Social policy Kauder is strictly against recognizing
Islam as an equal religion within Germany. In an interview with news magazine
Der Spiegel, he replied to the question if Islam is a part of Germany with: "No, Muslims are a part of Germany, Islam is not." In 2012, he told daily newspaper
Passauer Neue Presse: "Islam is not part of our tradition and identity in Germany and so does not belong in Germany." He also appealed to
Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB), which represents more than 70 percent of Muslims living in Germany, to make clear to its members that Germany's
constitution and law were above religion. In response to increasing numbers of people leaving organized religion, Kauder also criticized the churches in Germany for not proselytizing enough. In 2011, he condemned Turkey's record on religious freedom and suggested that
EU accession talks with Turkey should be suspended until the country supports the rights of Christians to ordain priests. Kauder raised eyebrows in January 2005 when he compared draft
anti-discrimination legislation to Nazi and Communist laws, arguing that the legislation would require people to hold the same political attitudes. In September 2013,
Claudia Roth of the Green Party criticized Kauder for his voting against the criminal liability of
rape within a marriage in 1997. In an interview with the German newspaper
Frankfurter Rundschau in December 2010, Kauder argued against the
right of adoption for homosexual couples, his reasoning being that he doesn't "believe that children would like to get raised in a homosexual partnership." His position regarding this topic was explained by several German media outlets with his closeness to the evangelical organisation Deutsche Evangelische Allianz. When the
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled the unequal treatment of
registered civil partnerships and married couples regarding income splitting for spouses unconstitutional in May 2013, Kauder expressed that with his party, there will not be any equality of traditionally married couples and homosexual partnerships. In June 2017, he voted against Germany's introduction of
same-sex marriage.
European integration Kauder's criticism of British opposition to the introduction of a
financial transaction tax, to curb speculative trading in financial markets, was seized upon by British media in 2011 as an indication of a dire confrontation between the two governments of Germany and the United Kingdom. He courted controversy the same year when he declared, in the context of ongoing European
austerity measures, that, "Suddenly Europe is speaking German." In 2012, Kauder criticized the
European Central Bank's measures to buy the debt of troubled
eurozone states that request a European bailout and fulfill strict domestic policy conditions, arguing that "the ECB has reached the border of what is permitted, also because it is moving into the area of state financing." In discussions on whether there would be a renegotiation of France's 2015 deadline for bringing its deficit in line with the
EU Stability and Growth Pact’s limit of 3 percent, Kauder said in a parliamentary debate that it was "high time that everyone understood that we must uphold the rules that we have adopted as law". In August 2014, Kauder called for the
EU to adopt common
arms export regulations, saying there would be an increasing number of European defense companies in the future, "especially German-French ones."
Transatlantic relations Reacting to revelations about
NSA surveillance activities in Germany in 2013, Kauder blamed the United States for a "grave breach of trust" and demanded it should drop its "global power demeanor." However, he did not want a publicly accessible investigation into the claims of US surveillance of chancellor Merkel's mobile phone, insisting that only a secretly operating committee can effectively handle the issue. In 2014, Kauder stated that the United States – through their military engagement in Iraq – “acquired a special responsibility for the country" and that "[i]t's the Americans' task to deal with security in Iraq." Regarding the latest developments of the Euro crisis in Greece, Kauder stated in June 2015 that an essential condition for granting further financial aids for Greece would be that the IMF would be involved in the process as well, not only as a consultant but also financially.
Corruption Kauder has voted no on legislative proposals against parliamentary corruption; he did so again in spring 2013.
Smoking According to health politician
Karl Lauterbach (SPD), Kauder was the driving force blocking a ban of smoking that Germany already in 2004 committed to the
World Health Organization to introduce until 2010. ==Religious affiliation==