At a party conference on February 3, members of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) unanimously voted for a new 15-point plan covering immigration, citizenship, security and the German economy. What is included in the plan and why is it important?

CDU members pass 15-point plan

Currently polling at 30 percent, the CDU is widely expected to win the German federal election on February 23.

Ahead of election day, party leader Friedrich Merz, who is set to be the next German chancellor, has laid out a 15-point “Sofortprogramm” (“immediate action plan”) for “economic prosperity and security”, which he promises would be implemented as soon as they enter office.

At a party conference on Monday, CDU members voted unanimously in support of the Sofortprogramm.

What is in the CDU’s immediate action plan (Sofortprogramm)?

The 15-point Sofortprogramm covers energy bills, overtime hours, border controls and the cannabis legalisation legislation, among other things. These are the 15 points included:

1. Cut electricity tax and Netzentgelte (fee for using electricity and gas) to relieve prices by at least five cents per kilowatt hour.
2. Strengthen the rollback of bureaucracy: fewer environmental officers, no more Bonpflicht (obligation to issue receipts to prevent tax fraud), discard regulations for German supply chains and the Energy Efficiency Law (EnEfG).
3. Replace the daily working hours limit with a weekly limit.
4. Earnings from overtime hours will be tax-free.
5. Introduce an “active retirement”. Whoever would like to continue working after retirement will not be taxed on income up to 2.000 euros per month.
6. Reduce VAT on restaurant food to 7 percent, reducing the burden on the hospitality sector and its customers.
7. Reintroduce the diesel fuel subsidies for farmers.
8. Scrap the traffic-light coalitions’ heating law (Heizungsgesetz).
9. Halve the number of members of parliament.
10. Allow IP addresses to be saved.
11. Permit electronic ankle tags.
12. Stop illegal immigration using Friedrich Merz’s five-point plan, including permanent border controls, turning people away at the border, and unlimited detention for criminals and “dangerous people” awaiting deportation.
13. Stand for the immigration limitation law (Zustromsbegrenzungsgesetz), ending family reunification for beneficiaries of subsidiary protection and giving the federal police more power.
14. Scrap the traffic-light coalition’s “express naturalisation” law. German citizenship should come at the end of the integration process, not at the beginning.
15. Scrap the traffic-light coalition’s cannabis legalisation legislation. 

What does the Sofortprogramm mean for Germany’s dual citizenship law?

When the traffic-light coalition passed Germany’s dual citizenship law in June, many readers of IamExpat were eager to find out which steps they could now take to become equals in the country they had made their home.

Even before the law passed, the CDU promised to scrap it if they won the next election, arguing that dual citizenship “cheapened” the German passport. Now that their win is likely and the 15-point plan promises to “scrap the traffic-light coalition’s “express naturalisation” law”, what can we expect if they enter office?

Firstly, the details are still hazy. While the CDU has broadly condemned dual citizenship in the past, only “express naturalisation” is specifically mentioned in this new plan. We can assume that "express naturalisation" refers to the fact that the new law allows naturalisation to residents who are "exceptionally integrated" after three years, but it is unclear whether it includes naturalisation after five years, which is the new standard. Previously residents had to live in Germany for eight years before they were eligible.

Secondly, if they win the CDU is widely expected to form a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party (SPD), one of the makers of the dual citizenship law. If the CDU brought a motion to scrap the dual citizenship law to the Bundestag floor, the party can rule out support from the SPD, Greens and Free Democratic Party (FDP).

This leaves the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party. As last week has proven, things don’t go smoothly when the CDU attempts to pass legislation with the support of the AfD. 

There is a widespread consensus that Friedrich Merz irreparably damaged the political firewall (Braundmauer) against the far-right when he passed two motions with their help on January 29. Anti-AfD and CDU protests have broken out across the country since, and Merz failed to pass the immigration limitation law (Zustromsbegrenzungsgesetz) on January 31.

If the CDU enters government, using AfD support to pass laws could both collapse a coalition with the SPD - if SPD representatives decided to abandon ship in protest - and cause division within the CDU.

Even if Merz weathered those possible storms, a decision to repeal the law or rewrite a stricter version would still have to pass in the Bundesrat, the upper chamber of parliament which represents Germany’s 16 federal states.

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