CDU: program for the 2026 Saxony-Anhalt state election

The CDU wants to make Saxony-Anhalt one of the five most attractive locations in Europe for companies setting up new sites. To get there, it plans to build on existing strengths such as the central location, available industrial land and the energy supply.

The CDU wants more companies to come to Saxony-Anhalt. The state should be among the five best regions in Europe. The CDU wants to invest in roads and industrial land. Companies should be able to rely on stable rules.

The CDU wants to achieve higher wages through a stronger economy rather than through government mandates or redistribution. It commits to the social market economy and wants to defend and further develop it.

The CDU wants people to earn good wages. For that, companies in the state should become stronger. The government should not set wages. The CDU wants to keep the social market economy. That is a free economy with social protection.

The CDU wants to turn Saxony-Anhalt into a chemical and pharmaceutical hub that reduces Europe's dependence on supplies from other parts of the world. Existing plants are to be kept and new ones attracted, especially in strategically important fields.

The CDU wants more chemical and pharma companies in the state. Europe should make important substances itself. Then Europe depends less on other countries. Permits should come faster. The state also wants to use EU money.

The CDU wants to strengthen small and mid-sized businesses, value startup culture and give targeted support to young entrepreneurs. It puts particular weight on business succession so that firms do not close when their owners retire.

The CDU wants to strengthen small and mid-sized companies. Many owners will retire soon. Then the company needs someone to take over. The CDU wants to help with that. Young business owners should also get help.

The CDU wants the state to allow no new requirements or reporting duties for businesses for five years. Levies and fees should also not rise during that time where possible. The program argues that the economy needs relief from many bureaucratic obstacles.

The CDU does not want to add burdens on companies for five years. The state should make no new requirements. Fees for companies should not go up where possible. For each new rule, an old rule should go.

The CDU wants to fill the High-Tech Park Sachsen-Anhalt with high-tech companies and suppliers within five years. Together with other priority sites and completed highways, this is meant to create growth in all parts of the state.

The CDU wants to expand the High-Tech Park. Modern technology companies should settle there. This should happen within five years. The A14 and A143 highways should also be finished. Then new companies can come to the north as well.

The CDU wants to offer dependable conditions to all parts of the economy and keep support open to every sector and technology. It relies on continuity and on dialogue with companies, chambers, associations and trade unions.

The CDU wants to support all companies in the state. Support should be open to every sector. The state helps with investments and new ideas. Small companies get help with going digital. The CDU wants to talk with companies and unions about this.

The CDU wants to relieve companies of administrative work and make public procurement simpler, faster and digital. Small and mid-sized firms in particular are to get easier access to public contracts.

The CDU wants less paperwork for companies. Public contracts should be awarded more simply. This should be faster and digital. Small companies should get government contracts more easily.

The CDU wants to update the state's tourism strategy and position Saxony-Anhalt as a destination for cultural travel and nature. Tourism funding is to be kept and expanded, funding rules simplified, and digital services extended.

The CDU wants more visitors to come to Saxony-Anhalt. The state should be known for culture and nature. Funding for tourism should stay and grow. The rules for getting funding should be simpler. Online booking and information should get better.

The CDU wants to invest statewide in infrastructure for visitors, such as bike paths, public transit to popular destinations, digital networks, and visitor guidance. Tourist bike routes like the Elbe Cycle Route are to be used and promoted more.

The CDU wants to spend money on things for visitors across the state. This includes bike paths, buses and trains to popular places, and good internet. Guests should be able to travel easily and safely. The bike route along the Elbe river should become even better known.

The CDU wants to push at the federal level for lower taxes for the skilled trades and mid-sized firms and for a cap on social security contributions. It also calls for stricter rules in basic income support, easier immigration for skilled workers and incentives for extra work.

The CDU wants the federal government to lower taxes for small companies. Social security contributions should not keep rising. People who get state aid should also do something for it. Skilled workers from abroad should be able to come more easily. People who want to work past retirement age should be able to do so more easily.

The CDU wants benefit recipients who are able to work to give something back. Taking part in the state's labor market programs would no longer be voluntary for them, and at the federal level the party wants to push through a broader duty to do community work.

Some people get money from the state and are able to work. The CDU says they should give something back. They should have to join the state's work programs. The CDU calls this Bürgerarbeit (citizen work). The party also wants a duty to do community work nationwide.

The CDU wants to strengthen meeting places for older people, counter loneliness and promote new forms of housing. It also wants to act against age discrimination and make sure services remain reachable without the internet.

The CDU wants to do more for older people. There should be meeting places for old and young. Nobody should be lonely. Nobody should be treated worse because of their age. Offices and companies should stay reachable without the internet.

The CDU rejects higher taxes because, in its view, they burden families, workers, and small and mid-sized businesses and weaken growth. It stands by the debt brake, wants to keep the state's debt from rising, and plans to put surpluses into reserves.

The CDU does not want to raise taxes. It says higher taxes hurt families, workers, and small companies. The state should not take on new debt. If money is left over, the state should save it for bad times.

The CDU wants to keep the share of investment in the state budget high over the long term and give it priority over day-to-day spending. The money is to go to infrastructure, energy, research, education, security, and start-ups. Funds for structural change are to be used in a targeted and transparent way.

The CDU wants the state to invest a lot. The money should go to roads, internet, energy, research, and education. Investment should matter more than day-to-day spending. The state's development bank should become stronger.

The CDU wants to secure reliable funding for cities, towns, and counties. Starting in 2027, a new fiscal equalization act is to distribute money more fairly across the levels of local government.

