CDU on the economy

The CDU wants Brandenburg to remain an industrial state and to strengthen its industrial core through competitive conditions and fast permitting. Key sites such as the PCK Schwedt refinery, battery production in Schwarzheide and the Eisenhüttenstadt steelworks should be secured and expanded.

Brandenburg should stay a state with lots of industry. Permits for factories should come quickly. Important plants should stay open. These include the refinery in Schwedt and the steel mill in Eisenhüttenstadt. Schwarzheide should build and recycle more batteries.

Permitting should be sped up, for example by using project managers. The EU Net-Zero Industry Act should be implemented in Brandenburg to ease the build-up of zero-emission technologies. At PCK Schwedt, pipeline supply, production and jobs must be preserved through any ownership changes. The CDU wants to use CCS (carbon capture and storage) with "blue" hydrogen, expand Schwarzheide into a leading battery region, and support the Eisenhüttenstadt steelworks in shifting to new technologies.

The CDU wants to reduce reporting and statistics obligations for businesses and introduce deemed approvals wherever possible. Starting a business and handing one over to a successor should become faster and easier.

Companies should fill out fewer forms and reports. If an agency does not answer in time, a request counts as approved. New companies should be easy to start quickly. Older businesses should find successors more easily.

A reporting portal would let businesses and citizens flag burdens and suggest ways to cut red tape, working with chambers and associations. Applications should be simplified and fully digitized. A "start-up turbo" should allow new businesses, start-ups and digital trade registrations to happen quickly. Small and medium-sized firms would get help finding successors, for example through extended permits or grandfathering; schools and universities should teach how to start a business.

The CDU wants to plan, permit and set aside suitable industrial and commercial land in advance to speed up new investments. In the program's view, the Tesla factory is a model for this approach.

The state should plan land for factories ahead of time. Then companies can build faster. Poor towns should get state money for this. The CDU names Tesla as a good example.

The sites should be linked with nearby energy supply. A statewide investment fund would co-finance site development, especially in financially weak municipalities. A state competence center would advise small local administrations on planning and investor recruitment, and the existing planning-cost subsidy program should be made permanent and easier to access. The CDU also wants to examine with the federal government and other states whether lawmakers themselves can issue certain approvals without weakening legal protection.

The CDU wants to simplify funding programs and public procurement law. It considers the procurement minimum wage unnecessary since the general minimum wage was introduced, and it rejects non-procurement criteria such as gender-equality rules because, in its view, they disadvantage small firms.

Brandenburg has a special minimum wage for public contracts. The CDU wants to end it. There is already a minimum wage for everyone. Other rules, like on gender equality, should not count for contracts anymore. Funding applications should be digital and simple.

The procurement law should be simplified and harmonized together with Berlin. Applying for and managing funding programs should run fully digitally on one platform and be manageable for small firms. Evaluation and documentation requirements will be reviewed. At the same time, the effectiveness of funding should be measured to detect success, abuse and bad investments.

The CDU wants to create a "Brandenburg Economic Council" as an advisory body to the state government. It would pool expertise from business, unions and academia.

The state government should get an economic council. It includes people from companies, unions and universities. The council should advise the government. It may also make proposals.

Members would represent companies, trade unions, universities and research institutions. Key topics are digitalization, cutting red tape, funding policy, skilled labor and the state's positioning as a business location. The council would have the right to make proposals and be consulted.

The CDU wants tourism development to be more closely tailored to demand, focusing on cycling, water-based, cultural and health tourism. For restaurants, it will push at the federal level for a 7 percent VAT rate on food services. It cites high energy and purchasing costs as the reason.

More visitors should come to Brandenburg. Cycling, water, culture and health are the focus. Restaurants should pay less tax on food. This tax should be 7 percent. Waterways and locks should be kept in good shape.

Tourist waterways, including infrastructure and staff, are to be maintained and expanded, with upkeep of waterways and locks under a strategy coordinated with the federal government. Car parking in town centers is to be preserved. Targeted marketing in the capital region is to promote day trips to rural areas. Restaurants are to be supported, and at the federal level the CDU seeks a reduced 7 percent VAT rate for restaurant services. The state garden shows are to continue.

The CDU sees structural change as Lusatia's most important task and wants to be a reliable partner so that funding pledges turn into successful projects. Lusatia is to become Europe's first "Net-Zero Valley."

Coal mining in Lusatia is ending. The region has to change. The CDU wants to help Lusatia with this. Lusatia should become a center for climate-friendly industry.

Major projects such as the medical school and the rail maintenance plant in Cottbus are to benefit the whole region. The state is to work closely with regional players, especially the Lusatia business initiative, to market the region, attract and keep skilled workers, and connect business and research. Cooperation with Saxony is to be deepened. Planning certainty and reliable conditions are to be secured.

The CDU wants a new state program, “Strong Villages in Rural Areas,” to support small municipalities with weak finances. It also proposes further steps for village development, such as village shops, better statistics on villages, and broadband coverage everywhere.

The CDU wants to help small villages with little money. There should be a new funding program. It is called “Strong Villages in Rural Areas.” Villages get one-time money for repairs or investments. Village shops and fast internet should also get support.

Municipalities with fewer than 3,000 residents could apply for one-time grants for repairs and investments, provided their tax revenue was well below average over three budget years. The program would revive and expand the expired “Municipal Road Construction” program. The CDU backs turning the federal-state GAK framework into a joint task for “rural development” and supports a “Parliament of Villages.” Social village development plans and village shops would get more funding, villages would be tracked in state statistics, and broadband and mobile coverage would reach everywhere. Settlement areas would continue to be removed from landscape protection zones, making local development there easier.

The CDU wants to develop the capital region more closely with Berlin and focus the joint strategic framework more on investments in the future. Electricity generated in the region should be used there, for example by data centers in areas with surplus power.

Brandenburg and Berlin should work together more closely. Brandenburg often makes more power than it uses. This power should stay in the region. So big data centers should be built there. A fast fiber network with Berlin should be built.

Updates to the joint state development plan would be coordinated early and secure growth options for towns in the wider metropolitan area. The strategic framework for the capital region would put a focus on energy policy. Energy-intensive data centers would be located in surplus-power regions, and a resilient fiber-optic network would be built together with Berlin.