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Germany’s conservatives will campaign on a platform of tax cuts and tighter controls on illegal immigration in February’s snap elections, according to a draft manifesto seen by the Financial Times.
The 79-page document promises “new policies… that will ensure Germany moves forward. Our commitment is: we will make sure this happens”.
The declaration, which will be formally unveiled to the public on Tuesday, marks a striking continuity with the policies of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, particularly on issues such as providing military support to Ukraine.
But on immigration, conservatives have pledged to take a tougher approach than the outgoing administration. “We must once again decide who comes to us and who can stay,” the manifesto reads.
The Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU) – often referred to collectively as the “Union” – are leading the election and are well ahead of other parties in opinion polls.
Early elections became inevitable last month when Scholz terminated his governing coalition of the Social Democrats, Greens and Freedom Party.
Schulz, who leads the SPD-Green minority government, faces a confidence vote in the Bundestag on Monday that he is likely to lose. The president would then dissolve the legislature and schedule early elections.
The CDU/CSU draft election program promises a “hard workers’ agenda”, proposing income tax cuts for low- and middle-income people, reductions in social security contributions and a reduction in corporate tax from around 30% now.
Both sides also want to completely scrap “Soli” – an income tax surcharge first introduced in the 1990s to pay for German reunification – as well as reinstate fuel subsidies for farmers and reduce value-added tax for the hotel industry to 7%. from the current 19% – and an increase in the inheritance tax exemption.
It’s unclear how the union plans to fund its tax benefits. It remains committed to the “debt brake”, Germany’s constitutional cap on new borrowing, which critics say puts the government in a spending straitjacket at a time when the country needs huge investments in defence, infrastructure and a green transition .
“Today’s debt is tomorrow’s tax,” the manifesto said.
Although they often fiercely attack Germany’s welfare culture, they do not propose any major reforms to the welfare state. They refuse to cut state pensions and raise the retirement age – although they advocate “active pensions” that would allow anyone working over retirement age to earn up to €2,000 a month tax-free.
they do want to abolish burggeld, Or “citizens’ money,” a system of paying benefits to the poor that the right says is akin to a universal basic income. They want to replace it with a “new basic insurance” that would be unavailable to those who turn down job offers.
Unlike the Greens and SPD, the CDU/CSU says nuclear energy should be Germany’s “choice” and supports research into small modular reactors and nuclear fusion. They also proposed lifting the ban on petrol and diesel cars.
On the foreign policy front, they expressed their commitment to the defense of Ukraine, which must be supported by “diplomatic, financial and humanitarian means, as well as the supply of weapons”, and to the “restoration of relations with France and Poland”.
The two parties say Germany should spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on the military, introduce compulsory military service for young people – although they have stopped short of calling for the reinstatement of conscription – and establish a National Security Council headquartered in Germany. Mansion.
The coalition also said that if it came to power it would give law enforcement agencies the ability to turn back migrants at the border as a means of “deterring illegal immigration” and would increase the number of foreigners deported from German territory.
It also wants to see the EU introduce a “third country model” where refugees can have asylum claims processed outside the EU and receive protection there.
The conservatives will also repeal a law enacted by Scholz’s government that makes foreigners eligible for naturalization after five years of residence in the country and allows for dual citizenship.
“The German passport is at the end of the integration process, not the beginning,” the manifesto said.