The CDU wants cities and towns to have enough money. From 2027, a new law should share the money more fairly. Every municipality should get a minimum amount. Poorer municipalities should get extra help.

The CDU advocates that no real estate transfer tax be charged on the first purchase of an owner-occupied home in rural areas. This is meant above all to make it easier for young families to buy their own home.

People who buy a house pay a tax. It is called the real estate transfer tax. The CDU wants to drop this tax for a first home in the countryside. The buyers must live in the house themselves. This should help young families.

The CDU wants to make buying a home easier, especially for families and working people. It rejects rent caps and expropriations. Instead, the Baukindergeld (a home-buying grant for families) is to return, and social housing and renovations are to be subsidized.

The CDU wants more people to own a house or apartment. It rejects a rent cap. It also rejects expropriations. Families should get the Baukindergeld again. That is money from the state for buying a home.

The CDU wants to make building permits simpler and faster and help municipalities set up fully digital building authorities. Vacant lots, old industrial sites and gaps between buildings are to be put to new use.

The CDU wants building permits to come faster. Building offices should work digitally. Empty land and old factories should be used again. This should create more housing.

The CDU wants to support families in every form and make it easier to combine family and work. Single parents are to get tax relief at the federal level and more counseling and easier access to help in the state.

The CDU wants to help families. This applies to all kinds of families. Parents should be able to combine work and family. Child care should be good and affordable. Single parents should pay less tax and get more advice.

The CDU wants to protect children better from violence, especially sexual violence, and to fund child protection centers and outpatient clinics for that purpose. Youth associations and open youth work are to receive lasting, predictable support.

The CDU wants to protect children better from violence. There should be more child protection centers. Children and teens should have more of a say. Youth work should get steady funding.

The CDU wants to raise the standing of vocational training and the skilled trades and put them on an equal footing with academic education. Training, master craftsman qualifications and career changes are to be supported to secure skilled workers for companies.

The CDU wants to strengthen job training. An apprenticeship should count as much as a college degree. The state supports the master craftsman title. Students should get to know companies early. The state also recruits skilled workers from abroad.

The CDU wants to keep the tiered school system and merge Sekundarschulen and Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive-style community schools) into a new Oberschule. This school type is meant to stand as a practice-oriented equal alongside the Gymnasium.

The CDU wants to keep different types of schools. Two school types will become one new type called Oberschule. The Oberschule mainly prepares students for job training. The Gymnasium prepares students for university. Both school types should count the same.

The CDU wants to keep school locations in rural areas and realign school development planning to that end. Schools are also to get more room to make their own decisions, and afternoon programs are to be expanded.

The CDU wants to keep schools in the countryside. Schools should be able to team up to do this. Schools should decide more things themselves. There should be more afternoon activities for children.

The CDU wants a mandatory language assessment for all children before they start school, with targeted support in the preschool year. Children should have a command of German when they enter first grade. Primary schools are to offer more instruction in German and math.

The CDU wants a language test before school starts. All children must take the test. Children with weak German get help in the year before school. Primary schools should teach more German and math.

The CDU wants to bring all areas of education, from daycare to research, together in a single ministry. This is meant to create clear responsibility and better coordination across the education system.

The CDU wants one ministry for all education. It would handle daycare, school, job training, university and research. This should make clear who is responsible. The different areas should work together better.

The CDU wants to revise the curricula of all school types and cut content it considers of little practical or future relevance. Topics such as finance, economics, career orientation and digitalization are to get more room instead.

The CDU wants to change what schools teach. Some old content should be dropped. Students should learn more about money, the economy, jobs and technology. Primary schools should offer more crafts and school gardening.

The CDU wants a fixed practical day each week in grades 7 to 9 at Oberschulen and comprehensive schools as well as suitable special-needs schools. Four days of classroom teaching would be paired with one day in companies or on digital learning tasks.

The CDU wants a new model for grades 7 to 9. Students have four days of lessons at school. On the fifth day they learn in a company. Or they work on tasks on a computer. This applies to Oberschulen and comprehensive schools.

The CDU wants to bring artificial intelligence into classrooms as a learning tool and strengthen the media literacy of students and teachers. The platform regards responsible use of digital technology as a main task of schools.

The CDU wants to use artificial intelligence in class. Artificial intelligence is called AI for short. Students should learn to use digital media well and critically. Teachers should learn this in their training. Each school decides its own rules for phones.

The CDU wants to give schools in socially difficult areas more staff, more support programs and better equipment. School social work is to be kept where possible, and school psychology services are to be secured.

The CDU wants to help schools in difficult neighborhoods more. These schools should get more staff and better equipment. School social work should stay where possible. Counties and cities decide where social workers work. Students should also get psychological help.

The CDU wants to keep Förderschulen (special-needs schools) and let parents choose between inclusive schooling and a special-needs school. Children with an identified need for support should be able to attend a Förderschule for learning difficulties from first grade.

The CDU wants to keep special-needs schools. Parents should be able to choose the right school for their child. Children who need extra support can go there from first grade. They should be able to earn a basic school diploma there in grade 10.

The CDU wants to make career orientation in schools more binding and keep the structure of vocational schools. Vocational and academic education are to be treated as equal, for example through a provision in the state constitution.

The CDU wants students to get to know jobs early. Internships should become mandatory. Vocational schools should stay and be easy to reach. Job training and university should count the same. This should be written in the state constitution.

