CDU on digital affairs

The CDU wants to make Thuringia the most digital German state and to pool responsibility for digitalization within the state administration. People and companies would only have to give their data to the state once, and building applications would be handled digitally through a virtual building authority.

The CDU wants Thuringia to catch up on digital services. People and companies should give their data to the state only once. Building applications should be possible online. Companies should get money for training.

According to the program, Thuringia ranks near the bottom in digitalization. A digital strategy is to set a binding framework for the state administration and include offers for municipalities. With the once-only principle and a "Thüringer Data Space" built together with the municipalities, authorities are to exchange data securely. A "virtual building authority" is to handle building procedures digitally from application to decision. Through the Digitalbonus (a state grant program), companies are to receive subsidies for data protection and digitalization training, and the funding amounts are to be adjusted.

The CDU wants data protection to prevent misuse without hindering what it considers legitimate use of data. At the same time, police and the judiciary are to get more staff and equipment to fight industrial espionage and cyberattacks.

The CDU wants to change data protection. Data should be safe from misuse. But authorities should be able to use data more easily if people agree. Police and courts should be better able to fight attacks from the internet.

Authorities are to be able to share personal data across agencies when the people concerned consent. To protect companies' know-how and fend off access to sensitive data, the CDU wants to expand the staff and technical resources of police and the judiciary for industrial espionage and cybersecurity. It also aims for a strategy for the cyber defense of the state, companies and citizens throughout Germany.

The CDU wants to better protect the IT systems of public authorities and critical infrastructure and to set up new state bodies for this. The fight against online crime is also to get more staff. According to the platform, prevention, protection and prosecution should be as possible online as offline.

The CDU wants to better protect the computer systems of public offices. New bodies with experts should be set up for this. A rapid team should fend off attacks from the internet. Police should get more staff to fight online crime.

The plan includes a coordination office for cyber and information security as a point of contact for operators of critical infrastructure, public administrations and businesses. Large municipal IT systems are to be connected to the emergency response team (CERT) at the state data center. The CDU also wants to create a Thuringian cybersecurity agency and a rapid response unit against cyberattacks. The central cybercrime contact point at the state criminal police office is to gradually receive more permanent posts and an IT pay supplement.

The CDU wants to bring high-speed internet to even the smallest villages and close gaps in mobile coverage. Build-out by companies themselves would take priority, with the state mainly coordinating. The party counts digital networks among essential public services.

The CDU wants fast internet in every village. Dead zones for cell phones should disappear too. Companies should build the networks themselves first. The state should coordinate the work. Where that is not enough, the state helps towns with funding.

The focus is on a faster fiber rollout, along with local 5G networks. The state would prevent duplicate investment and parallel construction and offer one central contact instead of many advisory bodies. Where subsidies are needed, municipalities would get help so that federal funds are fully drawn down. Existing rail corridors and new power lines would also carry data lines. Funding programs would be geared more toward smart-city concepts, and cities would ideally gain access to private traffic data for AI-based traffic management.

The CDU wants to offer all administrative services digitally, from application to decision, and to present a digital and data strategy for this. Non-digital access is to remain, especially for older people.

The CDU wants government offices to go digital. People should be able to apply online at any time. There should be a Thuringia portal and an app. People who prefer to go to an office can still do so.

The head of the state chancellery is to serve as digital minister as well and present a yearly digital barometer to the state parliament. The application system ThAVEL is to become a Thuringia portal with an app, and all state agencies are to get electronic files. The state data center is to become the central provider for the state and municipalities; in the long run there should be just one government data network. Artificial intelligence, such as chatbots, is to speed up processes and relieve staff. At events such as a birth, a move or a marriage, citizens are to receive the necessary information proactively.