23 June 2013

CDU adopts new government programme 2013-2017; Liberals unhappy

The programme, "Together for Germany's Success", promotes gender equality, minimum wages and affordable housing and rejects tax increases. FDP leader Rösler said the CDU had been seduced "by the sweet poison of spending money". (Includes translation of relevant European policies.)

In a document totalling nearly 130 pages, entitled "Together for Germany's Success", the CDU and the CSU are promising, if they win the general election on 22nd September 2013, an increase in family allowance and in mothers' retirement pensions. According to the electoral programme there will also be a new way of calculating income tax that should progressively favour families with children. The document excludes any tax increases. The CDU-CSU also maintains its commitment to Europe. "Germany will only succeed if Europe succeeds as a whole", maintains Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Translated from the German

As reported by the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the CDU adopted its new manifesto on Sunday evening. The executive boards of the CDU and CSU voted unanimously in favour of the programme at their joint meeting. However, criticism had been voiced in the preceeding days, primarily by the economic wing of the party, because of the opinion that some of the campaign promises were not financially viable. The chairman of the Business Association of CDU and CSU, Josef Schlarmann, said on German radio that the social benefits promised by this programme had not been consolitated in terms of their financeability.

The billion-dollar election promises of the CDU have also dismayed their current coalition junior-partner FDP, as reported in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. The CDU has been seduced "by the sweet poison of spending money", criticised party leader Philipp Rösler in the print version of Handelsblatt. The manifesto contains no statement of clear intent to revive the coalition with the FDP, even though Angela Merkel and Horst Seehofer (CSU) had implied their preference for a continued coalition with the Liberals at the meeting on Sunday, writes the Süddeutsche.

A BILD commentator describes the programme as the most socially democratic CDU programme of all times: tariff minimum wage, minimum pension irrespective of contribution payments, greater support for mothers and increased child support. It was also the greenest CDU programme to date, with the transition away from nuclear energy to be effected at any cost.

Volker Kauder, Leader of the CDU parliamentary group, rejected any criticism sharply. From today's perspective, the election promises were affordable, he said. According to a recent tax assessment, tax revenues would climb to €700 billion by 2017. CDU leader and Chancellor Angela Merkel equally cast aside her critics. She said the CDU had decided "a programme of measure and balance". There would be no additional burden on citizens and businesses. Fiscal consolidation would continue to be the focus. Merkel pointed out that the coalition is currently planning a debt-free household. 

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Securing a Good Future for Germany in Europe (from CDU press release)

"Chancellor Angela Merkel has led us well through the debt crisis. We will keep following this path until the whole of Europe has emerged from the crisis. Germany is only going to do well in the long run if Europe is doing well, too. 

• We stand for a strong euro and stable prices. We advocate the strict observance of national debt brakes. Anyone who fails to comply with the rules should have to expect sanctions.
• We want no pooling of debt. The Social Democrats and Greens, in contrast, are planning the way into a European debt union, in which the German taxpayer would have to vouch for virtually unlimited debts of other countries.
• Instead, we want improve Europe's competitiveness through structural reforms, more research and good education. We are also in favour of introducing our successful dual training system in other European countries. This would makes an important contribution to tackling youth unemployment.

Our goal remains to lead Europe, together with our partners, out of the crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the CDU are the guarantors that the euro remains a stable currency and that we continue our policies for economic strength and job security in Germany."

CDU press release

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Further mentions of European policies

"We want Europe to emerge from the crisis stronger than before, and the euro to remain a strong and stable currency. For this we need more effort and reforms, particularly in the states that need our help. In contrast to this, the SPD/Greens put faith in a pooling of debt and eurobonds. This would be the way to a European debt union, in which the German taxpayer would have to vouch for the debts of other countries to a virtually unlimited extent. We oppose this idea."

No debt union, no transfer union

"The SPD and the Greens have breached the Stability and Growth Pact  four times during their mandate, and softened its rules. Unfortunately, they have learnt nothing since. Red-green counts on a pooling of debt by the introduction of eurobonds. This would pave the way to a European debt union, in which the German taxpayer would have to vouch for the debts of other countries to a nearly unlimited extent. We oppose this idea. It would render the principle of "keine Leistung ohne Gegenleistung" (roughly translates as "mutual success depends on combined input") meaningless. We do not want Member States to be able to continue increasing their debt at the expense of their neighbours and thus avoid uncomfortable reforms."

Franco-German relations

"Europe needs a strong German-French partnership. A trusting relationship between the partners is essential to our mutual success. We want to move forwards jointly as much as possible with all EU partners and we will always strive to find ways to bring together different positions. But we also know that European integration needs an engine. Therefore, the German-French partnership is of particular importance. We are aware of this responsibility and will act accordingly in the interest of Europe’s future."

Full CDU government programme (in German)