CDU/CSU on digital affairs

The CDU and the CSU want to give every citizen a secure digital identity with a personal inbox for dealing with government offices. Public administration is to work fully digitally and use artificial intelligence.

The CDU and the CSU want to make government offices digital. Every person should get a digital account for these offices. ID cards and driver's licenses should be on the phone. Computer programs should handle simple requests faster.

The BundID is to become a uniform DeutschlandID that is compatible with the European eIDAS rules. A digital file is to bundle all of a person's important documents. Together with European partners, the parties want to push through a digital ID on the smartphone that is valid across Europe, for example for the national ID card and the driver's license. Administration is to be available around the clock and use AI to decide clear-cut cases faster; people are always to be able to have a decision reviewed individually.

The CDU and the CSU want to implement the EU's AI regulation with little red tape and not go beyond what it requires. AI research and applications are to be promoted because the parties see them as a precondition for competitiveness.

The CDU and the CSU want to support artificial intelligence. The short word for it is AI. The EU rules for AI should not be made even stricter. Small companies should get help with using AI. Europe should have its own large computers and data storage.

Risks of AI are to be kept under control without, in the program's view, too many rules blocking the opportunities. Security agencies are to be allowed to use AI to the extent needed. For mid-sized companies, the parties plan sector-specific advice and an initiative with universities of applied sciences that funds transfer projects. Computing capacity for research and startups is to be built up and continually upgraded. At the European level, the parties aim for a growing digital single market, more independence, and a European cloud.

The CDU and the CSU want to expand fast internet and mobile networks everywhere, especially in rural areas. An acceleration law is meant to speed up permits.

The CDU and the CSU want fast internet everywhere. This matters most for villages and small towns. The cell phone network should also get better. A new law should make permits faster.

Fiber optics are meant to prepare the networks for future demands. To get there, the parties rely on more competition, on cooperation models, and on dependable funding. The expansion of mobile and fiber networks is to count legally as an overriding public interest until all expansion goals are met.

The CDU and the CSU want to create a separate federal ministry for digital affairs. It is meant to bring the responsibilities for digital issues, now spread out, together in one place.

The CDU and the CSU want a new ministry for digital matters. This ministry should take care of all digital issues. These include networks, data, and digital government offices. It should also buy the computer technology for the federal government.

The ministry is to be responsible for networks, data policy, AI, platforms, digital services, and the digitalization of public administration. All federal IT purchasing and uniform interfaces for public IT systems are to be based there. The parties also want to merge the digital resources of subordinate agencies.

The CDU and the CSU want to make data protection more pragmatic and make it easier to use data. In their view, too many rules and legal uncertainty keep companies and researchers from making enough use of data.

The CDU and the CSU want simpler rules for data protection. Companies and researchers should be able to use data more easily. Every person should decide about their own data. There should be fewer duplicate agencies for data protection.

Instead of collecting as little data as possible, people are to decide for themselves about their data, and anyone who collects or processes data is to meet standards of care. The General Data Protection Regulation is to become easier to apply, for example through standard procedures for repair shops, doctors' offices, and exchanges with government agencies. Duplicate data protection oversight at the federal and state levels is to go. The parties want to promote open data and its automated collection, also with AI in mind. A research data law is to make data available to science.

The CDU and the CSU want to make the Federal Office for Information Security the central agency for cybersecurity and build up an active federal cyber defense. The parties point to the growing number and severity of cyberattacks.

Attacks over the internet are increasing. The CDU and the CSU want to protect Germany better against them. One federal office should become the central agency for online security. The federal government should be able to stop attacks from abroad. Children and teens should be better protected online.

The BSI would become the third pillar of cybersecurity alongside the domestic intelligence service and the Federal Criminal Police Office, under the Interior Ministry. The National Cyber Defense Center would coordinate the nationwide response in complex incidents, and the cyber reserve would be strengthened. Together with the states, the parties want to create the basis for an active federal cyber defense, link civilian and military capabilities more closely, and hold regular joint exercises. Agencies would get powers, specialists, modern technology, and competitive pay. In implementing the Digital Services Act, the focus would be on transparency, fighting disinformation, and protecting minors and media standards.