As of: April 27, 2024 5:45 p.m
The CDU Schleswig-Holstein met for a closed meeting in Kiel on Friday and Saturday. The focus of the discussions: security and European policy issues. The party is calling for a return to compulsory military service and presented its twelve central issues for the European elections.
Bundeswehr, companies, Europe – these are the most common key terms that run like a common thread through the two strategy papers that the Northern CDU agreed on at its closed meeting in the last two days. The aim is to become the strongest force in Schleswig-Holstein in the European elections on June 9th, said Prime Minister Daniel Günther (CDU).
State list for the EU elections is a unique selling point
With top candidate Niclas Herbst, the party is relying on a well-known candidate. Herbst has been a member of the European Parliament for Schleswig-Holstein for five years. The fact that the party is running in the EU elections with a state list and is proposing a candidate that people in the country already know is a unique selling point for the party.
Combining climate protection and jobs
The party also wants to connect climate protection with jobs. “Lighthouse projects” for this are Northvolt’s battery factory near Heide (Dithmarschen district) or Holcim’s climate-neutral cement plant in Lägerdorf (Steinburg district), according to the paper.
“We are losing important companies and we have to put a stop to this without harming climate protection,” said Niclas Herbst. From his point of view, openness to technology and more incentives are possible solutions. His central message on Saturday: “Everything we adopt in Brussels arrives with us in Schleswig-Holstein.”
Hannah-Martha Wadephul also wants to appeal to the younger generation.
“We want climate protection that also creates jobs,” adds Hannah-Martha Wadephul. The 27-year-old lawyer is proposed by the party as the second list candidate for the European elections. Wadephul wants to appeal to the younger generation. “It’s no use introducing complicated rules and bans; we have to work with people and the economy.”
Oblige men and women to do military service
On Friday, in the so-called “Kiel Declaration”, the party called for men and women to be obliged to do military service again. “In order to enable the rearmament of the Bundeswehr, the infrastructure of our armed forces needs to be expanded – more depots, barracks and other locations than today,” the statement said. The Northern CDU is the first regional association to call for a return to compulsory military service. The party is reacting to the changed geopolitical situation after Putin’s war of aggression on Ukraine.
In the so-called “European policy window“The Northern CDU formulates twelve points with which it wants to score points in the European elections:
Strengthening medium-sized companies and defense technology Preventing illegal immigration Protecting the climate and creating jobs Relieving medium-sized businesses from bureaucracy Supporting agriculture Investments in seaports Preserving fishing as a cultural asset Limiting rural development Limiting goose feeding damage Upgrading the diversity of the regions in SH “Erasmus+”: promoting youth exchange EU commissioner position to protect minorities
Further information
By 2031, the Bundeswehr’s armed forces are expected to grow to 203,000 soldiers. But the fact is: the force is aging and shrinking. more
At its closed meeting on Friday, Prime Minister Günther’s party agreed on a “Kiel Declaration”. Compulsory military service should therefore also apply to women. more