This initiative, financed by the German government, the French State, Deutsche Bahn and SNCF, was decided at the Franco-German Council of Ministers last January to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty.
This treaty, signed by General de Gaulle and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on 22 January 1963, sealed reconciliation between their two countries with, in particular, the creation of the Franco-German Youth Office (FGYO).
The platform for allocating passes is due to open Monday morning at 10:00 am on the site passefranceallemagne.fr on the principle of "first come, first served", said the office of the Minister Delegate for Transport Clément Beaune, during a presentation of the project to journalists.
Half of the 60,000 passes are for young French citizens and residents and the other half for young Germans. They will allow "to travel from July 1 to December 31 for a Frenchman in Germany and a German in France and to have unlimited access to the rail network," said the firm.
This offer will be valid for all lines, both regional and high-speed, for one month from the first trip made. It will then make it possible to make seven days of unlimited journeys.
Berlin Central Station, October 8, 2022 © John MACDOUGALL / AFP / Archives
On the French side, half of the 30,000 passes will be distributed in priority to "scholarship students, young apprentices or young people in integration (...) the idea is that young people further away from Germany have access to this free and unlimited pass," explained Clément Beaune's office.
Regarding apprentices, "the objective is to organize the distribution of these tickets to deserving apprentices or who have won within their own organizations competitions of excellence," explained the office of Carole Grandjean, the minister in charge of Education and Vocational Training.
For example, about 100 tickets will be reserved for the winners of the best apprentice competition and several thousand are intended for the network of apprenticeship training centres (CFAs).
© 2023 AFP