CDU on the economy

The CDU wants to systematically review and scrap regulations and to simplify and speed up dealings between businesses and the administration. In its view, the state should set the framework rather than act as an entrepreneur itself, and Bremen should attract new companies.

The CDU wants fewer rules for businesses. It wants to check all regulations and drop the ones not needed. Government offices should work faster. Companies should want to come to Bremen. The state should not run businesses itself.

The platform treats economic policy as the basis for jobs, tax revenue and the welfare state; it calls social benefits only the second-best answer to unemployment. State politics should not regulate the economy completely. It names tax conditions that leave firms no worse off than in the surrounding region, a founder-friendly administration and close cooperation between research and business. In the state budget of more than 5 billion euros, support for business and infrastructure is to become a priority. Bremen is to become a place for innovation and start-ups.

The CDU wants to develop considerably more commercial land and keep 100 hectares ready for immediate use at all times. In its view, Bremen currently cannot offer suitable sites to companies that want to move there. Businesses should still be able to buy land rather than only lease it long-term.

The CDU wants to prepare more land for companies. There should always be 100 hectares free. The CDU says new companies often find no space in Bremen today. Companies should also be allowed to buy land.

The program sets a target of 100 hectares of genuinely available reserve land; it says the real reserve is now below 10 hectares. It plans more site development, shorter reservation periods, and planning protection for existing business sites inside residential and mixed-use areas. The current closed-loop approach to land use would be replaced by an open system that balances ecological effects statewide, with changes to the land-use plan remaining possible. Long-term leases (Erbpacht) should become more attractive, but purchase stays possible because the CDU says ownership matters to small and mid-sized firms as retirement provision and bank collateral. Private mixed-use urban quarter projects would get support through planning and business promotion. Projects with many jobs and high added value would get priority in land sales.

The CDU wants to further develop and extend the major commercial sites in Bremen and Bremerhaven. It names the Hansalinie business park, the Bremer Industrie-Park, the freight logistics center (GVZ), and the "Lune Delta" site. Bremen should also work more closely with neighboring municipalities in Lower Saxony on commercial land.

The CDU wants to expand large business parks. More companies should be able to settle there. This applies to Bremen and Bremerhaven. Bremen should also work with nearby towns in Lower Saxony.

At the Hansalinie business park, the third extension would be developed and a fourth planned, mainly for the automotive sector, along with another A1 highway exit and a commuter rail stop. At the freight center, remaining plots would be developed for logistics, a second truck service park built at Bremen-Seehausen, and an express bus line 63S introduced. For small trades and crafts the program lists several sites, including Nußhorn, Bayernstraße, and Hafenkante Nord; vacant land at Schragestraße and the freight station would be developed. In Bremerhaven, "Lune Delta" would be linked to a heavy-load cargo facility. Joint sites with Stuhr, Geestland, and Loxstedt are considered, following the Achim-West model. All projects are to be fully included in budget and investment planning, and the Bremen business development agency (WFB) is to be adequately resourced.

The CDU wants denser development in the Technology Park and the Airport-Stadt district, focusing on tax-paying companies. In Bremen-Grohn, a "Science Park" is to be developed with Constructor University as a complementary site.

The CDU wants to fit more companies into the Technology Park. The same goes for the Airport-Stadt area near the airport. A new science park should be built in Bremen-Grohn. Young medical technology and biotech companies should start there.

Besides the "Horner Spitze" site, the former campground west of the Technology Park is considered as an extension for a start-up campus in green surroundings. The southern Airport-Stadt would be planned for aerospace firms. The Science Park in Grohn would include a start-up center for medical technology and biotechnology.

The CDU wants to put innovation policy at the center of economic policy and strengthen services for start-ups and would-be founders. Support would focus on eight economic clusters where the party sees Bremen as already strong. More women and people with a migration background are to be encouraged to found companies.

The CDU wants to give more support to new companies and new ideas. It wants to focus on eight areas of the economy. These include space, the port economy, and artificial intelligence. More women should also start companies.

The priority areas are aerospace, green technology including hydrogen, maritime business and logistics, mobility, food technology mainly in Bremerhaven, AI and robotics, digitalization of mid-sized firms, and the health economy. Cluster management bodies would be certified against recognized quality standards. Existing incubators and accelerators such as ESA-BIC, BRIDGE, and the Digital Hub Industry would be strengthened, and similar platforms built for other focus areas. The "Starthaus" agency would offer dedicated advice for women and people with a migration background. A digital "start-up map" would give an overview of available services. The party also calls for openness to new technologies and a service-minded administration.

