainly finished vehicles that are transported by train services.
READ ALSO: German train drivers to stage largest strike ever
Mass protests against the AfD continueÂ
Thousands of people took to the streets in several German cities on Monday evening to protest against right-wing extremism and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).Â
According to the police, around 5,000 people demonstrated in Paderborn in East Westphalia under the slogan "Put the AfD on ice" against an AfD event that took place in the city centre that evening.Â
According to the police, 5,500 people took to the streets in Hamm on Monday evening under the slogan "Colorful instead of brown, together against racism". The Alevi communities in Hamm had called for the demonstration in the city center.
 A police spokesman said it was by far the largest demonstration that had taken place in the city in recent years.
READ ALSO: How worried should Germany be about the far-right AfD after mass deportation scandal?
Berlinale chief dismisses concerns over German cultural boycott
A head of the Berlinale on Monday said the film festival was a place for "dialogue and inclusion" amid calls for a boycott of Germany's cultural institutions over their stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
The plea came at the unveiling of the full competition lineup for the 2024 Berlinale, with prominence given to several African films.
More than four months after the start of the war in Gaza, the festival heads, Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, expressed sympathy for "all the victims of the humanitarian crises in the Middle East" in the festival programme.
"We are also concerned to see that anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim resentment and hate speech are spreading in Germany and around the world," they said.
The outbreak of the war on October 7th has roiled the German cultural scene, where Berlin's staunch backing for Israel has prompted cries that pro-Palestinian voices are being marginalised.
A fifth of pensioners in Germany struggling to get by
Many pensioners in Germany receive very little money to live on: Four out of ten retirees (42.3 percent) have to get by on a net income of less than €1,250 a month. Of the almost 7.5 million people affected, more than 5.2 million are women. That is more than 53 percent of all female pensioners in Germany.
This is the result of calculations by the Federal Statistical Office in response to an inquiry by Left Party MP Dietmar Bartsch.
According to these calculations, one in four pensioners (26.4 percent) earns less than €1,000 in personal net income. The proportion of women is significantly higher: Of female pensioners, 36.2 percent have less than €1,000, and 13.9 percent of male pensioners.
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