CDU on other topics

The CDU wants to keep modernizing gambling law, with youth and player protection as a fixed benchmark. Only providers that follow the rules would get permanent licenses. The program regards an attractive legal market as the best protection against illegal gambling.

The CDU wants clear rules for gambling. Protecting young people and players comes first. Providers only get a license if they follow the rules. Legal offers should stay attractive. That way, fewer people should gamble illegally.

The program backs gambling law at the federal and state level that strictly follows the protection of minors and players. A permanent license requires providers to meet the rules and control standards. At the same time, the legal market should reflect players' interests so that offers do not shift to the black market. New legal offers should remain possible.

The CDU wants to speed up reconstruction after the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley through temporary exemptions in several areas of law. The reconstruction unit in the interior ministry is to become the central contact point with fixed contacts. In the platform's view, the state has not supported the region enough so far.

There was a severe flood in the Ahr Valley. The CDU says rebuilding is too slow. It wants to relax building rules for a limited time. One office in the interior ministry will answer all questions quickly.

The temporary exemptions cover building, environmental, species protection, heritage protection and public procurement law. The reconstruction unit is to give municipalities, businesses and local initiatives binding and final answers without shifting responsibility back and forth. The platform cites the parliamentary inquiry, which it says showed that warnings were available early but ministries did not respond in a coordinated way. The CDU says a credible apology from the state government is still missing and wants to change structures so such failures do not happen again.

The CDU wants to expand state funding for sports and provide more money than before. A sports pact with municipalities, federations and clubs is meant to clear the renovation backlog for gyms, fields and pools within five years.

The CDU wants to spend more money on sports. Many gyms and swimming pools are in bad shape. The CDU wants to fix them within five years. Towns, sports groups and clubs should work together on this.

The plan calls for a permanent state program for facilities owned by municipalities and clubs, with higher funding rates, updated cost benchmarks and faster procedures. State and federal funding could be combined. A digital atlas would record the condition, renovation needs and use of facilities statewide. For elite sports, the CDU wants to strengthen training centers and pay coaches better; it backs a German Olympic bid. A volunteer initiative is meant to ease the load on clubs, link schools and clubs more closely and strengthen safeguards against sexualized violence.

The CDU wants to relieve volunteers of paperwork, give them better protection and recognize their work more visibly. Funding applications would be simplified, and every tax office would get a fixed contact person for clubs.

Many people help for free in clubs. The CDU wants to make this work easier. There should be fewer forms. Every tax office should have one person for clubs. Helpers should have better insurance.

The contact at the tax office would help with taxes, nonprofit status, donation law and volunteer allowances. The volunteer card would be reformed and tied to more discounts; the CDU wants to push for higher, regularly adjusted tax allowances. Insurance and liability coverage would be improved and made uniform statewide, and training expanded. The plan also includes leave rules that are fair to employers as well, and recognition of skills gained through volunteering. Youth associations, youth fire brigades and voluntary service would be strengthened and the state's digital volunteering platform developed further.

The CDU wants to structurally strengthen the role of religious communities as providers of social services and keep religious education as a regular school subject. Christian holidays and traditions are to remain a fixed part of cultural life.

Churches and other religions run daycare centers, schools and care homes. The CDU wants to support them. Religion should stay a normal school subject. Christian holidays should stay. Jewish sites should get special protection.

The program calls Christianity the formative foundation of the culture. Religious communities would be included in crisis and disaster response plans where they can give practical help. The state treaty with the Jewish communities would be developed further and secured for the long term; synagogues, community centers and schools are under special protection. The CDU wants to make dialogue with Muslim communities and associations permanent. Funding procedures for social facilities run by religious bodies would become simpler and faster, and church-run family centers would be secured long term and expanded.

The CDU wants to improve quality of life in rural areas with meeting places, local shops, small schools and daycare centers, and flexible public transport. Rural housing would become more attractive through renovating vacant buildings, targeted new construction and simpler building law. The goal is equal living conditions in town and country.

The CDU wants to make village life better. There should be village shops and meeting places. Small schools and daycare centers should stay. On-call buses and taxis should run. Fast internet should be available everywhere.

Support would go to restaurants and inns, village shops, community centers, multigenerational projects and digital village platforms. For transport, the platform relies on on-call buses, on-call taxis and digital booking; school transport and local transit would be funded on the principle that whoever orders pays. New construction would be allowed where needed for energy, demographic or functional reasons, for example for seniors and families. State guarantees as well as fund-based and bridge financing are meant to spur investment. Fiber-optic expansion would be pushed forward statewide.