CDU on democracy and the state

The CDU wants to set up a separate ministry for building, infrastructure, and housing that brings together all responsibilities in this field. LEG Kommunal, a company that supports municipalities with construction projects, is to get more money and staff.

The CDU wants a new ministry for building and housing. Everything about building should be in one place there. A company helps towns with building projects. It should get more money and more staff.

In the CDU's view, the new ministry should help deliver the announced decade of investment together with the construction industry. LEG Kommunal is a joint company of the state and municipalities that gives towns access to architects and engineers from state-owned companies. It is meant to speed up residential and commercial areas, town center renewal, and work on schools and kindergartens. In the coming term it is to grow in funding and staff.

The CDU wants to reduce the renovation backlog in public buildings. The state is to own fewer buildings and put the freed-up money into the remaining ones; municipalities are to get a special program for daycare centers, schools and sports facilities.

Many public buildings are in poor shape. The state should give up buildings it does not need. The CDU wants to use that money to modernize the other buildings. Towns and cities should get a special program. With it they can repair or newly build daycare centers, schools and sports halls.

The state's building stock is to shrink to what is needed for its tasks. Sale proceeds and saved funds are to go into faster modernization of the remaining buildings and into converting public properties for the common good. The platform points to a considerable maintenance backlog in municipalities, for example at schools, kindergartens, club houses and sports halls. A special state program is planned for this.

The CDU wants to modernize Saarland's public service and envisions a separate digital ministry. Government and administration are to become simpler, more agile, more digital and more crisis-proof, which the party says the COVID-19 pandemic showed to be necessary.

The CDU wants to make public administration in Saarland more modern. Offices should work in a simpler and faster way. There should be a separate ministry for digital matters. Every ministry should know about digital topics. The administration should be bolder with new things.

Modernization includes bundling tasks, attractive jobs, citizen-friendly procedures and more efficiency in managing space, properties and construction. The platform treats digitalization as a cross-cutting task that needs strong coordination; every ministry is to have its own digital expertise. Streamlining of administration is to continue, following the example of abolished written-form requirements. As a guiding idea the CDU names the "learning state": a quickly available, adaptable solution is better than a perfect one that arrives too late.

The CDU wants state employees to share in general public-sector pay growth and to bring civil service pay gradually up to the level of other German states. A campaign is meant to make the state a more attractive employer.

The CDU wants to pay state employees better. Step by step, pay should match other German states. The state should become a popular employer.

The collective agreement for state public employees of November 29, 2021 is to be adopted. The planned campaign includes multi-professional teams that relieve teachers in particular of administrative and organizational tasks outside their field. Within the Tarifgemeinschaft deutscher Länder (the states' bargaining association), the CDU wants to push for extra allowances in shortage occupations. This is meant to help the state compete with private employers.

The CDU wants to bundle the management of state-owned buildings and land in a new "Gesellschaft für Landesimmobilien" (state real estate company). Central space management is meant to save costs.

The state owns many buildings. The CDU wants to set up a new company for them. It should manage all the buildings. This should save money.

The basis is to be a survey of vacancies, property values and renovation needs. Building on that, space management is planned that accounts for different kinds of workplaces, such as remote work, offices with public contact, and storage and parking areas. All property data is to be recorded digitally. The CDU links this to the goal of a cost-efficient, customer-oriented administration.

The CDU wants to continue the Pakt für den Rechtsstaat (Pact for the Rule of Law) permanently so that the justice system has enough staff at all career levels. Digitalizing the justice system is meant to make prosecution more effective and contact with citizens easier.

Courts and prosecutors need enough staff. The CDU wants to secure money and jobs for this for the long term. The justice system should also become more digital. That should make contact easier for citizens.

The platform sees the Pact for the Rule of Law, a federal-state agreement on additional justice positions, as a first step. It is to be made permanent and updated. Digitalization is meant to help prosecute and punish crimes more effectively. The legal application offices and service offices of the courts in particular are to become more accessible to citizens.

The CDU wants a fundamental review of how municipal tasks are organized and funded, and wants to standardize and digitize administrative processes. Municipalities that cooperate or merge voluntarily are to receive money and organizational help.

The CDU wants to reorganize the work of towns. Processes in town halls should become simpler and digital. Towns should work together more. They can also merge if they want to. The state gives money for this.

The review is to take into account demographic change, digital administration, closeness to citizens and democratic participation. More cooperation between municipalities is meant to raise efficiency and cut costs. Elected local offices and volunteer council seats are to become more attractive; officeholders are to receive protection and advice. A municipal impact check is to examine what financial consequences state projects have for local governments.

The CDU wants to advance new forms of participation such as representative citizens' assemblies in Saarland. Citizens are to take part in forming opinions on state policy questions without changing the core of representative democracy.

The CDU wants citizens' assemblies in Saarland. Selected citizens talk about important state questions there. They give advice to politicians. Parliament still makes the decisions.

The platform points to experience with citizens' assemblies in Ireland, the German-speaking Community of Belgium, Baden-Württemberg and at the local level. From this the CDU concludes there are many possible uses in Saarland as well. The assemblies are to deal with issues that matter for state politics.

The CDU wants to set up a state youth parliament for Saarland that involves young people in questions of child and youth policy. In municipalities, various participation formats for young people are to be possible.

Young people should have a say in politics. The CDU wants a youth parliament for all of Saarland. Student representatives from all regions will sit there. Young people should also have a say in their towns.

Student representatives from every school region are to sit in the state youth parliament. For municipalities, the platform lists youth advisory councils, youth hearings, youth forums, youth conferences and project-based events. Digital media and apps can make participation easier to access. Which formats are chosen and how binding they are is to remain a decision for municipal councils under the KSVG (the state's local self-government act).

The CDU wants to appoint an independent, full-time protection commissioner at the state parliament. The office is to cover child protection as well as the protection of victims, patients and witnesses. In addition, a standing parliamentary committee is to serve as a commission for children and youth.

Victims of violence should have one contact person. The CDU wants to create an independent office at the state parliament. This person looks after children, victims, patients and witnesses. The parliament should also get a permanent committee for children and youth.

The platform points to the inquiry committee on suspected abuse cases, which it says showed that child protection and victim protection often go together. The commissioner is to guide those affected in finding help and mainly act as an adviser. The office is to report regularly to parliament and the responsible bodies on where improvements are possible. The CDU states as its principle that protecting victims comes before protecting offenders.