CDU on culture and media

The CDU wants to make cultural funding reliable and predictable through a law and to simplify procedures. People under 21 are to visit state museums and monuments free of charge.

The CDU wants a law for funding culture. Cultural groups should be able to plan better. Applications should become simpler. Young people under 21 will not pay to enter state museums.

Funding is to become simpler and less bureaucratic, especially for volunteer initiatives and small institutions. The plan includes regional culture funding plans and long-term financing to preserve cultural diversity. Culture is to be strengthened in cities and rural areas alike and made accessible to everyone. The platform justifies this with the role of theaters, museums, clubs and festivals in building community and identity.

The CDU wants to sign a flat-rate agreement with GEMA (the music licensing society) so that nonprofit clubs and noncommercial events pay less in music license fees. It also wants to review and adjust the new rules for large events in the state's police and public order law.

Clubs must pay GEMA when they play music. GEMA collects money for musicians. The CDU wants the state to make a deal with GEMA. Then clubs pay less. The CDU also wants to check the rules for big festivals.

According to the program, GEMA fees burden many clubs so heavily that events are scaled back or canceled. The flat-rate agreement would follow the example of other German states. The CDU wants to evaluate the rules on large events quickly and change them so that festivals remain plannable. Visitor safety and organizers' interests are to be balanced. The CDU sees customs, music, festivals and dialects as part of the state's identity.

The CDU wants to keep and further develop the dual system of public and private broadcasting. The broadcasting fee is to stay stable, with increases avoided through reforms and cooperation among the broadcasters.

There are public and private broadcasters. The CDU wants to keep both. The broadcasting fee should not go up. Public broadcasters should spend money more carefully. Rhineland-Palatinate should stay an important place for media.

The CDU expects public broadcasters to focus on their constitutional mandate and to operate economically and transparently. Efficiency gains, structural reforms and cooperation among the broadcasters are meant to prevent fee increases. The party wants to secure the state's media hub, home to ZDF, against further loss of importance. For this it lists reliable media policy, cooperation among the states and support for innovation, training and young talent.