New Berlin connection: Saar politicians do not want to be sidetracked

Saarbrucken – First there was radio silence, now the politicians are screaming. For fear that the planned ICE connection between Paris and Berlin will rush past Saarland.

DB and SNCF would plan to stop in Saarbrücken. But the French Transport Minister Clément Beaune (41, Renaissance) promotes the route via Strasbourg. Not only in Alsace, but also politicians in Karlsruhe support this route (BILD reported).

Now the great awakening in the Moselle department and in Saarland: politicians on both sides want to “defend” Saarbrücken.

From the point of view of Saarbrücken Mayor Uwe Conradt (46, CDU) it will be without high-ranking advocate not work. He sees Prime Minister Anke Rehlinger (47, SPD) as responsible. As the Franco-German cultural representative of the federal government, but also as head of the state, she was supposed to promote Saarbrücken to those responsible in Paris and Berlin.

Oliver Luksic (43, FDP), State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport, sees opportunities for Saarbrücken, but warns against a strong lobby for Strasbourg. Reason: The economic space there is more important than in the Moselle department.

Saar Transport Minister Petra Berg (58, SPD) speaks to the “SR” of “better routes compared to Strasbourg”. But she forgets the bottleneck “Palatinate Forest” between Kaiserslautern and Neustadt, the ICE and TGV brakes.

But there are also problems on the French side, according to FDP politician Luksic: The promised expansion between Baudrecourt and Forbach has not yet been implemented.