The CDU commits to the principle of achievement in schools and wants to keep grades, grade promotion and final exams. At the same time, schools are to be evaluated more intensively, both internally and externally.

The CDU wants to keep grades in schools. Repeating a year and final exams should also stay. The same standards should apply to all schools. The work of schools should be checked regularly.

The CDU wants to reform teacher training: the degree for Sekundarschule teachers is to become a dual work-study program in the long run, and the Referendariat (practical training phase) is to include more hands-on work. Trainee teachers who commit to rural areas are to get a bonus.

The CDU wants to change how teachers are trained. Students should work in schools early on. This is called a dual program. People who later teach in the countryside should get more money during training. Universities should be judged by how many teachers graduate.

The CDU wants to present a childcare plan that responds to falling birth rates, secures funding and improves the staff-to-child ratio. Daycare close to home, family daycare and a variety of providers are to be preserved. Childcare workers are to have fewer documentation duties.

There are fewer children in Saxony-Anhalt. The CDU wants to make a plan for daycare centers. There should be more staff per child. Daycare centers close to home should stay. Childcare workers should have less paperwork.

The CDU wants to promote digital education in all areas of education and support schools with digital tools. A central learning platform would be open to children, students and adults.

The CDU wants everyone to handle digital technology better. There will be one central learning platform online. Children, students and adults can use it. Older people will get offers too. They learn about media, data protection and online safety.

The CDU wants to keep denominational religious education as a compulsory school subject with two lessons a week. Religious and worldview education is also to be anchored in nurseries, kindergartens and after-school care.

The CDU wants to keep religion classes at school. They should take two lessons a week. Children in nurseries, kindergartens and after-school care should also learn about religion.

The CDU wants to focus funding on research fields that promise top-level results or matter especially for Saxony-Anhalt. Universities and research institutes are to work more closely with companies so that ideas turn into products, start-ups, and jobs faster.

The CDU wants to fund research in a targeted way. Money should go mainly to fields that matter for Saxony-Anhalt. Universities and companies should work together more. That way, ideas should become products and jobs faster.

The CDU wants to charge tuition fees to foreign students from countries outside the EU. The revenue is meant to help fund the state's universities.

The CDU wants to bring in fees for studying. Students from countries outside the EU would pay them. The money should help the universities in the state.

The CDU wants to give selected degree programs an international focus in order to attract skilled workers to the state. International students are to form ties to the region during their studies and then move easily into the regional job market.

The CDU wants to attract more students from abroad. They should work in Saxony-Anhalt after they graduate. The universities should help them settle in. Moving between job training and university should also get easier.

The CDU wants to simplify the bureaucracy around research funding and speed up decisions. Spin-offs from universities and research institutes are to be possible within 24 hours using standard contracts.

The CDU wants less red tape in research. Decisions on funding should come faster. Researchers should be able to start a company out of a university in 24 hours. Standard contracts should make that possible.

The CDU wants to secure medical care across the state by attracting more health professionals. It plans additional university places in medicine, dentistry and pharmacy and wants to make it easier to open or take over a practice.

The CDU wants enough doctors everywhere in the state. More people should be able to study medicine. The same goes for dentistry and pharmacy. People who want to open a doctor's office should get more help.

The CDU wants to turn hospital sites into specialized centers within regional care networks by 2030. Outpatient and inpatient treatment are to be closely linked, while basic and emergency care stays close to where people live.

The CDU wants to change hospitals by 2030. Each hospital should have clear specialties. Hospitals and doctors' offices should work together more closely. Emergency help should stay close to home.

The CDU wants to reorganize emergency care with a master plan for ground and air rescue. Remote emergency physicians are to be used statewide, and first aid is to be a regular part of school lessons by 2030.

The CDU wants to improve rescue services. There should be one big plan for ambulances and rescue helicopters. Emergency doctors should also help by video everywhere. Children should learn first aid at school.

The CDU wants to push at the federal level for a far-reaching reform of long-term care insurance that caps out-of-pocket costs and protects owner-occupied homes. Within the state, family caregivers are to get more advice and relief.

Care should stay affordable. The CDU wants to change care insurance at the federal level. People who need care should only pay up to a limit themselves. Their own home should be protected. Family members who give care should get more help.

The CDU aims to introduce a Medi-Bus that serves as a mobile primary care practice for areas with a severe shortage of doctors. It is to run on a fixed schedule.

Rural areas often lack doctors. So the CDU wants to bring in a Medi-Bus. This is a doctor's office inside a bus. The bus should visit villages on a fixed schedule.

The CDU wants doctors' offices, hospitals and care homes to have strong digital infrastructure by 2030 and wants to expand telemedicine. University hospitals are to drive innovation, and production of medicines and medical products in the state is to grow.

The CDU wants better digital equipment in doctors' offices, hospitals and care homes by 2030. Doctors should treat people by video more often. University hospitals should do more research. More medicines should be made in the state.

The CDU wants to continue and tighten the federal government's course on limiting migration. The goal is to bring irregular migration down to zero; admission programs are to end and family reunification for people with subsidiary protection is to stay suspended.

The CDU wants fewer people to come to the country without permission. In the end, that number should be zero. Voluntary admission programs should end. Some refugees should still not be allowed to bring their families. Asylum cases should be handled at the EU border.

The CDU wants to deport people who are required to leave if they do not go voluntarily and calls on the federal government to enable deportations to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Syria and Iraq are to be declared safe countries of origin through an initiative in the Bundesrat (the chamber of the states).

