parties
Union is focusing on military strength in the European election campaign
CDU leader Friedrich Merz (l) and CSU leader Markus Söder advocate more military equipment. photo
© Michael Kappeler/dpa
The European elections are coming up in June. The CDU and CSU don’t just want to keep Ursula von der Leyen in power. The joint election program also aims to give support to unsettled regular voters.
In the European election campaign, the CDU and CSU are focusing on massive armament European Union, including aircraft carriers and their own missile shield. The two Union parties are also calling for their own EU defense commissioner.
“The security situation in Europe has changed fundamentally in recent years, particularly as a result of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. It is clear that we need to do significantly more to ensure Europe’s security and defensive capability. We need a comprehensive security agenda for the EU,” it says in the draft of the Union’s election program.
25 pages for more European defense capability
The 25-page paper is entitled “Europe with Security – For a Europe that protects and benefits” and was sent to members of both party presidencies on Sunday. It is available to the German Press Agency and is to be decided at a joint meeting of the two party presidencies on March 11th in Berlin.
“We want a better common foreign and security policy that makes Europe a capable actor and a strong voice in the world,” it continues. The aim is to have European armed forces in the sense of a strengthened European defense union, embedded in the structures of NATO, “in order to be able to defend ourselves together”.
To achieve this, national armed forces should work more together in a European defense union. “The United Kingdom, as a leading European military power, should also be integrated in the best possible way.” Furthermore, the CDU and CSU want to make Europe more independent and resilient: “The transatlantic partnership with the USA is strong, but we have to do more about it. The rise of extremist, anti-liberal forces and anti-Western parallel societies threaten the foundation of the European project and liberal democracy.”
Call for fighter planes, tanks, drones and aircraft carriers
The Union rejects anti-European tendencies; what is needed is a European internal market and not a national small-scale market. This applies to military equipment as well as to arms exports. “We want to develop and procure military equipment such as combat aircraft, battle tanks, drones and aircraft carriers together with European partners.” The defense industry in Europe must grow. In addition, the EU’s next long-term budget must provide significantly more resources for military needs and thus complement the efforts of the member states.
The Union also advocates the development of a European missile defense shield and a security agenda for the EU. “It must be developed in close cooperation between member states and NATO. We need – even in a reduced Commission – an EU Commissioner for Defense.”
Ukraine continues to receive “comprehensive support,” but the Union distances itself from Russia: “A Russia that wages this criminal war of aggression cannot be a partner.” At the same time, the CDU and CSU emphasize their hope that “another Russia” can one day be won back as a partner.
Conservative core voters in mind
The Union describes the European elections in June as groundbreaking for security and prosperity on the continent for reasons other than the Ukraine war: “With the rise of China, the balance of power in the world is fundamentally changing. Digital transformation, artificial intelligence and the fight against “Climate change is transforming the economic world a lot.”
In addition, the draft summarizes many of the Union’s well-known positions – all of which aim to retain conservative core voters. There are still calls for better border protection against irregular migration, and the CDU and CSU want asylum procedures to be outsourced to safe third countries outside of Europe. Bureaucracy should be reduced and EU free trade agreements should be concluded with the USA, South America and the Asia-Pacific region.
Goal: For nuclear energy, against the ban on combustion engines
The EU should also spend more money on research and development – the goal is three percent of gross domestic product. When it comes to energy supply, the CDU and CSU emphasize their willingness to continue using nuclear energy: “We cannot do without this option at the moment.” The ban on vehicles with combustion engines, which has actually already been decided, is to be abolished. The Union wants to strengthen intra-European cohesion with an emphasis on a European dominant culture, cash should be retained and the assumption of debt by member states will continue to be rejected.
In response to the farmers’ protests in Europe, the Union is ready for dialogue and, with regard to the wolf, it is once again calling for a reduction in the strict protection status. Cooperation with Great Britain is to be intensified, but Turkey’s accession to the EU is once again rejected.