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WORLD:

In the polls, the Union is on par with or behind the Greens.

Three months ago, the CDU and CSU were still 17 percentage points ahead.

What went wrong in the past quarter, Mr Kuban?

Tilman Kuban:

The Union has been responsible in this country for 16 years.

For things that are going well and also for things that may not go so well.

It is easy to speak if you are not responsible.

In the past few months, many people would certainly have wished that we could vaccinate faster, like other countries in the world.

But I am sure that we will be in a much better position in the next few months and that we will then have more freedom again.

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WORLD:

How did the personnel decisions of the past few months affect the current state of the party?

Kuban:

I don't look back, I look forward.

We made a democratic decision in both cases.

The JU heard the base in advance and positioned itself in each case.

But now we all have a common goal: We must not leave Germany and Europe to a green-red-red alliance, but must show people why it will be better in the future when the Union rules.

WORLD:

How many members has the youth organization lost in the past three months?

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Kuban:

A low three-digit number.

But we have also gained new members who want to get involved in the most digital and innovative youth organization.

WORLD:

How annoyed were you personally about the decisions of the CDU leadership?

Kuban:

We have always stood up in the past and will continue to advocate new forms of participation in the future.

I want us to modernize the party work and strengthen the bridge between the CDU and the CSU.

The cooperation in the Bundestag faction, the Junge Union and also the SME Union, as associations of the CDU and CSU, is very good.

We should expand this, for example through a Union Council that meets regularly to strengthen ties and exchanges.

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WORLD:

Both CDU boss Armin Laschet and CSU boss Markus Söder have announced considerable efforts in terms of climate protection after the climate ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court.

Is it right that the Union is now tackling the issue more aggressively?

Kuban:

As a Junge Union, we are clearly committed to the 1.5 degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement.

We are now making a decision for the next 20 to 30 years.

A decision like this is not made in three weeks, but after a clear analysis and weighing up.

We don't want to achieve this goal with ever new bans like the Greens, but with innovations.

That is why I am fighting for new drives in mobility, hydrogen for industry, faster planning rights for the expansion of the power grid and new storage of CO2.

This is where our climate protection potential lies, and the Greens reject that.

Here lies the chance for a market economy program of the Union.

Karlsruhe climate judgment condemns politics to detention

A groundbreaking ruling from Karlsruhe puts pressure on politicians in terms of climate protection.

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled that the federal government must also protect the civil liberties of younger generations when it comes to climate protection.

Source: WORLD / Marcus Tychsen

WORLD:

Has the federal government been too defensive in its climate protection policy?

Kuban:

We keep dwarfing each other.

We have to lead the discussion out of a situation of strength instead of hiding.

Germany is not a developing country in terms of climate policy, but we have to get faster.

That was shown again by the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court.

Karlsruhe has written in the register of every politician that trading may not continue at the expense of future generations.

WORLD:

The Junge Union is urging that the retirement age be automatically adjusted to the longer life expectancy in the future.

Can you hold out in such a tight campaign?

Kuban:

In any case, we refuse to plug the funding gap that has arisen in the pay-as-you-go pension system with more and more tax subsidies, as the Greens and the SPD are planning.

This sum is currently 110 billion euros - in normal times around a third of the federal budget.

According to calculations by the Federal Audit Office, this sum will rise to 177 billion by 2025 - that would be almost half of the federal budget.

That won't work in the long run.

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WORLD:

On the other side of the age pyramid, the young people in the Corona crisis are a group that politicians hardly care about, but from which they expect great sacrifices.

How can a new federal government redress this injustice?

Kuban:

The younger generation is the big loser in this pandemic.

We have poorer educational and labor market opportunities, enormous debts, and considerable loss of freedom.

Even if it sounds banal, the search for a partner, traveling or meeting friends takes place at a young age and ensures personal development - all of this is currently very much restricted.

That is why the next federal government must put a clear focus on the younger generation.

This applies to education, for example in the form of catch-up programs;

this applies to the labor market, which needs skilled workers more than ever;

this applies to a specific debt reduction path;

And of course that applies to offers that at least make up for the missed opportunities a little.

We as the Junge Union therefore advocate, for example, providing every 18-year-old with an Interrail ticket so that they can get to know other European cultures.

Children and young people should catch up on the corona residue

Cancellation of lessons, homeschooling, lack of leisure activities - children and young people have been hit particularly hard by the Corona crisis.

In order to catch up, the federal government wants to launch a multi-billion dollar funding program.

Source: WORLD

WORLD:

Can you imagine that the Union would move into a coalition with the Greens as a junior partner?

Kuban:

The Greens' program shows that they want to divide society.

They are fixated on their urban milieu and leave rural areas aside.

If you look at issues such as higher petrol prices or compulsory public transport charges, you can see that the concerns of commuters are not taken into account by the Greens at all.

The same applies to the residents of the coal fields in the east.

This creates a division between the old and the new federal states that will not exist with us.

We will not support a European debt union any more than we will bid farewell to our two percent financing promise for NATO.

This is not what people want and it will further divide society.

In addition, Germany's credibility is at stake in all international treaties.

Incidentally, the Greens are still not ruling out a coalition with the Left Party.

Every vote for the Greens is always a vote for the Left and for Green-Red-Red.

WORLD:

Are you ruling out the possibility of the Union making a Green woman Chancellor?

Kuban:

I cannot and will not imagine that we will elect Annalena Baerbock as Federal Chancellor. We are fighting to make the Union, with Armin Laschet at the helm, the strongest force in Germany. He will become our next Federal Chancellor and make Germany a country of upward mobility.