CDU on democracy and the state

The CDU wants to keep all court locations, add staff and speed up proceedings. In its view, punishment that follows swiftly after a crime deters offenders.

All courts in the state should stay open. The courts should get more staff. Trials should go faster. Punishment should come soon after the crime.

Plans include more local court days, better pay and family-friendly working conditions. Bailiffs are to be trained at universities of applied sciences and moved into a higher civil-service grade, possibly through a joint program with Berlin. Digital filing offices and artificial intelligence, for example in mass cases on air passenger rights, are to reduce workloads. Fast-track criminal proceedings under Sections 417 ff. of the Code of Criminal Procedure are to be used more often. The program also calls for child-friendly witness rooms, firearms for prisoner transports and a crisis-proof judiciary.

The CDU wants a judicial neutrality law. It would ban symbols, tattoos, clothing or face and head coverings in courts that express a religious, ideological or political view.

The CDU wants a new law for courts. Some signs would be banned there. This means extremist symbols and tattoos. Religious veils would also be banned.

The ban would apply in courts. It covers extremist symbols, tattoos, clothing and veils. The test is whether they express a particular religious, ideological or political conviction.

The CDU wants to push for general compulsory service at the federal level. The goal is a larger pool of trained people for crises.

Compulsory service means young people must work for society for a while. The CDU wants this at the federal level. Then there would be more helpers in a crisis.

The demand is aimed at the federal government. It is justified by the need for staff in crises and disasters. It is part of the plans to reshape civil protection.

The CDU wants local matters to be decided locally again to a greater extent. Existing municipal structures are to remain and be strengthened. Experimentation clauses are to let municipalities deviate from standards to test new solutions.

Towns should decide more for themselves. Today's local governments should stay. Towns should be allowed to try new ideas. For this, they can skip some rules.

In the CDU's view, the existing administrative structures of districts, cities, municipalities and their associations have proven themselves. Cooperation between municipalities, the state and municipal umbrella associations is to be expanded. Experimentation clauses are to allow deviations from standards.

The CDU wants red-tape reduction laws to scrap unnecessary rules so that there are significantly fewer regulations at the end of the term than in 2024. New laws are to apply for only five years, and two old rules are to be repealed for every new one. In the program's view, unnecessary rules burden citizens and businesses.

The CDU wants fewer rules and less paperwork. New laws should only last five years. Then they must be checked. For each new rule, two old ones should go. People and companies should be able to report problems online.

New laws are to be reviewed after five years and must be actively renewed. State standards are not to exceed EU requirements, for example in funding programs, public tenders and agriculture. Together with chambers and associations, a reporting portal is to let businesses and citizens flag burdens and suggest cuts. Bureaucracy is to be both reduced and modernized as part of digitization.

The CDU wants to secure municipal finances while also cutting municipalities' workload. Mayors and county chiefs would be allowed to suspend impractical rules that do not affect fundamental rights, provided they give reasons.

The CDU wants to help towns and cities. They should have enough money. Mayors should be able to skip impractical rules. They must give a reason.

The CDU backs the municipal revenue-sharing system in its current form. Indebted municipalities would get help paying down their debt. The new power to deviate from rules is meant to ease the load on local authorities and save costs. To keep the property tax reassessed from 2025 revenue-neutral, the state would fund municipalities according to need. Savings banks (Sparkassen) should stay present statewide but review branches for viability and develop alternatives such as mobile bus services or online-banking classes.

The CDU wants to fulfill the constitutional mandate for equal living conditions and avoid gaps between regions. New public agencies are to be located outside the capital region as well, and municipalities are to be allowed to test new solutions.

People should live well everywhere in Brandenburg. Not only near Berlin. New government offices should also open in other regions. Towns should be allowed to try new ideas.

Planning for housing, transport, and business development is to be better coordinated. A new version of the law on testing standards is to create experimentation clauses that let municipalities deviate from standards and try unusual approaches. New agencies and institutions are to be set up in all parts of the state. The alliance for lively town centers is to continue.

The CDU wants to reduce rules for volunteers and relieve them of administrative work. Volunteering should also be rewarded more, since the party sees civic engagement as the basis of a lively society.

Many people work for free to help others. This is called volunteering. The CDU wants fewer rules and less paperwork for them. Volunteers should get more thanks. For example, cheaper bus and train tickets.

Requirements such as insurance rules, registration duties, and data protection provisions would be eased. Volunteers would get more help with administrative tasks. As recognition, the program mentions tax allowances, discounted transit tickets, and additional benefits on the volunteer card (Ehrenamtskarte).

The CDU wants to support the work of the churches financially over the long term and index state payments to the Catholic Church, as is already the case for the Protestant Church. It regards Christian values as the foundation of the culture while also supporting interfaith dialogue.

The CDU wants to support churches more. The Catholic Church should get money that rises over time. The Protestant Church already gets this. The dancing ban on Good Friday should stay. Religion classes in schools should stay.

The church-state treaties would be reviewed together with the churches to secure long-term funding for their work. State payments to the Catholic Church would be adjusted automatically, as the Protestant Church's treaty already provides. The Good Friday quiet day and the legal ban on dancing would remain, as would religion or LER (ethics) classes. The CDU wants to balance Sunday rest against shopping Sundays important for retail. It expects immigrants to respect freedom of religion, equality, free speech, and tolerance.