Steffen BilgerFederal Minister for Transport

Politics · Economy & Mobility

Economy and mobility: transport as industrial policy

Steffen Bilger tends to argue about transport in economic terms: Germany as a car-exporting country, logistics as the backbone of an export economy, and climate technology as an industrial opportunity. This page sets out those documented arguments and the economic debates they belong to.

Diagram: a supply chain from supplier to factory to port, carried by road, rail and waterway, with investment feeding the network from below SUPPLIER FACTORY EXPORT ROAD RAIL WATERWAY INVESTMENT
The economic argument in one picture: a supply chain depends on several networks at once, and each depends on public investment. Schematic.

Section A — the car country

"As a car-making country, Germany sells cars to the whole world"

Bilger's constituency lies in one of Europe's densest automotive regions, and the car industry runs through his statements over eight years.

  1. 2018

    Technologieoffenheit ist wichtig. Als Autobauerland Nummer eins muss es unser Ziel sein, bei jeder Technologie an der Spitze zu sein. ("Technology openness is important. As the number one car-making country, our goal must be to lead in every technology." Translation; trade-press interview, 7 September 2018, as Parliamentary State Secretary.)

  2. 2023

    As an opposition MP he criticised the EU's CO₂ rules for new cars and warned of dependence on China for batteries, according to a 2026 profile in elektroauto-news (secondary source; the exact speech was not located).

  3. 2025

    Arguing for a loosening of the EU's 2035 end of new combustion-engine cars on RTL/ntv on 8 October 2025: Wir haben nicht nur den deutschen Markt, sondern als Automobilland Deutschland verkaufen wir die Autos in die ganze Welt. ("We don't only have the German market; as a car-making country, Germany sells cars to the whole world." Translation.)

  4. 2026

    Asked about his own car, he told the Berliner Morgenpost that he drives a petrol VW Sharan as a family car and that a German make had been important to him; at the time there had been no classic family car available as an electric vehicle.

The combustion-engine debate

Documented position

Bilger argues from Germany's role as a car producer and exporter, and against prescribing one drive technology. As minister he has also supported electric-truck charging and electricity-based aviation fuel, so his position is not opposition to new drives as such.

Policy context

EU law requires new cars sold from 2035 to be zero-emission. The CDU/CSU has campaigned for a revision; supporters of the target, including environmental groups and some manufacturers, argue that a fixed date gives investment certainty and that delay risks losing ground to Chinese electric-car makers. In the Ludwigsburg area, carmakers and suppliers such as Porsche in Weissach and Bosch in Schwieberdingen are major employers. See Ludwigsburg and Regional development.

Section B — Mittelstand and logistics

The Mittelstand and logistics as the backbone

"Mittelstand" means Germany's small and medium-sized, often family-owned firms. They make up most of its companies and much of its industrial employment, and most of them depend on road freight.

Bilger's links to business-policy networks inside his party are documented in part. The CDU/CSU group lists him as a member of its Parlamentskreis Mittelstand, the parliamentary circle of MPs focused on small and medium-sized business. German Wikipedia also describes him as chair, since 2013, of the transport forum of the MIT, the CDU/CSU's business and SME association; no MIT or official page confirming that role was found, so it is reported here as unconfirmed.

The clearest economic thread in his career is logistics. In April 2018 the cabinet made him the federal government's Coordinator for Freight Transport and Logistics. He said then that he was ab sofort erster Ansprechpartner der Bundesregierung für alle Fragen rund um die Logistik ("as of now, the federal government's first point of contact for all questions concerning logistics", translation). In March 2019, presenting the themes of the ministry's planned Innovationsprogramm Logistik 2030, he said: Wir wollen, dass wir Innovationsstandort und Logistikweltmeister bleiben. ("We want to remain a place of innovation and the world champion of logistics.") The programme was presented by Minister Andreas Scheuer in September 2019.

As minister, his logistics decisions so far are funding measures: an extra €84 million for single-wagon rail freight (August 2026), the start of a roughly €1 billion fast-charging network for electric trucks (September 2026), and a federal-state effort against low water on the Rhine to secure supply chains. The ministry quoted him saying the charging network strengthens the competitiveness of German logistics. System detail is on Logistics and Freight transport.

eSAF ist für mich nicht nur eine Frage der Klimapolitik, sondern auch eine industriepolitische Chance.