People with no right to stay should leave the country. The CDU wants to deport them if they do not leave by themselves. This should also apply to Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Syria and Iraq should count as safe countries. Then asylum cases move faster.

The CDU says foreigners who work, integrate, support themselves and share the country's values are welcome. It rejects xenophobia and blanket suspicion; at the same time, society's capacity to integrate newcomers is to set the limit for immigration.

The CDU says: People who work and fit in are welcome. The CDU rejects hatred of foreigners. People from other countries work in many businesses and hospitals. But only as many should come as the country can take in well.

The CDU commits to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and wants to involve those affected in decisions. It wants to strengthen sheltered workshops and inclusive businesses, overhaul the state's integration assistance and create local disability commissioners.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. The CDU wants to include them in decisions. Sheltered workshops and inclusive businesses should get more support. Counties and large cities should get disability commissioners. These are people who speak up for people with disabilities.

The CDU wants to promote women, achieve equal pay and fight violence against women. It rejects rules on gender-inclusive language, which it regards as symbolic politics lacking public support.

The CDU wants to support women more at work. Women and men should earn the same. The CDU wants to fight violence against women. It rejects rules for gender-inclusive language. It says such rules do not help.

The CDU calls for an immediate halt to the phase-out of free CO2 allowances in the European Emissions Trading System. The cancellation of allowances in the Market Stability Reserve is also to be stopped and revised. The reason given is the competitiveness of the chemical and basic materials industry.

Companies in the EU need allowances for their CO2 emissions. They get some of them for free so far. Under EU plans, that free share will shrink. The CDU wants to stop this right away. It wants to protect the chemical industry in the state.

The CDU rejects a blanket ban on combustion engines and backs openness to all technologies. It wants to fund research on alternative fuels, hydrogen networks and storage, and to keep the tax break for diesel.

The CDU is against a general ban on combustion engines. It wants to allow different technologies. The state should fund research on new fuels. Diesel should keep its lower tax. Fuels with less CO2 should get support.

The CDU wants to launch an initiative to split Germany's single electricity bidding zone into several regional zones. The cheap wind power generated in the state should thereby translate into lower prices for industry and households in Saxony-Anhalt.

Today all of Germany has the same wholesale price for electricity. The CDU wants to split Germany into several price areas. Saxony-Anhalt makes a lot of cheap wind power. So electricity should become cheaper there.

The CDU gives security of supply and affordable prices top priority in energy policy. It welcomes the industrial electricity price, wants grid fees equalized nationwide, and wants baseload power plants dismantled only once replacements are in place.

The CDU wants electricity to always be available and affordable. It likes the cheaper electricity price for industry. Grid costs should be shared equally across Germany. Old power plants should only go when there is a replacement.

The CDU wants every wind turbine to have the consent of the local municipality and to benefit it. It rejects fixed land-area targets for wind power beyond 2027 and is skeptical of turbines in forests. All forms of energy are to be supported on equal terms.

The CDU says the local town must agree to every wind turbine. The party rejects fixed targets for wind areas after 2027. It is skeptical of wind turbines in forests. All kinds of energy should get the same support.

The CDU wants to keep the agreed coal phase-out by 2038, citing reliability toward the affected regions and companies. Structural funding is to be used in a targeted way to create new prospects in the coal areas.

Germany plans to stop using coal by 2038. The CDU wants to keep this date. The coal regions should be able to rely on it. Funding should create new opportunities there.

The CDU wants to make it more attractive to generate and store electricity yourself and pass it on to neighbors. According to the platform, this would ease the load on grids, lower costs and increase acceptance. Smart grids and a fair grid fee structure are meant to make this possible.

People who make their own electricity should be able to share it with neighbors. The CDU wants to support electricity storage. Power grids should become smarter. This should lower costs and ease the load on grids.

The CDU wants a power plant for natural gas and hydrogen to be built and the industrial and chemical parks quickly connected to the national hydrogen network. It also backs new technologies such as carbon capture and storage, batteries, heat storage and synthetic fuels.

The CDU wants a power plant for natural gas and hydrogen to be built. Industry should quickly be connected to the hydrogen network. The party also backs new technology. This includes capturing and storing the gas CO2.

The CDU wants municipal heat planning to remain legally sound, affordable and technically feasible. It relies on domestic renewable raw materials as well as geothermal energy and waste heat. Biogas and biomethane plants are to be preserved and expanded further.

Towns and cities plan how people will heat in the future. The CDU wants these plans to be affordable and doable. It relies on raw materials from the region, such as biogas and wood. There should be more biogas plants.

The CDU wants to expand photovoltaics but rejects a solar mandate for new buildings and roof renovations. Good farmland is to remain reserved for food production. The state is to use its own roofs and facades and thereby set an example.

The CDU wants more solar panels. But nobody should be forced to put solar panels on their roof. Good fields should stay for growing food. The state should use its own roofs for solar panels.

The CDU wants to protect cities better against heat, modernize water management and limit land consumption. It justifies this with the effects of climate change on cities, groundwater and surface waters.

The climate is changing. The CDU wants to protect cities better from heat. Water should be stored better. Less new land should be built on.

The CDU wants to roll back climate and environmental requirements for industry that it considers impractical and ideological. It opposes the EU Taxonomy Regulation, the supply chain law, additional CO₂ charges, and blanket chemical bans because, in its view, they endanger jobs and investment.

The EU makes rules for climate and the environment. The CDU thinks many of them are bad for industry. It wants to take such rules back. It is against new charges on CO₂ and against blanket bans on chemicals. This is how it wants to protect jobs in industry.

