Germany's Christian Democratic Union made several decisive policy moves at its federal party congress in Stuttgart on Saturday, approving measures that range from restricting children's access to social media to demanding exceptions from minimum wage requirements for seasonal agricultural workers. The decisions reflect the party's attempt to address concerns spanning child protection, family support, education, and economic competitiveness.
The CDU delegates voted with a clear majority to support a ban on social media use for children and young people under 14 years of age. The resolution represents a compromise from an initial proposal from Schleswig-Holstein that had suggested setting the age limit at 16. The party congress ultimately settled on 14 as the minimum age while calling for special protections to remain in place until users reach 16.
The party justified the restriction by emphasizing that children and young people require particular protection in the digital space. The resolution calls on the federal government to introduce a statutory age limit of 14 years for using social networks, while ensuring that special protection needs are considered for users up to their 16th birthday.
Platform operators would face substantial penalties under the proposed system. The CDU demands that social media companies implement effective and technically reliable age verification systems, explicitly stating that simple self-declaration through click-based queries would be insufficient. The party congress called for significant fines against platform operators who systematically or negligently circumvent age verification requirements. Repeated violations should be punished with measures up to temporary usage restrictions for the providers.
The CDU resolution also addresses broader digital safety concerns beyond age restrictions. The party demands transparency requirements for algorithms, arguing that binding legal regulations are necessary to make algorithmic decisions comprehensible. The functioning of recommendation algorithms and their effects on democratic discourse must be transparent and understandable. Additionally, the resolution calls for substantial fines for those who post or tolerate illegal content on platforms.
Recognizing that national restrictions could be easily circumvented, the CDU advocates for EU-wide harmonization of these regulations to prevent users from accessing platforms through other member states. The party also emphasizes strengthening media education in schools to run parallel with the age restrictions.
The party congress also approved nationwide uniform regulations for the use of mobile phones and other devices in schools through the tenth grade. The resolution calls for establishing binding protection zones where private use of digital devices during lessons and breaks would be prohibited.
Delegates simultaneously accepted a Young Union motion urging the federal government to ensure that funds from the Digital Pact 2.0 are made available to states and school authorities quickly, without bureaucracy, and through practical procedures. The Digital Pact 2.0 provides five billion euros over the next five years to support school digitalization efforts.
In a move that caught party leadership off guard, CDU delegates voted to increase parental leave benefits despite opposition from the party's proposal commission. The congress accepted a motion from the Young Union demanding higher base amounts for parental leave payments and calling for the reversal of income threshold reductions.
The approved motion argues that parental leave serves as a central instrument for raising birth rates in Germany. However, the base amounts for parental leave have remained unchanged since the program's introduction in 2007, currently ranging between 300 and 1,800 euros monthly depending on income. The resolution also criticized the previous coalition government's 2023 budget consolidation measures that reduced the income threshold for receiving parental leave first to 200,000 euros and then to 175,000 euros.
Federal Family Minister Karin Prien from the CDU unsuccessfully urged delegates to reject the motion or at minimum refer it to the parliamentary group rather than adopting it directly. She warned of a difficult budget situation and cautioned that approving the motion would reduce the party's negotiating flexibility with its coalition partner, the SPD.
The CDU made a renewed attempt to secure exceptions from minimum wage requirements for seasonal agricultural workers. Delegates unanimously supported a motion from the South Baden district association stating that the CDU advocates for allowing deviations from the minimum wage for seasonal workers in agriculture. The coalition partner SPD has consistently and vehemently rejected such exceptions.
Baden-Württemberg Agriculture Minister Peter Hauk from the CDU advocated for the motion's adoption to strengthen the competitiveness of German agriculture against foreign competition. He argued that reducing the high costs of minimum wage payments to seasonal workers is necessary to enable agricultural production to continue in Germany at all.
Saxony's Agriculture Minister Georg-Ludwig von Breitenbuch from the CDU urged his party to push through minimum wage exceptions despite SPD resistance. He acknowledged that failing to include such exceptions in the coalition agreement was frustrating for the CDU, adding that delegates needed to send a signal that the party congress represents CDU positions, not coalition committee compromises.
The motion's supporters justified the exemption request by noting that seasonal agricultural workers do not engage in full-time employment and therefore pay less in taxes and social contributions than full-time minimum wage employees. They also pointed out that many seasonal workers come from abroad, where hourly wages below Germany's minimum wage still significantly exceed local standards in their home countries. German farmers and the farmers' association have long warned that high wages for seasonal workers threaten the competitiveness of many agricultural products.
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