Verdi, ZDS reach agreement after five rounds of negotiations
NewsThe German union Verdi and ZDS reached a new labour agreement for 11,500 North Sea port workers, pending a member vote.
Fehmarn Belt fixed link doubts?
A likely new coalition government in the state of Schleswig-Holstein does not share the previous administration’s support for the tunnel between Puttgarden and Rødby
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU party suffered a setback in elections in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, where voters voted out the centre-right coalition government of the CDU and FDP.
The CDU is likely to have remained the largest party in Schleswig-Holstein, but a new coalition of the centre-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Danish Minority Party (SSW) is now seen as likely.
This could mean that the plans for the fixed Fehmarn Belt crossing could be scrapped or at least put on hold. The Danes, who will be paying for the tunnel, are all for the project. But Germany’s part is an investment of around €800M for the connecting autobahn and rail improvements. The SPD and the German Greens have always opposed the project, while the SSW, representing mostly farmers in this largely agrarian Land, does not accord it any priority.
The Federal Transport Minister, Peter Ramsauer, favours the fixed link and is planning to distribute a handbook to the state’s population to encourage popular involvement in the planning procedure.
However, the action group against the project, Aktionsbündnis gegen eine feste Fehmanrbeltquerung eV, appears to have been gaining support and will lobby the new Schleswig-Holstein government to oppose spending on the required transport infrastructure improvements on the German side.
As previously reported, the fixed link, now estimated at almost €6B, would comprise an 18-km long immersed tunnel catering for road and rail traffic. The (revised) scheduled opening date is the end of 2020.
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