Overview
- Dietmar Woidke opened a tour of the region by calling the coal exit transition a record‑speed effort, pointing to concrete projects now in operation.
- Deutsche Bahn’s new ICE maintenance site in Cottbus went from announcement to commissioning in under 700 days, which Woidke said outpaced Tesla’s 861‑day start‑up in Grünheide.
- The Cottbus facility currently employs about 580 people with a plan for 1,200 industrial jobs as expansion continues.
- The Medizinische Universität Lausitz – Carl Thiem, founded in summer 2024, is slated to welcome its first students next year, with €3.7 billion earmarked as the flagship investment.
- Brandenburg reports two funding pillars for the region through 2038—€3.6 billion in state aid and more than €6.7 billion from the federal government—within a national coal‑exit framework totaling roughly €40 billion, and officials say the net jobs balance is positive so far.