The rally, organised by RDA, gbk and bdo, ended with a joint rally in front of the Brandenburg Gate with a view of the 1,000 coaches that were lined up on the Straße des 17.
Against this impressive backdrop, Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer announced an additional emergency aid programme for the mainly family-run traditional companies with a total volume of € 170 million. He justified this additional aid measure, which had been agreed on in the morning with Finance Minister Olaf Scholz and Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the systemic relevance of the coach for Germany and Europe.
"Thanks to our Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer, who made this emergency aid available from his budget for the coach operators. But it is also true that this amount is only part of the urgently needed aid. In view of the current forecasts of the tourism relaunch, which may last up to three years, further measures will be necessary to secure the 42,000 direct jobs.
It is now a matter of structuring the period of eligibility and maximum limits for bridging aid in the parliamentary process in such a way that the structure of the 3,441 farms can be maintained, particularly in rural areas. In particular, the accessibility of the funds for associated enterprises is of the utmost importance. In addition, smaller enterprises with up to 10 employees must also be able to apply for KfW fast loans with 100% exemption from liability.
With particular urgency we demand nationwide uniform regulations for coach travel, the patchwork carpet must be removed. Only in this way can the bus travel business within Germany and Europe restart.
A big thank you goes to our RDA members, to the members of the regional associations as well as the many companies not affiliated with any association and all participants of the demonstration and rally. This success is a joint success, which only came about because all the companies and associations demonstrated for their rights in Berlin in an impressive manner, shoulder to shoulder, on this historic day for our industry. This also applies to the companies that took part in previous nationwide demonstrations and this time had to stay at home, mostly for economic reasons. Every kilometre driven, every horn signal, every coach at every demonstration made such an important contribution to the fact that this emergency aid of € 170 million was finally able to get underway.
The RDA would like to thank the gbk and the bdo for their trusting and successful cooperation in organising the event," said RDA President Benedikt Esser after the rally in Berlin.