By Andreas Kissler
BERLIN (Dow Jones) — The CDU and CSU have decided on priorities for their policies in a ten-point program and clearly differentiated themselves from the traffic light coalition in terms of content. “We are the solution in these difficult times,” said CSU chairman Markus Söder after a joint executive committee meeting of the CDU and CSU, at which the “Agenda for Germany” was agreed. “Today we decided on an immediate program, but we also defined our offer as a party, our location,” said Söder. The timing of the meeting 100 days before the elections in Bavaria and Hesse was “brilliantly chosen”.
CDU leader Friedrich Merz also derived a high federal political significance from this. “These elections will provide information about the support we can get from the population to continue our work in Berlin,” he said. The answers in the approved paper are given “in great consensus”. The Union parties advocate, among other things, tax and levy cuts, a moratorium on pollution, the fight against illegal immigration and tougher action, especially against clan crime, and reject the new heating law of the governing coalition.
In the joint paper, the Union parties promise a “politics for the middle class” in Germany. Specifically, the Union is calling for a “relief offensive for small and medium-sized businesses” with broad tax and duty relief for low and normal earners, including “tax exemption for overtime”. Inheritance tax on the parental home is to be abolished, and the real estate transfer tax for the first owner-occupied property is to be reduced. There should be a “moratorium on burdens” for companies, as well as a “high-tech agenda” financed from public funds and private capital.
Söder reiterated the demand for a “relief offensive”, for example by reducing the electricity tax, abolishing the inheritance tax for the parental home and not increasing the value added tax in gastronomy. “Finally, a moratorium on bureaucracy” is also necessary, because in the end you’re suffocating with regulation. “The whole world is more deregulated, we are becoming more and more regulated, especially through traffic lights,” he pointed out. Climate protection should not be done “with a crowbar”. The Union also says “yes to labor migration, but no to illegal immigration” and calls for the deportation of criminals, “especially those who have recently become conspicuous again in clans”.
Merz confirmed that immigration into the labor market is necessary and that illegal migration is limited at the same time. “The numbers have to go down, they’re too high,” he said. Regarding the Building Energy Act, he emphasized: “We do not follow the government on these issues.” The Union does not want bans, but rather to rely on additional incentives through CO2 pricing. Merz accused the coalition of “completely disrespectful dealings” with the Bundestag in connection with the schedule for the heating law. “The way the federal government is dealing with the German Bundestag here is without precedent,” complained the CDU chairman.
(with material from AFP)
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 30, 2023 07:59 ET (11:59 GMT)