CDU on Europe

The CDU wants to use Baden-Württemberg's weight so that the EU focuses more on competitiveness. This includes new trade agreements, less EU bureaucracy and a deeper single market. EU research funding should also be well resourced.

The EU should do more for a strong economy. The CDU wants more trade deals with other countries. There should be less red tape from Brussels. The shared market in Europe should grow. The EU should fund research and young companies well.

Trade agreements with partners such as Mercosur, India or Indonesia are meant to reduce dependence on individual markets and raw material suppliers. With European partner regions, the CDU wants to launch an initiative for less bureaucracy and submit simplification proposals through the state's office in Brussels. The single market is to be deepened in digital, energy and defense, and reporting and documentation duties in cross-border trade are to shrink. Money from programs such as the ERDF and EAFRD should continue to be managed through the states. Start-ups are to get support in their growth phase so they stay in Europe.

The CDU wants to deepen cross-border cooperation on the Upper Rhine, the High Rhine and Lake Constance and focus it more on everyday problems of people there. With Switzerland, the “Bilaterals III” treaty package is to be ratified quickly. Partnerships with European regions are to grow as well.

Baden-Württemberg should work more with its neighbors. That means France and Switzerland. People at the border should have fewer everyday problems. The EU and Switzerland should approve their new treaties quickly. The state also wants to work more closely with other regions in Europe.

The CDU wants to demand the already agreed “border region check” for laws from the German and French governments, and the INFOBEST advice centers are to keep receiving support. In disaster response, a trinational information center and linked control centers are planned. The Four Motors program with regions in Spain, France and Italy is to be used for industrial policy, and the Danube Region strategy and Eastern Europe are to get more weight. Together with partner regions, the state also wants to look at non-European partners in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia, including Burundi. Erasmus+ and Andrássy University in Budapest will continue to be supported.