The CDU wants to create a Bremen start-up fund so that young companies can get money to grow. A second fund would finance patent applications and commercialization, mainly for inventions from universities and research institutes.

The CDU wants to set up a pool of money for young companies. Banks, insurers, and citizens can put money in. A second pool of money should help with patents. A patent protects an invention from being copied.

Banks, insurers, and members of the public could invest in the start-up fund. The patent fund is meant to protect inventions early and raise the number of usable patents. According to the program, these should later turn into business models.

The CDU wants a skilled-worker drive to bring more young people into the trades and to strengthen dual vocational training. The Meisterpflicht (master craftsman requirement) is to stay, and master training would continue to be supported with a 4,000-euro bonus.

The CDU wants to help the trades find more skilled workers. Vocational schools should be better equipped. The master craftsman rule should stay. People who earn the master title should still get 4,000 euros.

The 4,000-euro advancement bonus for master training and other advanced vocational qualifications would be secured financially. Career changers would find it easier to become vocational school teachers, and smaller specialist classes would be kept. The state would adequately co-fund inter-company training; in the long run the CDU aims to return to a three-way cost split among the federal government, the state, and business. A "Future Day for Trades" for school students is planned with the chamber of crafts and the district trades association. Trade organizations would be involved earlier in political decisions, such as vocational school locations. Digitalization advice and existing funding programs would be made more accessible to trade businesses.

The CDU wants to use public contracts more as a tool to support the regional economy. For smaller contracts, procurement offices should preferably approach local firms and not automatically pick the cheapest bid. At the same time, the more than 80 procurement offices would be merged into one and procedures digitalized.

The CDU wants local companies to get more government contracts. The cheapest offer should not always win. Bremen has more than 80 offices that award contracts today. The CDU wants to turn them into one office. Everything should be done digitally.

For contracts below the EU thresholds, procurement offices could set requirements on the catchment area and the share of trainees. In restricted tenders they would invite only local firms and split contracts into smaller lots. Bids would be assessed for long-term value for money. A central procurement platform based on the "AI Vergabemanager" software and an electronic platform for prequalifying bidders are planned. The stated aim is a uniform, transparent, and fast procurement process.

The CDU wants to remove requirements from Bremen's Tariftreue- und Vergabegesetz (collective-wage compliance and procurement act) that are not directly related to the contract. In the party's view, such rules make procurement more bureaucratic, slower, and costlier because many firms withdraw.

The CDU wants to simplify Bremen's law on public contracts. Some rules have nothing to do with the contract itself. These rules should go. The CDU says more companies will then take part again.

The rules to be cut are mainly those the CDU says have no demonstrable benefit. Losing bidders on contracts below the EU thresholds would get better legal protection through a new duty to inform them and observe a waiting period. The value limits for simplified procurement procedures would be raised if a comparison with other states suggests it.

The CDU wants to apply a "one in, two out" principle to state legislation: for every new rule, two existing ones would have to go. Newly founded companies would be free of red tape in their first year and face only minimal burdens in the second.

The CDU wants fewer rules for companies. For every new state rule, two old rules should go. New companies should have no red tape in their first year. In the second year there should be only a little.

The program argues that bureaucracy holds back companies, especially founders. Duties to provide information, reports, documentation, and statistics would be cut back. The relief is aimed mainly at small and mid-sized companies.

The CDU wants to make greater use of tourism as an economic driver in Bremen and Bremerhaven and increase overnight stays. Funding for tourism promotion and marketing is to rise and be made permanent. Revenue from the hotel bed tax is to go entirely to this purpose.

The CDU wants more tourists to visit Bremen and Bremerhaven. There should be more money for advertising and events, year after year. Hotels pay a bed tax for their guests. That money should all go to tourism.

The platform calls for higher, permanent funding for tourism promotion, marketing, upgrades to both city centers, and cultural and sports events that draw many visitors, citing Bremerhaven as the model. The two cities are to highlight their distinctive features more clearly and cooperate more closely on city marketing. The Citytax would no longer flow into the general budget. The CDU welcomes the continued reduced VAT rate for restaurants and wants to keep handling permits for using public space pragmatically. Transport options are to be promoted to visitors through marketing and combined tickets.

