The CSU members of the Bundestag discussed their future course in Seeon Monastery for three days. The goal is clear: after the election, as many traffic light projects as possible should be abolished.
Seeon – In the wake of the farmers' protests, the Union is calling for a radical change of course by the traffic light government or new elections. “The frustration among the population, which is now expressed through these farmers' protests, must be clarified,” said Saxony's Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer (CDU) at the end of the winter retreat of the CSU members of the Bundestag in the Seeon monastery in Upper Bavaria.
Representatives of both Union parties demonstratively supported the Germany-wide demonstrations by farmers at the meeting. The CSU also invited farmers' association president Joachim Rukwied as a guest.
In Seeon, Rukwied again called for the complete reversal of the subsidy cuts for farmers. The compromise subsequently presented by the federal government regarding the cuts was unacceptable. “In the end, that means dying in installments.” The subsidy cuts planned by the traffic light are a tax increase of one billion euros. This will deprive farmers of their future viability and jeopardize food security. Since the morning, farmers across the country have been demonstrating, among other things, with tractor blockades.
Dobrindt: Traffic light policy polarizes Germany
“The traffic lights have become the greatest social climate risk,” said CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt at the end of the retreat. The SPD, Greens and FDP only responded to the protests with a defiant reaction. “But what is needed is a “we-have-understood” moment.” The traffic light, with its “disrespectful policy,” is pushing citizens, middle classes and many professional groups to their breaking point and is thus causing a “polarization in Germany that has not been suspected for decades.” “We come to a common assessment: Germany is in danger of tipping over.”
Kretschmer also warned: “Politics must not divide, politics must unite.” The CDU politician called on the federal government to talk to the affected farmers and work with them to solve the problems. “One can only call on this federal government: sit down with those affected. And don’t talk about, talk to these people.”
“We are the political alternative to the traffic lights”
If the federal government does not succeed in alleviating the concerns and needs of the population, there is a risk of a dangerous protest vote in the important European elections in June, warned Kretschmer and Dobrindt. In that case, a new election would be the better way. “Every day that goes by and it is not possible to solve things strengthens the extremists,” said Kretschmer. In this context, he also pointed out other open questions such as unregulated immigration to Germany.
With a view to the new elections that the CSU has been calling for for a long time – ideally in June at the same time as the European elections – the state group also decided on a position paper at its three-day meeting, which will become the basis for the new election program. “The CDU and CSU are not a variant of traffic light politics. We are the political alternative to the traffic lights,” it says.
To reinforce this, the 25-page paper includes a list of the “10 traffic light ideology projects we will get rid of.” In addition to the heating law and citizens' money, it also includes the legalization of cannabis, the shutdown of nuclear power plants, the new federal election law and also the self-determination law, “because this undermines the protection of minors and the parents' right to raise children.” dpa
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