CDU on other topics

The CDU wants to turn Bremen's city center between Am Wall and Martinistraße into a "Flanierstadt" (strolling city), with parking at its edges. The city center project office would be placed directly under the mayor in city hall. In the party's view, the problem is not a lack of ideas but a lack of implementation.

The CDU wants to make Bremen's city center nicer for strolling. Parking should be at the edge of the center. An office in city hall should lead the projects. The office should report directly to the mayor. The party says there are enough plans, but too little happens.

The CDU calls for concrete schedules and financing plans for each location. The project office would be the first point of contact, bring the parties together, and not only moderate negotiations but bring them to a close. Projects named in the program include a family-friendly redesign of the Domshof, the development of the Domsheide and the Brill area, and the demolition of the Parkhaus Mitte garage. The party calls retail an important pillar of the city center.

The CDU wants to enliven Bremen's neighborhoods with markets, culture, and festivals and to open public buildings to residents outside their regular hours. It argues that meeting places and services have disappeared from the neighborhoods.

The CDU wants to strengthen Bremen's neighborhoods. There should be more markets, culture, and festivals there. Schools and offices should open their rooms to clubs in the afternoon. School cafeterias should also offer meals to everyone nearby.

The plan is to study the growing social divide between neighborhoods and counter it, promote weekly markets, support cultural offerings such as public bookcases, and bring festivals like La Strada or the Musikfest into the neighborhoods. School cafeterias are to offer affordable meals to residents, and classrooms and event rooms are to be open to clubs and musicians in the afternoon, made possible by modern locking systems. For street and neighborhood festivals, the CDU wants fixed contact persons, simpler permits, and promotion of such events.

The CDU supports building the planned youth training center of the soccer club Werder Bremen in the Pauliner Marsch. Because the party says the project cuts deeply into this recreation area, a round table is to balance the interests involved.

Werder Bremen wants to build a center for young soccer players. It would stand in the Pauliner Marsch. That is a green area by the Weser river. The CDU is in favor of building it. But it wants to talk with everyone involved.

The platform describes the Pauliner Marsch as a place for recreation, sports, and spending time outdoors, where different interests collide. The CDU wants to reconvene the Pauliner Marsch round table. It is meant to help soften the impact of the project and take all concerns into account.

The CDU wants to preserve and support the work of churches and religious communities and expand cooperation with them. Believers of all faiths are to be protected from hatred and attacks, and the party wants to fight antisemitism firmly.

The CDU thinks churches and other faith communities are important. It wants to work with them more. No one should be threatened because of their faith. The CDU wants to fight hatred of Jews. Schools should play a special part in this.

The platform praises the contribution of Christian churches, Jewish congregations, Islamic and other recognized communities, for example in childcare, education, nursing, and youth and senior work. The CDU wants to cooperate with communities that see themselves as committed to justice, openness, and social cohesion. Antisemitism is to be fought both offline and online, with schools given a special responsibility. The party calls vandalism against houses of worship and cemeteries, and attacks on people because of their faith, intolerable.

The CDU wants to give the Verbraucherzentrale Bremen (consumer advice center) funding secured for five years. Easy-to-reach advice services in neighborhoods are to be expanded. The program cites sharply higher demand for advice during the coronavirus and energy crises.

The consumer advice center helps people with many questions. The CDU wants to promise it steady money for five years. That makes planning easier. There is to be more advice right in the neighborhoods.

The party aims for a five-year commitment authorization, a budget pledge covering future years. Institutional funding is to be a fixed amount based on need and is to account for wage increases under collective agreements. The pilot project for independent legal advice in neighborhoods is to become a permanent part of the center's work. Mobile and outreach services for specific groups are to be extended.

The CDU wants to better equip food inspection authorities and make inspection results visible, for example in restaurants. Meals in daycare centers, schools and senior homes are to be healthy and ecologically responsible. The party also aims to reduce food poverty this way.

The CDU wants better checks on food. Guests are to see the inspection result in restaurants. Meals in daycare, schools and care homes are to be healthy. Food labels are to say clearly where products come from.