The CDU wants to fund the conversion of forests to climate-adapted mixed stands and relies on active management and the use of timber. No tax money should go toward deliberately setting forest areas aside. Small private forest owners are to get special support.

Heat and pests are harming the forest. The CDU wants to plant other trees that cope better. The forest should still be used, for example for wood. Owners of small forests should get help.

The CDU wants rules that allow the wolf population to be regulated, citing the safety of people and grazing animals. Compensation for damage caused by protected animals is to be extended from wolves to other species such as beavers and rooks.

The CDU wants to limit the number of wolves. It says this protects people and grazing animals. Farmers get money today when wolves cause damage. This should also apply to damage from beavers and rooks.

The CDU wants the EU Nature Restoration Regulation repealed in full. It should be replaced by a new set of rules that the party considers practical, fair and backed by funding. The CDU rejects new protected areas on land used for farming or forestry.

The EU has a law to restore nature. The CDU wants to scrap this law. There should be new rules that everyone helps shape. Fields and forests should not get extra protection status.

The CDU does not want Saxony-Anhalt to tighten environmental rules beyond what the EU and the federal government require. State law should adopt those rules one-to-one. The administration should also work more efficiently.

The EU and the federal government make rules to protect the environment. The CDU does not want the state to make them stricter. The state should adopt them exactly as they are. Offices should work faster.

The CDU wants to preserve biodiversity, link habitats more closely and revise the state's biodiversity strategy. Protected areas are to keep receiving support and remain open to visitors. At the same time, it should be possible to review the protection status of species.

The CDU wants to protect animals and plants. Their habitats should be better connected. Protected areas should stay, and people should be able to visit them. The state should be able to check whether a species still needs protection.

The CDU wants to give more funding to animal shelters, animal welfare associations and sanctuaries. The ordinance on neutering cats is to apply across the whole state. Volunteers in animal welfare are to receive more recognition and reliable support.

The CDU wants to give animal shelters more money. Animal welfare groups and sanctuaries should get more help too. Cats should have to be neutered all over the state. This should lead to fewer stray cats.

The CDU wants to support recycling and the circular economy as an industry and make it easier to use recycled building materials. Extracting raw materials within the state is to remain possible in order to preserve value chains. Environmental technology companies are also to keep receiving support.

The CDU wants more things to be used again. It should be easier to reuse old building material. The government should set an example. Raw materials should still be mined in the state.

The CDU wants to make Saxony-Anhalt's agriculture the most innovative in Europe. Autonomous robots, drones, AI and new breeding techniques are to be deployed more quickly. This is meant to make farming more efficient and cheaper.

The CDU wants modern technology on the fields. Robots and drones should be easier to allow. New ways of breeding plants should help too. This should let farmers work at lower cost.

The CDU wants to sharply limit the use of farmland for other purposes and give priority to securing high-quality soils. Rural areas should have living conditions equal to those elsewhere. Regional marketing is to be supported.

The CDU wants to protect fields and meadows. Good soil should stay farmland and not be built on. Life in villages should be as good as in cities. Products from the region should get more promotion.

The CDU wants to preserve livestock farming in the state and rejects any further tightening of husbandry standards. Permits for barns are to become simpler and record-keeping duties are to be reduced. Those who invest should have planning certainty.

The CDU wants farmers in the state to keep raising animals. The rules for keeping animals should not get stricter. Farmers should be able to build barns more easily. They should have less paperwork.

The CDU wants to exempt farming and forestry from further increases in CO2 costs and to implement EU law without extra national requirements. Production costs, reporting duties and contributions for water maintenance are to fall. The party says the aim is fair conditions for competition.

The CDU does not want farmers to pay even more for CO2. Germany should not make stricter rules than the EU. Farmers should have less paperwork. Some fees for them should go down too.

For the EU's Common Agricultural Policy from 2028, the CDU wants to prevent payments to large farms from being capped or reduced on a sliding scale. It rejects cuts to the EU farm budget.

The EU pays money to farmers. New rules will apply from 2028. The CDU does not want large farms to get less money. The EU should not save money on farmers overall.

The CDU wants less food to be thrown away and wants to expand nutrition education for children and teenagers. In the platform's view, waste disrespects the work of producers. Consumer protection is also to be given more weight.

The CDU wants less food to end up in the trash. Children should learn more about healthy eating in daycare and school. The party also wants to protect consumers better. Consumers are people who buy things.

The CDU wants to complete the A14 and A143 highways as fast as possible and push ahead with further road projects. It also calls for a high-speed ICE rail connection for Magdeburg, a bridge repair plan and statewide traffic management.

The CDU wants to finish the A14 and A143 highways quickly. Other roads should be expanded too. Magdeburg should get a fast ICE train connection. Broken bridges should be repaired according to a plan.

The CDU wants infrastructure to be planned and built faster and backs a federal acceleration law to that end. Lawsuits are to be possible only for those who took part in the procedure beforehand. The party wants to abolish the Verbandsklage (the right of associations to sue) entirely.

The CDU wants building projects to be planned faster. The federal government should pass a new law for this. Only people who took part in the process may sue. Associations should no longer be allowed to sue at all.

The CDU rejects further speed limits on highways, 30 km/h limits on through roads in towns, and driving bans. Everyone should be able to choose which technology they use to get around. Low-emission zones in city centers that the party considers outdated are to be lifted.

