The heads of the CDU and CSU demonstrate unity. On this Monday, almost 100 days before the general election, they want to present the joint election program. The last points of contention have apparently been resolved.
As the last of the big parties, the CDU and CSU want to present their election program this Monday. Almost 100 days before the election on September 26, CDU leader Armin Laschet and CSU leader Markus Söder demonstrated unity on Sunday and sharply attacked the political opponents of the Greens and the SPD. “Our aim is to make a program for a modern Germany,” said Chancellor candidate Armin Laschet on Sunday at a performance with CSU leader Markus Söder before the Union’s final deliberations on the joint election program in Berlin.
The current draft, which was sent to the larger boards of the sister parties late on Sunday evening after the meeting of the presidia, shows that the leaders of the CDU and CSU want to win the election by rejecting tax increases and reducing the burden on small and medium incomes. “Especially after the pandemic, tax increases are the wrong way to go. They stand in the way of the necessary upswing in our economy,” says the paper available to the German Press Agency. In addition, the Union promises: “We will gradually abolish the solidarity surcharge for everyone and at the same time relieve small and medium-sized incomes from income tax.”
With a volume of just under 140 pages, the paper is significantly more streamlined than the drafts that have been circulating recently. It is entitled “The program for stability and renewal. Together for a modern Germany.” Laschet and Söder want to present the program on Monday afternoon – it is their first major joint appearance after the power struggle for the candidacy for chancellor. Before that, the boards of both parties should be connected to the exam online because of the corona pandemic and vote on the manifesto.
Laschet: “An alliance against the Union must not be formed”
Laschet warned urgently on Sunday of a red-red-green alliance or a traffic light coalition of the Greens, SPD and FDP after the election. Neither constellation could shape the decade of modernization. “This requires seriousness in government action and a vision of modernization.” Therefore, “this combination is not a good one for Germany,” said Laschet, who emphasized: “An alliance against the Union must not be formed.”
Söder emphasized: “Germany has always been strongly led when the CDU and CSU were closed.” After there had surely been points between the sister parties in the past few weeks that were controversial, the Union is now on course. The power struggle for the candidacy for chancellor does not burden the relationship between the parties or that of him and Laschet personally, said Söder: “Between us the world is whole. We want the Union to be successful.” The joint retreat for the election program was both the content and the atmospheric prelude to the election campaign.
Maternal pension not in the joint election program of the CDU and CSU
According to Söder, all points of the election program are united between the CDU and CSU except for the maternity leave. This is an “important act of justice”. He hoped that the topic could be discussed in coalition negotiations. With this, Söder signaled that there will be no more dispute on this issue in the negotiations with the CDU about the election program – leading CDU representatives had strictly rejected the inclusion of the maternal pension in the joint manifesto for financial reasons.
So far, mothers or fathers who have brought up children born before 1992 have generally only received 2.5 pension points per child. For those born afterwards it is 3 pension points. The CSU is striving for an alignment here. The expansion of the maternal pension should therefore be found in the CSU election program for Bavaria.
Rejection of new taxes
In the latest draft, the Union promises, among other things, to forego tax increases despite the immense national debt due to the corona pandemic. Considerations about the introduction of new taxes on assets such as the wealth tax or the increase in inheritance tax are resolutely opposed. “Above all, both of these would endanger Germany’s economic substance and cost jobs.”
A “competitive corporate tax” is announced in an “unleashing package” for the economy. “We want to cap the tax burden for profits that remain in the company to 25 percent in the future,” says the paper. Companies should be relieved of bureaucratic costs running into billions. The additional wage costs should therefore be kept “at a stable level of a maximum of 40 percent”. The mini job limit of 450 euros is to be increased to 550 euros. In addition, this limit should be checked regularly with a view to the development of the minimum wage.
Concept for “generation pension” is to be examined
According to the draft, the Union also wants to develop a concept to establish a new form of funded old-age provision. “A generational pension can be a good building block for old-age provision from birth,” says the paper. One wants to examine how such a generation pension could be designed with a state monthly contribution to the investment in a pension fund with protection against state access. The aim is to effectively avoid old-age poverty with an attractive mix of instruments. Earlier, more specific considerations that the state should pay 100 euros per month into a generational pension fund for each child from birth to 18 years of age are no longer included in the latest draft.
First reactions
The Left Party criticized the Union’s program as a “sham package”. “The only clear promise are tax cuts for high earners and the promise not to introduce a wealth tax. This means that social cuts and pension robberies are already priced into a possible CDU chancellorship,” said co-chair Susanne Hennig-Wellsow of the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”.
Criticism also came from the Greens: “In the draft of the election program you can find over 110 promises with financial implications. Either Armin Laschet wants to launch a gigantic debt program or these are often bad checks,” said the Green parliamentary deputy Oliver Krischer of the “Augsburger Allgemeine”.
According to the Prime Minister of Hesse, Volker Bouffier (CDU), the Union wants to finance the promises made in its election program through economic growth. “We do not want to increase taxes, incur new debts and make the necessary investments in the future. And we have to draw all of this from economic growth,” said the CDU deputy chairman of the editorial network Germany (RND).
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