The CDU wants to attract more cruise passengers to Bremerhaven and build a new multipurpose terminal there. Passengers should spend more time ashore, which the platform expects to benefit the image and economy of both cities.

The CDU wants more cruise ships to come to Bremerhaven. A new terminal should be built for this. A terminal is where passengers get on and off. Passengers should stay longer in the cities.

A new multipurpose terminal for cruise tourism is planned in Bremerhaven. Traffic problems at the Columbus Cruise Center are to be resolved quickly, and in the long run the terminal is to get a rail connection. Combined tickets and marketing are meant to encourage cruise passengers to stay ashore longer. Rebuilding the middle section of the Columbusbahnhof as an arrival point for cruise passengers is among the priority port projects.

The CDU wants to create a central point of contact for visitors to Bremen in the lower hall of the town hall. The historic sights of the city center are also to be better linked, and the digital visitor information system developed further.

The CDU wants one central place for visitors in Bremen. It should be in the lower hall of the town hall. The old sights in the city center should be better connected. The app for tourists should do more.

The multimedia center is to present not only the historic sights but also Bremen as a port, space, and science location; merchandising is meant to help fund it and advertise the city. The CDU wants to present the Schnoor quarter, Böttcherstraße, the Town Musicians statue, and the market square as one connected historic core and to improve lighting. The information system of pillars, website, and app is to be kept up to date and offer, for example, city news and routes tailored to personal interests, such as the history of the port along the Schlachte.

The CDU wants to continuously modernize public port infrastructure and work off the repair backlog step by step under a strategy. The ports are to remain competitive as universal ports after, according to the platform, losing market share to the western ports.

The CDU wants to renew the ports in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Quay walls, locks, and bridges should be repaired or rebuilt. This should help the ports compete with other ports.

The platform's priorities are a new bridge over the Verbindungshafen, upgrading the quays at the container terminal for the latest container cranes, replacing the west quay in Kaiserhafen I, new quays in the Labradorhafen and the southern Fischereihafen II, and renovating the Oslebshausen lock. Forward-looking land management by the public sector and port operator BLG is to free space for new industrial firms near the port through high-bay storage, parking garages, and holding areas outside the port. The CDU wants to address productivity and staffing in dialogue with companies and employees.

The CDU wants to support shipyards in shifting to specialized shipbuilding and secure Bremen as a base for shipping companies. At the federal level it will push to keep existing tax and subsidy advantages for ships under the German or an EU flag.

The CDU wants to help shipyards and shipping companies in Bremen. Tax benefits for German ships should stay. Training for jobs in shipping should also get better.

Shipyards are to be supported, among other things, through renovated or new publicly usable quays. For port services such as tug assistance and mooring, the CDU wants to ensure fair competition. Training subsidies, the tonnage tax, full retention of wage tax, and subsidies for non-wage labor costs of seafarers are to be kept. Maritime training at the universities of applied sciences in Bremen and Bremerhaven and at the relevant vocational school is to be strengthened.

The CDU supports plans by private industry and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) for a floating launch platform for small rockets in the North Sea. Bremerhaven is to be the home port; the platform points to a lack of launch sites in Europe and dependence on Russian and US rockets.

Companies are planning a launch site for small rockets on the North Sea. The rockets carry satellites into space. The CDU supports this plan. Bremerhaven should be the port for this launch site.

The platform describes Bremen as an important location for the aerospace industry and points to young New Space companies. The launch platform is to be located in the exclusive economic zone and carry satellites into low Earth orbit. The CDU expects a new value chain linking the space industry and the maritime economy and wants to actively support the process.

The CDU wants to keep and expand the outdoor dining areas created during the COVID period. Funding is to be provided, and fees for 2023 and 2024 are to be waived.

The CDU wants to keep tables and chairs outside restaurants for good. Many of them were set up during COVID. Restaurant owners should pay no fees for this in 2023 and 2024. There should also be funding.

Permits for using side areas and public space are to continue to be handled pragmatically. At least 50,000 euros in funding is meant to help secure existing outdoor seating and create more. The party justifies the fee waiver with the strain on restaurants during the pandemic.

The CDU wants to make Bremen-Nord more attractive with an action plan and move it to the center of the Senate's work. It plans new shops, culture, business settlement, and the purchase of the "Grohner Düne" housing complex.