The CDU does not want new speed limits on highways. It also does not want 30 km/h limits on main roads in towns. It rejects driving bans. Everyone should decide what they drive. Old low-emission zones in cities should go.

The CDU wants to make buses and trains more reliable, extend the Sachsen-Anhalt-Takt (the state's coordinated timetable) and keep the Deutschlandticket. People in rural areas should get more out of the ticket than before. The party calls on the federal government to invest in the rail network.

The CDU wants to make buses and trains better. The Deutschlandticket should stay. People in the countryside should get more out of it. The federal government should spend more on rail. Rural areas should get new services, such as on-call buses.

The CDU wants to build more bike paths and give regional bike path plans more support. Suburban areas are to be better connected to the cities. Cycling training in schools is to continue and be extended to cover e-scooters.

The CDU wants to build more bike paths. Suburbs should get good bike paths into the city. Children should keep learning safe cycling at school. There should also be courses for e-scooters.

The CDU wants the Elbe, Saale and Unstrut rivers to be navigable all year and backs barrages and the Saale side canal for that purpose. It wants to keep supporting Leipzig/Halle Airport and to expand Cochstedt airfield as a research site.

Ships should be able to use the Elbe, Saale and Unstrut rivers all year. The CDU wants to build barrages for that. The Saale side canal should be built. The CDU wants to keep supporting Leipzig/Halle Airport.

The CDU wants the state's IT to rely less on dominant hardware and software vendors. It favors regional IT providers, cloud services hosted in Germany and Europe, and open-source software for critical systems.

Government offices often use programs from a few big companies. The CDU wants to change that. Local companies should supply more IT for the state. Data should be stored in Germany or Europe. Important systems should use open-source software. That is software with an open blueprint.

The CDU wants a single contact with the administration to be enough, whether online or in person. Agencies would share data with each other where citizens agree, and digital services are to be accessible. Visiting an office in person remains possible.

The CDU wants fewer forms. One visit to a government office should be enough. This can be online or in person. Offices should pass data to each other. Citizens decide which data that is. Everyone should be able to use the services.

The CDU wants to help start-ups and mid-sized companies invest in digital technology and to simplify funding programs. A new legal framework would allow test zones for innovative pilot projects with little effort, because the platform sees Germany's cautious laws as the biggest obstacle to innovation.

The CDU wants to help young and mid-sized companies. They should find it easier to invest in digital technology. Funding programs should become simpler. New ideas should be tested faster. For this there will be real-world labs. These are test zones with looser rules.

The CDU wants to create a Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) for Saxony-Anhalt, meaning an emergency team for IT security incidents. It would help businesses defend against cyberattacks.

The CDU wants to set up an emergency team for computer security. It is called CERT. The team will help companies in the state. It supports them when they are attacked online.

The CDU wants to close the remaining coverage gaps in fixed-line and mobile networks and push ahead with 5G. The aim is equivalent digital infrastructure in cities and rural areas.

The CDU wants fast internet everywhere in the state. No place should be without a network. The new 5G mobile network should grow. This matters most for schools, business parks and villages. Central places should have free Wi-Fi.

The CDU wants to grow the state police to well over 8,100 staff and make officers more visible in local precincts. The Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency) is also to be strengthened because, according to the platform, extremist activity is on the rise.

The CDU wants more police officers in the state. More than 8,100 people should work for the police. People should see the police more often where they live. The domestic intelligence agency should also get stronger. This agency watches extremists.

The CDU wants to create a system that identifies people who pose a danger early on and triggers countermeasures. To do this, information from different agencies would be pooled and assessed centrally.

Some people are a danger to others. The CDU wants to spot such people earlier. Agencies should share what they know. One central office should assess the dangers.

The CDU wants to give every police officer in the state a Taser to protect them better in dangerous situations. It also plans to invest in drone defense, artificial intelligence and police IT.

The CDU wants to give all police officers a Taser. A Taser is a device that stops attackers with an electric shock. The police should also get tools against drones. Their computer systems should get better.

The CDU wants to expand video surveillance in public places and allow AI-based analysis statewide that automatically detects suspicious behavior. It also wants bodycams to be used inside homes and to permit new forms of DNA analysis.

The CDU wants more cameras in public places. Computer programs should spot unusual behavior by themselves. Police officers should be allowed to use body cameras inside homes too. The police should be allowed to learn more about suspects from DNA.

The CDU wants to create a dedicated treatment service for mentally ill people who are considered prone to violence. It is modeled on prevention outpatient clinics in Bavaria and is meant to lower the risk of violent acts.

Some mentally ill people become violent. The CDU wants special treatment centers for them. There they get help before something happens. Bavaria already has such centers.

The CDU wants to test in selected municipalities whether municipal enforcement staff should carry police-grade pepper spray for self-protection. Municipalities are also to act more firmly against littering and dirt in public spaces.

Staff of local public order offices sometimes face danger. The CDU wants to give them pepper spray in some towns. This is a test at first. Towns should also do more against trash and dirt in the streets.

The CDU wants to preserve the volunteer fire departments and keep supporting municipalities with vehicles, fire stations and water supply points. The training institute in Heyrothsberge is to be expanded with more than 70 million euros, and civil protection is to be broadened.

The CDU wants to strengthen fire departments. The state will keep helping towns buy fire trucks. The fire training school in Heyrothsberge gets more than 70 million euros. For emergencies, some sites should keep water, power and fuel ready. The state will also keep paying for sirens.

The CDU wants to expand victim protection and secure lasting funding for counseling centers and women's shelters. Protecting women and children from violence in their own surroundings is the party's top priority here. Witnesses are also to be better protected.

