Meeting of members and parliamentary evening in Berlin

Representatives of the companies Agados, Al-ko, Bohnenkamp, BPW, Eduard, Humbaur, Pongratz, Starco, Steelpress, Stema, Trigano, Unsinn, Winterhoff und wm meyer attended the first meeting of members, following the foundation and registration of our association, on Friday 8 July 2016 at the Europaplatz in Berlin.

In the course of the nearly three-hour event, the TIV Board and representatives of the individual working groups reported on the extensive activities of the past year. In addition, the budgets for 2016 and 2017 were approved, an auditor stipulated that the membership fee would continue to be € 4,500.00 in the coming years, and the establishment of a Marketing Working Group and two amendments were passed, among other things. The first amendment permitted representatives of Group II (suppliers) in the TIV board to be re-elected more than once, whilst the second one limited the voting power of company associations in the interests of the plurality of opinions and the representation of smaller companies.

The members who attended the meeting appeared to be satisfied with what has been achieved to date. They are aware that the success of the future association will depend to a large extent upon the continued levels of commitment displayed, for instance in the TIV Working Groups. All those present therefore also made an undertaking to display these levels of commitment.

The meeting of members was preceded by a Parliamentary Evening on Thursday 7 July in the prestigious premises of the Parliamentary Society, the former Reichstag President’s Palace, on the Dorotheenstraße. In addition to its own members, the TIV had also invited the entire transport committee of the German Bundestag. Despite the fact a marathon session was taking place in parliament as well as the semi-final of the European football championshipsm, the members of parliament Matthias Lietz, Florian Oßner, Reinhold Sendker, Gero Storjohann and Volkmar Vogel all managed to make an appearance.

Mr. Storjohann, with whom the first president of the TIV Board, Mr. Michael Jursch, had already met in January 2016 and organised the parliamentary evening, acted as a guest speaker and answered the questions of the many association members who attended the event following his keynote speech on the priorities of traffic infrastructure policy of the German federal government. They were particularly interested in the question of whether there were any initiatives for the revision of the driving licence regulations and to what extent a Europe-wide standardisation of the trailer approval and the permitted maximum speeds could be achieved. However, the matter of the division of liability in the field of trailer operation, which is particularly disadvantageous for trailer rental companies, and the potential promotion of the use of trailers through e-cars was also addressed. It became clear that not all members of the Transport Committee were aware of the relevance of these themes and to date hardly any tangible improvements are being considered for our industry.

All the same: Mr Storjohann and his colleagues expressed very positive sentiments concerning the foundation of our association and encouraged the TIV to not least also engage in dialogue with the Federal Ministry of Transport and Brussels in relation to their own concerns. The stimulating evening was brought to a pleasant conclusion with a buffet, informal discussions and the broadcasting of the football match between Germany and France. It undoubtedly achieved its objective: In a pleasant, open atmosphere the association was at least able to concisely state its concerns as before a section of the Transport Committee, and thus pave the way for further, more concrete discussions in the future.