BDA AGENDA 21/21 | COMMENT OF THE WEEK | 16 September 2021

Armin Laschet, NRW Minister President and CDU Federal Chairman

On 26 September, voters will decide on the future of Germany. This election is a decision about direction. The CDU and CSU stand for Germany coming out of the crisis strong. This can only be achieved with a successful economy. This requires unleashing instead of new and higher taxes. You can rely on us. We stand by our principle of "easing the burden instead of increasing it" and reject tax increases - in particular the reintroduction of a wealth tax.

The CDU stands for growth through bureaucracy reduction and unleashing. The SPD and the Greens stand for downturn through overregulation and new taxes. Their programme envisages new taxes, new debts, new bureaucracy and new burdens, and all this costs jobs.

It is crucial that the Union becomes the strongest force in this federal election. Because we need to set a new course for our country. I want to make the 1920s a decade of modernization for Germany and strengthen economic dynamism. Our goal is to create incentives through business- and innovation-friendly policies so that companies invest and produce even more in Germany and create even more good jobs with a future. Above all, the skilled trades, small and medium-sized enterprises, family businesses and industry can rest assured: We will ensure that additional wage costs remain stable at a maximum of 40 percent.

We rely on efficient market-based instruments on the path to climate neutrality. We rely on innovation and international cooperation. To this end, we must speed up planning and approval procedures, especially for the expansion of power lines, railway lines and other sustainable projects. We must free companies from unnecessary bureaucracy and modernise our administration so that it is up to date and efficient.

If you want economic strength instead of economic crisis, upswing instead of downswing, new jobs instead of new taxes, you have to vote CDU and CSU on September 26.