The CDU wants to protect victims of violence better. Counseling centers and women's shelters should get reliable money. Women and children should get special protection. Witnesses should get more protection too.

The CDU wants to give municipalities more leeway: funding procedures are to become simpler and more money is to flow as lump sums. State laws are to include experimentation clauses more often, and cooperation between municipalities is to be promoted.

Towns and cities should decide more for themselves. Applying for state funding should get easier. Towns should get more money without fixed rules attached. They should also be allowed to try out new approaches. The state and the towns should talk to each other regularly.

The CDU wants to expand civic education in the state and give it a different focus. It is meant to inform factually instead of lecturing and to convey basic knowledge about the state, society and political processes.

The CDU wants more civic education. People should learn how the state and politics work. The programs should give facts and not lecture people. This should start in primary school.

The CDU wants to bundle administrative modernization in one central unit of the state administration. Permitting and public procurement procedures would run fully digitally, and applications would count as approved if the agency does not decide in time (deemed approval).

The CDU wants to modernize public administration. One central office in the state will steer this. Permits and public contracts should be handled fully online. If the office does not answer in time, the application counts as approved. This is called deemed approval. Offices should more often check only samples.

After a review of government tasks, the CDU plans a far-reaching administrative reform that also examines the mid-level agencies. Oversight and reporting duties would be cut to a minimum, overlapping responsibilities removed and municipalities given more responsibility of their own.

The CDU wants to make the state administration smaller. First it checks which tasks are needed. Double responsibilities should end. Cities and towns should decide more on their own. There should be fewer reporting duties. In future, each reporting duty needs a reason and a time limit.

The CDU wants faster court proceedings and swift punishment of crimes through accelerated procedures. It plans target times for key types of proceedings, intends to keep all court and prosecutor locations, and wants to recruit more young talent for the justice system.

The CDU wants courts to work faster. Important kinds of cases will get target times. Crimes should be punished quickly. All courts in the state will stay, also in rural areas. The justice system should attract more young people. Work there should become more attractive.

The CDU wants to counter the decline in the availability of lawyers, especially in rural areas. Anyone who founds a law firm in a county with below-average coverage would receive a start-up grant and in return commit to the location for five years.

There are fewer and fewer lawyers in rural areas. The CDU wants to change that. Anyone who opens a new law firm there gets money from the state. This applies in counties with few lawyers. The firm must stay in place for five years.

The CDU wants to digitize the justice system throughout, with electronic case files and electronic access to them. Artificial intelligence would serve as a supporting tool to make proceedings more efficient and faster.

The CDU wants to make the justice system digital. Files should be kept only electronically. People should also be able to view files electronically. Artificial intelligence should help with the work. This should make cases go faster. Unneeded rules should be dropped.

The CDU wants to give more support to lay arbitrators and mediation, which the platform says resolve conflicts quickly, close to citizens and at low cost. It also wants an arbitration system to emerge that has a reach beyond Saxony-Anhalt.

Some disputes can be solved without a court. Lay arbitrators and mediators help with that. The CDU wants to strengthen this help. It should be fast and cheap. Saxony-Anhalt should become known for it.

The CDU wants to relieve volunteers of bureaucracy and check every new law for its effects on volunteering. A state program called "Ehrenamt" (volunteering) is to bundle funding into one central line. At the federal level, it advocates raising the tax-free allowances for trainers and volunteers.

Many people help in clubs without pay. The CDU wants to give them less paperwork. Every new law should be checked: does it hurt volunteering? There should be one funding program for all volunteers.

The CDU wants to transpose European and federal requirements into state law as leanly as possible and roll back additional state rules. Funding procedures are to become noticeably simpler.

The EU and the federal government make rules. The state should not add its own rules on top. The CDU wants to cut such extra rules. Applying for funding should become easier.

The CDU wants Saxony-Anhalt to get fair treatment in federal funding, powers, and the siting of federal agencies. It stands for strong states within the federal system and for equivalent living conditions across Germany.

The CDU wants the federal government to treat Saxony-Anhalt fairly. The state should get enough federal money. New federal agencies should also come to Saxony-Anhalt. That brings jobs. The states should stay strong.

The CDU wants Saxony-Anhalt to keep receiving appropriate consideration in EU cohesion policy from 2028 onward, with the money aligned with the state's development goals. To that end, the state's representation in Brussels is to be strengthened.

The EU gives money to regions that are less developed. New rules for this start in 2028. The CDU wants Saxony-Anhalt to keep getting enough money. The state's office in Brussels should become stronger. The state should really be able to use the money.

The CDU wants to give more support to exchange programs such as Erasmus+ and Interreg, especially for apprentices, school students, and young skilled workers. Town and school partnerships are to grow, and schools, public administration, and universities are to build up more knowledge about Europe.

Young people should be able to go to other European countries more often. The CDU wants to give more support to programs like Erasmus+. This is especially for apprentices, students, and young skilled workers. There should be more partnerships between towns and schools.

The CDU commits to the EU and its values but wants to confine it strictly to core tasks. It counts among these protecting the external borders, stopping illegal migration, and stronger common defense; it permanently rejects a debt and transfer union.

The CDU supports the EU. But the EU should only deal with its most important tasks. It should protect its outer borders. It should stop illegal immigration. The countries should defend themselves better together. The CDU does not want shared debt in the EU.

