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CDU party conference adopts new basic program
Friedrich Merz was re-elected CDU federal chairman at the CDU federal party conference in Berlin. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
Day two of the CDU federal party conference: The delegates want to launch a new basic program. This is largely undisputed. But debates on the details are certainly to be expected.
After the new election of the party leadership at the start of its three-day federal party conference, the CDU give a new basic program. The 1,001 delegates will have a draft of almost 70 pages entitled “Living in Freedom – Leading Germany Safely into the Future” available for discussion. It is the first basic program in 17 years. With its adoption, the CDU wants to complete its substantive renewal after the heavy defeat in the 2021 federal election.
Party leader Friedrich Merz said that thanks to the new program, the CDU was “ready to take over government responsibility for Germany again immediately and by autumn of next year at the latest.” A maximum of four years of traffic lights are enough. “Every day earlier that this drama comes to an end is a good day for Germany.”
Merz re-elected as CDU chairman
Merz was confirmed in office for another two years by the delegates in the new party leadership election with a result of almost 90 percent. Congratulations also came from CSU boss Markus Söder. “We stand firmly together and want to move Germany forward together. Here’s to continued good cooperation,” wrote the Bavarian Prime Minister on the X platform (formerly Twitter). Söder is expected at the party conference this Tuesday. He also wants to give a greeting in the afternoon.
North Rhine-Westphalia’s Labor and Social Affairs Minister Karl-Josef Laumann, who was elected deputy party leader, also sees Merz’s re-election as a signal regarding the Union’s candidacy for chancellor. “Well, unless God knows what happens, I think it’s just going to happen to him,” the CDU politician told the “Rheinische Post”.
The CDU as a “centre people’s party”
In its new basic program, the CDU presents itself as a “centre people’s party” with the “Christian image of humanity” as its compass. She advocates a “cosmopolitan patriotism” and is committed to a German “leading culture”. This included basic and human rights, respect and tolerance, knowledge of the language and history, and recognition of Israel’s right to exist. Only those who commit to the dominant culture can become German.
The CDU advocates that recipients of social benefits who can work must also work. The statutory pension should be supplemented by a mandatory funded pension provision. Overtime should be tax-free for full-time employees, and the CDU also wants to make pensioners who continue to work better off. She is in favor of a compulsory social year, for the option of nuclear energy, for asylum procedures in safe third countries and against gender compulsory.
A new basic program
According to the program, Germany should be able to defend itself and the Bundeswehr should be able to fight. The CDU advocates healthy state finances with compliance with the debt brake and for openness to technology in combating climate change. The passage on Islam in Germany was controversial in advance. Now the draft program says: “Muslims who share our values are part of the religious diversity of Germany and our society.” And: “An Islam that does not share our values and rejects our free society does not belong to Germany.”
There could be controversial debates on several points in the program discussion. This includes the mandatory social year, which the CDU decided on two years ago at its federal party conference in Hanover. However, the discussion has since developed further. In view of the military threat from Russia and the Bundeswehr’s personnel shortage, a return to compulsory military service is being considered, which Söder, for example, is also in favor of. The treatment of Muslims, the topic of dominant culture and the question of whether the basic program should say equality or equality could also cause discussions.