Cem Özdemir, the Greens’ lead candidate for Baden‑Württemberg, sharply criticized the CDU’s business wing for its initiative to eliminate the legal right to part‑time work. He told reporters from the Funke Media Group that anyone “who fabricates lifestyle part‑time clearly knows little about the reality of many families in our country”.
Özdemir urged the governing party to focus on what truly matters for women and the economy: increased full‑day schooling, more daycare and nursery places, and stronger tax incentives for full‑time employment. He argued that addressing the skilled‑worker shortage depends on creating real choice, but only if the conditions are right. “We have the most highly trained generation of women” he said. “Many of them want to work more; we must finally open the path for them”.
The MIT, the CDU’s Small and Medium‑Enterprise Union, has submitted a motion for the upcoming party congress to abolish the current legal entitlement to part‑time work, allowing only limited exceptions for childcare or for those caring for relatives.
