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Bundestag CSU before the start of the exam with controversial topics
“Europe must concentrate on its core tasks with renewed vigor,” says CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt. photo
© Sven Hoppe/dpa
From Saturday, the CSU members of the Bundestag will start the new year with their retreat. Before doing this, they always like to make a lot of demands. One of them aims at far-reaching reforms in Brussels.
Slimmer EU institutions, tougher penalties for climate activists, tougher sanctions for recipients of citizens’ benefits, a massive upgrade of the Bundeswehr including a drone army: it’s starting again CSU in the Bundestag with a comprehensive list of demands into the new year.
From Saturday, the members of the Bundestag want to discuss the political situation at the start of the European election year 2024 at their retreat in the Seeon monastery in Upper Bavaria with a large number of guests, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and CSU leader Markus Söder.
Von der Leyen’s opinion on the CSU’s demand for a radical reduction in the size of the EU Commission will be exciting. The draft of its position paper, which is available to the German Press Agency in Munich, states that the EU needs institutional reforms and a reduction in the size of the Commission and its civil service. “We are therefore demanding that in future there will only be seven instead of 27 commissioners and that the other member states will be represented by junior commissioners.” The CSU’s desire to slim down goes even further: “We also want to critically examine the number and structure of the EU authorities and agencies.”
“Europe must concentrate with new vigor on its core tasks: creating prosperity, ensuring security and defending sovereignty,” said regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt to the dpa. This requires efficient institutions with a lean EU Commission at the top. “The goal must be to create a Europe that can assert itself in the world in a competitive, defense-ready and strategically independent manner.”
Position paper with numerous demands
In the past few days, new demands from the CSU from the position paper have appeared practically every day in various media, all of which are also available to the dpa in Munich. An excerpt from the most important content:
UKRAINE REFUGEES: The government in Kiev must “create the conditions so that Ukrainian refugees can return to safe areas of western Ukraine,” says a passage in the paper, which the “Münchner Merkur” reported on. In addition, Ukrainian refugees should be more encouraged to work instead of relying on citizens’ money.
CITIZENS’ MONEY: The CSU is calling for tougher sanctions for recipients of citizens’ money who refuse job offers: “There must be cuts in benefits as long as a recipient of citizens’ money refuses to accept reasonable work,” reported t-online.
CLIMATE ACTIVISTS: The impending penalties should be tightened for road blockades or actions against art and buildings as well as at airports by climate activists. “The willful intrusion into high-security areas such as airports poses a significant danger and must be punished with a prison sentence of at least six months,” reported the “Bild” newspaper.
DEFENSE: In addition to a higher defense budget and new structures for purchasing equipment and weapons, the CSU is calling for the establishment of a drone army. Furthermore, a German frigate in the Red Sea should help protect trade routes, reported the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
OTHER GUESTS: In addition to Söder and von der Leyen, the three-day retreat will include Bulgarian Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel, Danish Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad Bek, President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, Farmers’ Association President Joachim Rukwied and Saxony’s Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer ( CDU) expected. CDU leader Friedrich Merz, however, will not take part. Because of the invited guests, security precautions are particularly high this year, according to those responsible at Seeon Monastery.