BERLIN (dpa-AFX) - Several transport associations have criticized a planned top-level meeting between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and representatives mainly from the auto industry. "The transport sector is the only sector that hasn't got its CO2 reduction right," Dirk Flege, chief executive of the pro-rail alliance, said in Berlin on Monday. "Against this background, we can no longer afford to think in boxes, to look at each mode of transport in isolation." The associations called on Scholz to make the transport turnaround "a top priority."

Representatives of important players in the transport industry were absent from Tuesday's meeting at the Chancellor's Office, Flege stressed. The fact that the title of the meeting referred to the entire mobility industry was therefore "misleading".

The ADFC, the Bundesverband Zukunft Fahrrad (Federal Association for the Future of Cycling) and the Zweirad-Industrieverband (Bicycle Industry Association) expressed similar sentiments. "Where it says mobility economy on it, there must also be mobility economy in it," said Wasilis von Rauch, managing director of Zukunft Fahrrad.

This Tuesday, Scholz plans to meet primarily with representatives of automakers and suppliers, including Mercedes CEO Ola Källenius, according to company sources, under the title "First Top-level Meeting of the Strategy Platform Transformation of the Automotive and Mobility Economy." According to media reports, the heads of VW and BMW - Oliver Blume and Oliver Zipse - will also take part in the meeting. Representatives of suppliers and IG Metall head Jörg Hofmann will also be present. The topics to be discussed include electromobility in the automotive sector./maa/DP/jha