“For me, eSAF is not only a question of climate policy but also an industrial-policy opportunity.” (translation)

Steffen Bilger, press release 088/2026 on joint eSAF funding with Austria and Luxembourg, 21 September 2026 — bmv.de

Climate technology as industrial policy

eSAF is electricity-based sustainable aviation fuel: kerosene made from renewable hydrogen and captured carbon. It is far more expensive than fossil kerosene. Germany, Austria and Luxembourg agreed a joint "double auction": producers bid to supply, airlines and other buyers bid to purchase, and public money covers the gap. Germany has committed up to €2 billion, Austria and Luxembourg €60 million each. The scheme still needs European Commission state-aid approval.

The framing matters politically. By calling eSAF an industrial opportunity, Bilger places a climate measure inside an economic argument about European value creation and energy independence, which is how the ministry's release summarises his view. See Climate & transport and Innovation.

A seat on the KfW board

Bilger's Bundestag declaration lists membership of the Verwaltungsrat (board of directors) of KfW, the federally owned development bank, from 29 July 2026, the day he became minister. This is an ex officio seat: the KfW Act names the federal minister responsible for transport among seven federal ministers on the board, alongside finance, economics, foreign affairs, agriculture, development and environment.

KfW finances, among much else, municipal infrastructure and company investment. The seat is a function of the office, not a personal appointment, and no statement by Bilger on KfW policy has been documented.

Section D — the fiscal tension

Budget discipline versus investment

The economic case for infrastructure is widely accepted. How to pay for it divides the parties, and the coalition itself is attempting a middle course.

Investment side
  • The €500 billion special fund, financed by borrowing outside the debt brake, provides €21.25–22.0 billion for transport in 2026 (the figure differs between the adopted 2026 budget and the Bundestag's August 2026 comparison) and €17.7 billion in 2027.
  • Bilger, to Der Spiegel: Wir haben so viel Geld wie noch nie für sie zur Verfügung, auch dank des Sondervermögens ("We have more money available for it than ever, thanks in part to the special fund").
  • The Autobahn company is to gain limited borrowing capacity from 2027.
Discipline side
  • The ministry's core budget falls from €27.9 billion to €26.43 billion in the 2027 draft.
  • Support for rail freight track charges falls from €265 million to about €200 million.
  • The Börsen-Zeitung reported on 27 July 2026 that Chancellor Merz wanted Bilger to mobilise private capital to finance infrastructure modernisation.
What is not documentedNo statement by Bilger on the debt brake itself, on taxes or on wider fiscal rules as minister was found. His documented position is on the instruments for transport: the special fund, motorway borrowing and the toll revenue.

Sources

  1. eurotransport / trans aktuell — Interview with Steffen Bilger (7 Sep 2018)
  2. elektroauto-news — Steffen Bilger und die Elektromobilität (2026)
  3. Berliner Zeitung — Bilger on the combustion-engine ban (8 Oct 2025)
  4. BMV — Interview with Berliner Morgenpost (14 Sep 2026)
  5. steffen-bilger.de — Wahlkreisorte
  6. electrive — Bosch invests in Schwieberdingen site (9 Aug 2018)
  7. CDU/CSU-Fraktion — Steffen Bilger profile
  8. Wikipedia (German) — Steffen Bilger (accessed 8 Oct 2026)
  9. Deutscher Bundestag — Steffen Bilger, biography and declarations
  10. Deutscher Bundestag (archive, 19th term) — Steffen Bilger
  11. VerkehrsRundschau — Das machen die neuen Staatssekretäre (11 Apr 2018)
  12. eurotransport — Staatssekretär Bilger nennt Themenfelder: Innovationsprogramm Logistik 2030 nimmt Formen an (1 Mar 2019)
  13. VerkehrsRundschau — Scheuer stellt Innovationsprogramm Logistik 2030 vor (4 Sep 2019)
  14. BMV press release 079/2026 — Einzelwagenverkehr (28 Aug 2026)
  15. BMV press release 087/2026 — Lkw-Schnellladenetz (15 Sep 2026)
  16. BMV press release 075/2026 — Niedrigwasser (12 Aug 2026)
  17. BMV press release 088/2026 — eSAF-Förderung (21 Sep 2026)
  18. Gesetz über die Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau, § 7 — Verwaltungsrat
  19. Bundesregierung — Sondervermögen Infrastruktur und Klimaneutralität
  20. hib — 2027 transport budget draft (19 Aug 2026)
  21. BMV — Interview with Der Spiegel (26 Sep 2026)
  22. BMV press release 093/2026 — Neue Finanzierungsstruktur für die Autobahn (7 Oct 2026)
  23. Börsen-Zeitung — Bilger soll privates Kapital mobilisieren (27 Jul 2026)