Coordination offices for meals in daycare, schools and senior facilities are to be set up soon in Bremen and Bremerhaven, ideally within a single organization. Agencies responsible for food fraud are to get more resources, and the staff needed for transparent labeling of inspections is to be provided. At the federal level, the CDU wants to push for clear, accessible labeling on production and place of origin. The results of a project against food waste in Bremen daycare centers are to be made permanent and extended to Bremerhaven.

The CDU wants to promote and honor volunteer work more strongly. The state's engagement strategy is to be completed and put into practice, the Ehrenamtskarte (volunteer card) upgraded, and associations such as food banks given more money. The goal is to win more people for volunteer work.

Many people help for free in clubs and groups. The CDU wants to support that more. The volunteer card is to bring more benefits. Important groups like food banks are to get more money. There is to be a Volunteer Day.

The strategy is to be finished together with the Freiwilligenagentur (volunteer agency) and focus on aid organizations; more places in the Federal Volunteer Service are also to be examined. The volunteer card is to offer discounts at public enterprises and private companies, be available digitally and reward long-term commitment. Family, work and volunteering are to be easier to combine, and hybrid or digital meetings are to become standard. Standardized certificates are to document skills gained through volunteering. Associations are to be allowed to use public facilities after hours and face less red tape.

The CDU wants every child to be able to swim by the end of elementary school and to hold at least the basic swimming badge. School swimming lessons are to receive more money for this. The Unibad (university pool) is to be renovated instead of torn down.

Every child should be able to swim after elementary school. The CDU wants to spend more on swimming lessons. The university pool is not to be torn down. It is to be repaired.

The program notes that pools were closed during the coronavirus pandemic and many children received no swimming lessons. The expansion of school swimming is to be backed with additional budget funds. The Unibad is to be taken out of the university's budget and transferred to Bremer Bäder, the city's pool operator.

The CDU wants to launch funding programs for renovating sports facilities and draw up a priority list to be worked through step by step. Energy cost subsidies for sports clubs are to be adjusted continually to rising prices.

Many gyms and pools need repairs. The CDU wants to provide money for this. A list is to show which facility comes first. Sports clubs are also to get help with energy costs.

The list is to set out which gym and which pool is next for renovation, maintenance or new construction so that clubs can plan ahead. Sustainability and energy efficiency are to be taken into account. Clubs are also to receive financial help when they equip their facilities with renewable energy.

The CDU wants to support athletic talent on the path to top-level sports. To that end, the Eliteschule des Sports (Elite School of Sport) at the secondary school on Ronzelenstraße is to be completed by 2027, along with modern training facilities.

The CDU wants to support young sports talent. Bremen should get an Elite School of Sport. This is a school for very good athletes. It should be ready by 2027. Training sites should also become more modern.

The platform lists four steps. Modern training facilities are to be set up where athletes can practice under competition conditions. The federal training center for rhythmic gymnastics is to be put on a strong footing. The CDU also wants to create up-to-date conditions for major sporting events. The Elite School of Sport at the sports-focused secondary school on Ronzelenstraße is to be completed by 2027.

The CDU regards esports as part of recreational sports and wants to support it like traditional sports. At the federal level, it wants esports to be put on equal footing with sports in the Abgabenordnung (Fiscal Code).

The CDU sees esports as a real sport. Esports means people play video games in competitions. The CDU wants to support esports like other sports. Tax law should also treat esports the same way.

According to the platform, lessons from traditional sports funding are to be applied to esports. Large gaming and esports events in Bremen and Bremerhaven are to receive support. At the same time, the CDU wants to strengthen media literacy, addiction prevention, and health promotion in this field. The Fiscal Code governs, among other things, which clubs count as nonprofit; esports is to be treated the same as sports there.

The CDU wants to expand easily accessible sports options for all age groups. According to the platform, sports benefit health and bring people together.

The CDU wants more easy sports options. Everyone should be able to join in. Sports are good for health. And people meet each other there.

As examples, the platform names modern fitness trails along the Weser river. On the Blockland landfill site, the CDU envisions a bike park and a summer toboggan run. It also floats the idea of a floating outdoor pool in the Weser. The reasoning given is that exercise strengthens the immune system and encourages people to meet.