Federal election campaign: CDU wants to achieve two percent growth with Agenda 2030

With an Agenda 2030, the CDU wants to achieve economic growth of at least two percent per year in the medium term. This emerges from a draft resolution for the CDU federal executive committee meeting in Hamburg on Friday. Union Chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz’s CDU is proposing, among other things, a major tax reform, a more flexible labor market and lower energy prices. The paper that was sent to the board members in the evening is available to the German Press Agency. The news portal “Table.Briefings” also reported.

In the paper, the CDU leadership proposes a tax reform in four annual steps, which should start at the beginning of 2026. The income tax burden should decrease, the top tax rate only applies from 80,000 euros, and the basic tax allowance should increase annually. Overtime pay should be tax-free for full-time employment. For pensioners who continue to work voluntarily, earnings of up to 2,000 euros per month should remain tax-free. The solidarity surcharge should be completely abolished and citizens’ money should be transferred to a “new basic security”. This demand can also be found in the joint election program of the CDU and CSU.

Weekly instead of daily maximum working hours

A digital federal agency for skilled immigration is to be created to recruit foreign skilled workers. The Working Hours Act should be made more flexible. In the future there will be a weekly instead of daily maximum working time.

When it comes to electricity prices, the CDU is aiming for relief of at least five cents per kilowatt hour. Electricity tax and network fees should decrease. In order to strengthen the automotive industry, the party wants to reverse the phase-out of combustion engines. The CDU wants to largely relieve founders of bureaucracy in the start-up phase and promote digitalization and AI applications. The CDU wants to make cybersecurity “Made in Germany” a global brand and Germany an attractive location for innovative cybersecurity and crypto-economy companies. Research and development should be promoted; the CDU sets the target of 3.5 percent of gross domestic product annually by 2030.

The CDU also wants to trigger a construction boom in Germany. “We want to see more construction cranes in our country in just a few months,” says the draft resolution. Approval procedures for traffic, construction, digital infrastructure and industrial plants should be accelerated. The CDU wants to ensure more affordable housing with special depreciation.

Subsidies should be put to the test in the event of a collapse in funds

In financial policy, the CDU relies on a “triad” of sticking to the constitutional debt brake, tax relief and necessary investments. As part of a cash collapse, all expenses should be put to the test, especially the subsidies that rose sharply during the years of the traffic light coalition.

At its party conference on February 3rd, the CDU wants to decide on an immediate program with measures that should be addressed immediately if it takes over government responsibility. “The challenges are so great that we have no time to lose. It counts from day one,” says the draft for the board meeting.