BERLIN, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The conservative sister parties CDU (Christian Democratic Union) and CSU (Christian Social Union) will be the last political contenders in Germany's looming elections to officially reveal their joint manifesto on Monday.
Germans will choose a new Federal Parliament (Bundestag) and government in September. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) is seeking her fourth term as the country's chancellor after having already held the position for 11 years.
Key points of the manifesto include a reduction in income tax worth billions of euros, additional state resources for housing, research, security, and families, as well as a formal commitment to achieving full employment.
Although Merkel presented the plan officially at a press conference at party headquarters in Berlin on Monday, the salient details had filtered through to the German media late on Sunday.
According to the newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, the CDU/CSU want to reduce German income taxes by at least 15 billion euros (17.05 billion U.S. dollars), mainly to alleviate the fiscal burden on lower and middle incomes. Additionally, the parties plan to raise the threshold of annual taxable income for the highest tax bracket (42 percent) from 54,000 euros to 60,000 euros.
On housing, the CDU/CSU intend to build 1.5 million additional apartments in the next four years and pull the brake on rising rental prices in urban areas by offering tax deductions for new construction.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are to receive easier access to either state grants or tax deductions for their research and development expenditure. In total, such governmental support is estimated up to 3 billion euros per year. As part of an already previously announced "digitalization offensive" schools will receive five billion euros to improve their connectivity and IT services.
For their security strategy, the CDU/CSU want to hire 15,000 new police officers on a federal and state level and improve the connectivity of data bases used by authorities. The two percent goal for defense spending, mandated by Germany's NATO membership, is to be maintained, resulting in additional funds for German armed forces. The expenditure is tied to corresponding rises in developmental aid however.
Despite all of these fiscal promises, the parties said they would not take on any additional public debt in their budget. The CDU/CSU have also declared their intention to lower the unemployment rate of 5.5 percent by half to achieve full employment (defined at a maximum rate of three percent) by 2025 and announced the introduction of a "law for high-skilled immigration."
Furthermore, the CDU and CSU are making a concerted pitch for the votes of families by offering them numerous benefits in their manifesto.
The CDU/CSU will hope to steady their election campaign by presenting the manifesto to the public. While the parties and chancellor Merkel have enjoyed a comfortable lead ahead of contenders in opinion polls for months, they suffered a politically bruising week which culminated in the Federal Parliament's approval of same-sex marriage last Friday.
During an interview, Merkel had surprisingly mulled the possibility of such a free vote in the next parliament but was then pressured by the Social Democrats (SPD) and other opposition parties to allow it immediately. The development sparked angry infighting between Conservatives opposed to and in favour of the motion. The CDU/CSU's official stance is to reject marriage equality on the grounds of child welfare.
Meanwhile, the SPD relished in the welcome opportunity to reinvigorate its campaign after leader Martin Schulz had recently sought to convince Social Democrats that he could still secure the chancellorship despite disappointing polls.
Speaking after a meeting with the heads of the CDU and CSU, chancellor Merkel said that by putting support for families at the heart of their manifesto, conservatives were placing a "clear emphasis on the future."
"We are considerate of all, we do not divide," she added.
CSU leader Horst Seehofer said that he was "very happy" with the manifesto but refused to comment on disagreements between his party and the CDU over establishing a limit for the number of refugees admitted to Germany. Seehofer merely pointed to his party's "plan for Bavaria" in which it seeks to outline further, independent proposals.
The final draft of the CDU/CSU will be officially agreed upon by party representative at a press conference on Monday. (1 Euro = 1.14 U.S. dollars)