The CDU wants to work with the other states so that the services of public broadcasters ARD and ZDF are merged over the longer term, since it considers duplicate structures outdated. It wants to prevent fee increases and achieve a lower broadcasting fee in the long run.

ARD and ZDF often make similar shows. The CDU thinks this is unnecessary. It wants to merge what ARD and ZDF offer step by step. The broadcasting fee should not go up. Later it should go down.

The CDU wants to keep the public broadcasting fee stable and reduce it in the long run. Public broadcasters should focus on information, civic education and culture, and the regional broadcaster MDR should serve as a model of transparency and efficiency within the ARD network.

The CDU does not want the broadcasting fee to rise. Later, the fee should go down. Public broadcasters should mainly offer news and culture. They should spend money carefully.

The CDU wants the minimum age on social media platforms to be enforced through effective age verification. The coordinated use of bots and fake accounts for disinformation is to be banned. At the same time, media literacy programs for all age groups are to be expanded.

Social networks have a minimum age. The CDU wants the networks to really check users' ages. The CDU wants to ban fake accounts that spread lies on purpose. Everyone should learn to judge media better.

The CDU wants to develop Saxony-Anhalt further as a media location and continue the state funding program for film and media. Funding and commissions should go more often to companies from central Germany. Where AI is used in media, copyrights are to be protected and paid for.

The CDU wants more film and media companies in the state. The state should keep giving these companies money. Jobs should go to local companies more often. People who create things should get paid, even when AI is used.

The CDU wants to preserve local media, community media and small movie theaters and to push for fair economic conditions for regional media. Attacks on journalists are to be prosecuted consistently. Large digital platforms should take on more responsibility for media diversity.

The CDU wants to keep local newspapers and stations. Small movie theaters and community radio should stay too. People who attack journalists should be punished. Big internet platforms should do more for a variety of media.

The CDU aims for a state-level agreement with GEMA, the collecting society for music rights. It would let volunteer-run clubs use music without license fees up to four times a year.

Clubs have to pay GEMA when they play music at events. GEMA represents the rights of musicians. The CDU wants to sign a contract with GEMA. Then clubs can play music for free four times a year.

The CDU wants to fund culture equally in cities and rural areas and make cultural participation possible regardless of where people live. Traditions, customs, and local heritage are to be supported to strengthen cultural identity and a sense of home. Arts funding is to become simpler and faster.

The CDU wants to fund culture equally in cities and villages. Everyone should be able to take part in culture. The CDU wants to support customs and traditional festivals. Applying for funding should become simpler and digital.

The CDU wants to preserve the state's cultural heritage, from castles and palaces to collections and museums. More sites are to become UNESCO World Heritage. The CDU sees the work of memorial sites on Nazi terror, the injustice of the SED regime, and the division of Germany as a duty.

The CDU wants to preserve castles, palaces, museums, and art treasures. More places in the state should become World Heritage sites. The cultural foundations should get enough resources. Memorial sites should remind people of dictatorship and division.

The CDU wants to keep funding music, theater, and festivals and to secure the theater contracts. The cultural and creative industries are to receive start-up funding, especially for clubs and creative venues. Children and young people are to get early access to culture, including through well-funded music schools.

The CDU wants to keep funding theater, music, and festivals. Clubs and creative venues should get money to get started. Children should get to know music, theater, and libraries early. Music schools should have enough money.

The CDU wants to keep alive the memory of the crimes of the Nazi and communist dictatorships. To that end, memorial sites, archives, out-of-school learning sites, research, and volunteer initiatives are to receive support.

The CDU wants people to remember the crimes of the Nazi era and of East Germany. Memorial sites and archives should get more support. Research on these topics should get support too. Clubs and volunteers should get money for their work.

The CDU wants to mark June 20 in Saxony-Anhalt as a day of remembrance for the flight and expulsion of Germans after World War II. It also wants the culture of expellees and Spätaussiedler (ethnic German resettlers) to be preserved and passed on to young people.

The CDU wants to use June 20 to remember flight and expulsion. This is about millions of Germans after World War II. The culture of expellees and ethnic German resettlers should get support. These resettlers are Germans who moved to Germany from Eastern Europe. Young people should learn about this culture.

The CDU wants to shape gambling rules so that young people and players are better protected. Illegal offerings are to be fought, while the legal market is to get fair conditions.

The CDU wants clear rules for gambling. Young people and players should be better protected. The CDU wants to fight illegal gambling. Legal providers should have fair conditions.

The CDU wants to strengthen Saxony-Anhalt as a state for sports, from grassroots to elite level. Funding for sports facilities is to continue, and a new program is to help clubs with coaches and trainers. Every child should learn to swim safely as part of school lessons.

The CDU wants to strengthen sports in the state. There should still be money for sports fields and gyms. Clubs should get help with coaches. Every child should learn to swim at school.

The CDU wants to maintain the state's payments to the churches and stand by the church-state treaties. This is meant to keep church services, religious ceremonies and church-run daycare centers going, especially in rural areas. Church buildings are also to be preserved.

The state gives money to the churches. The CDU wants to keep it that way. This should keep church services going in rural areas. Church-run daycare centers should stay too. Old church buildings should be kept.

The CDU wants to promote and protect Jewish life in Saxony-Anhalt and guarantee freedom of religion. It intends to counter antisemitic, Islamist and anti-religious currents with the means of the rule of law. It expects all residents to treat one another peacefully and with respect.

The CDU wants to protect Jewish life in the state. Everyone should be free to live their faith. Nobody has to belong to a religion. The CDU wants to act against hatred in the name of a religion.