The CDU wants to do more for Bremen-Nord. There should be new shops and more culture there. Companies should set up there. Then there are more jobs close to home.

In the CDU's view, the existing development plan ISEK has shown little success. The Vegesack pedestrian zone and Sedanplatz are to be strengthened, and vacant space rented to pop-up stores with the city's help. By buying the "Grohner Düne," the party wants to redesign the area around Vegesack station and make it safer. Events such as Sommer in Lesmona or the Festival Maritim are to be marketed across Bremen. Incentives for companies are meant to raise the number of jobs per resident and shorten commutes.

The CDU wants to redesign the center of Bremerhaven around the purchased Karstadt building and open it toward the Havenwelten waterfront. The university of applied sciences is to grow and contribute more to a lively downtown.

The CDU wants to redesign downtown Bremerhaven. Shops and a market hall should be built on the Karstadt site. The local university should get more places for students. Parking should stay cheap.

The planning is also to include the Eulenhof property and the former tax office, with everything closely coordinated with investors. The Hochschule Bremerhaven is to reach 5,000 student places soon, and students are to get rooms in the Hanse Carré. The center is to remain reachable by all modes of transport, with enough affordable parking. Play facilities for children and cultural events such as concerts are to be expanded, with broad citizen participation. A state program is to support the climate-friendly conversion of city centers.

The CDU wants to launch a strategy for a sustainable food industry together with the other northern German states and give the sector more support. At the same time, less food is to be thrown away, especially in public cafeterias and large kitchens.

The CDU wants to support companies that make food. It wants to make a plan with other northern states for this. Also, less food should end up in the trash. Leftover food should go to food banks, for example.

The northern German strategy is to contain goals and measures on research, climate and environmental protection, skilled workers, training and technology transfer, and is to be developed with industry representatives. It is to be linked to a Bremen food strategy that covers climate-friendly communal catering and nutrition education, among other things. According to the platform, 23,000 tons of edible food end up in the trash in Bremen each year, or 42 kilograms per person. Plans are to show how unsold goods can be passed on, for instance through food banks.

The CDU wants existing rules to be suspended for limited periods and in specific areas so that new technologies and business models can be tried out. According to the platform, innovations often fail because of old regulations.

The CDU wants test areas for new technology. Some rules would not apply there for a while. Companies and researchers could then try new things, such as drones or self-driving cars.

The CDU intends to push for such experimentation clauses at the federal level. The platform cites transport drones, autonomous vehicles, and new construction methods as examples that are hard to test in public space. The state is to fund real-world labs and offer easily accessible support. Test sites for climate-friendly technologies are to be expanded, partly with federal and EU funding such as the federal program "Reallabore der Energiewende" (real-world labs for the energy transition).

The CDU wants to make Bremen and its surrounding region a leading hub for medicine, nursing and the health industry. An AI cooperation network, an incubator for health start-ups and the use of health data for research are meant to contribute to this.

The CDU wants to make Bremen a strong place for health companies. Universities, researchers and investors should work together on artificial intelligence. Young companies should get support. Researchers should be allowed to use health data. Data protection rules should still apply.

The platform treats Bremen, Bremerhaven, Oldenburg and the surrounding area as a northwest health metro region, also working with Lower Saxony's health ministry. The network is to include universities, research institutes and investors; a shared digital platform is to allow open interfaces and added functions in the electronic patient record. With business partners, the CDU wants to build an incubator for digital health start-ups and fund AI projects. Health data is to be usable for research, development and analysis in line with data protection law. The CDU expects this to attract pharma and biotech firms and make diagnosis and therapy more precise.

The CDU wants all businesses in Bremen to be able to be founded entirely online, as is already possible for skilled trades. The business account, data exchange with authorities, and public procurement are also to become fully digital.

Starting a company often takes paper forms and office visits. The CDU wants to change that. People should be able to start any company fully online. Government contracts should also be handled digitally.

Since December 2020, skilled-trade businesses in the city of Bremen can be founded completely online; this option is to apply to all start-ups. The nationwide business account being developed by Bremen and Bavaria is to get its full range of functions quickly so that companies have a single point of contact. The federal-state standard XUnternehmen is to be used for all digital projects in the business field. Public procurement is to run digitally from start to finish. The CDU also wants to bundle and support fields such as artificial intelligence and connected mobility in a new cluster of business and research.