AfD: program for the 2026 Baden-Württemberg state election

As a state government, the AfD wants to push the federal government and the EU to reverse the phase-out of new combustion engine cars. Supply chain laws and the related EU directives should also be repealed, because the platform sees them as harmful to business and workers.

The EU plans to stop allowing new cars with combustion engines. The AfD wants to stop this ban. It also wants to end the supply chain laws. These laws make companies check their suppliers. The AfD says this hurts companies and workers.

The AfD wants a fundamental reduction of regulation in the state: state rules would expire automatically after ten years at most, and two old rules would be dropped for every new one. EU requirements would be implemented only to the mandatory minimum, and the Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz (supply chain due diligence act) would be abolished.

The AfD wants fewer rules for businesses. State laws should end on their own after ten years. For every new rule, two old rules should go. Applications should count as approved after three months. The supply chain law should be scrapped.

The AfD wants to bring back highly qualified people who have left and set up a dedicated state agency for this. It would take the place of the existing state agency for skilled-worker immigration.

Many well-trained people are leaving the state. The AfD wants to bring them back. A new agency should do this. It should replace the agency for bringing in skilled workers from abroad.

The AfD supports a community service year to be completed by every school leaver. It is meant to introduce young people to social tasks and spark interest in fields such as nursing.

The AfD wants a service year for everyone after school. Young people should help society during it. They can serve in care work, the fire service or the army. This also lets them get to know jobs.

The AfD wants to launch a reform of basic income support through the Bundesrat (the chamber of the states). People who can work and still receive Bürgergeld (citizen's income) after half a year would have to do community service. In the platform's view, Bürgergeld gives too little incentive to take a job.

The AfD wants to change Bürgergeld. That is the basic welfare payment. People who can work must do community work after six months. People who refuse work several times get less money. The state will pay only 90 percent of housing costs.

The AfD wants to create a permanent state fund modeled on Norway's within its first 100 days. Its returns on the capital markets would pay for extra infrastructure investment without new debt. The money would come from savings in the budget.

Roads, bridges and schools need money. The AfD does not want new debt for this. It wants to set up a fund. A fund is a big pot of money that is invested. The state would build and repair with the profits.

The AfD wants to give municipalities more revenue of their own and more tax autonomy, and to rebuild the municipal fiscal equalization system as a two-tier model. In its account, the current system neither secures adequate basic funding nor rewards municipalities for cultivating their own tax sources.

The AfD wants to give cities and towns more money. Towns should decide more taxes themselves. The way money is shared between the state and towns should also change. The AfD says the current system does not work.

The AfD calls for a new reform of fiscal equalization among Germany's states and backs Bavaria's lawsuit before the Federal Constitutional Court. It considers the growing burden on the few contributor states unacceptable.

Rich German states give money to poorer states. Baden-Württemberg is one of the states that pay. The AfD thinks the paying states pay too much. It wants to change the rules. It supports a lawsuit by Bavaria in court.

The AfD wants to scrap the Grundsteuer (property tax) completely. It considers the tax unfair, costly to administer and a burden on owners and renters alike. Municipalities would get a larger share of federal tax revenue instead.

The AfD wants to end the property tax. This is a tax on land and buildings. The AfD thinks this tax is unfair. Towns and cities should get money from the federal government instead.

The AfD wants to make it easier for parents to buy a home by reducing their debt with each child. It also favors abolishing the property tax and the inheritance tax. It sees home ownership as an important part of retirement provision.

The AfD wants families to buy a house or apartment more easily. For each child, the debt for the purchase should get smaller. The AfD also wants to end two taxes. These are the property tax and the inheritance tax.

The AfD wants more people to live in a home they own, also as security in old age. To that end it plans a new home ownership grant, a lower real estate transfer tax, deductible mortgage interest and state-backed loans.

The AfD wants more people to own their home. The state should give a one-time 20,000 euros for this. The tax on buying a home should go down. The state should also help with loans.

The AfD wants to bring about a "demographic turnaround" and to that end give families noticeable financial relief. At the federal level it supports family-based income splitting for taxes and a refund of pension contributions per child. In its view, immigration should not be a substitute for missing births.

The AfD wants more children to be born. Families should pay less tax. Parents should get back 20,000 euros in pension payments per child. The AfD says immigration should not replace missing children.

The AfD demands that care in daycare centers and with childminders be free of charge for children from the age of two. In addition, working hours, university studies and vocational training are to be made more family-friendly.

The AfD wants daycare to be free for children from age two. This also applies to childminders. The state should help with this. Parents should also be able to work and study more flexibly.

The AfD views the number of abortions critically and wants mandatory pregnancy conflict counseling always to aim at protecting unborn life and showing alternatives to abortion. It also wants to make anonymous births, baby hatches and adoptions easier and to support freelance midwives with a state fund for their insurance costs.

The AfD wants fewer abortions. Counseling for pregnant women should protect the unborn child. It should show other options. There should be baby hatches, and adoption should be easier. Midwives should get state money for their insurance.

The AfD stresses parents' right to raise their children and opposes state intervention in families, which it regards as paternalism. In its view, children should be protected from what the platform calls "early sexualization" and "gender ideology."

The AfD says parents should raise their children themselves. The state should interfere less. The AfD wants to protect children from certain content. It means early teaching about sexuality and gender topics.

The AfD rejects mandatory state childcare and wants parents to choose freely between care in the family, kindergarten and Kindertagespflege (home-based day care). Home-based day care is to be strengthened as an equal option.

The AfD does not want a duty to use state childcare. Parents should decide for themselves. They can care for their child at home. They can also use a kindergarten or a childminder.

The AfD wants to ease the burden on parents during the years when children cost money, mainly through lower taxes instead of social benefits. It argues that families bear the cost of raising children while the children's later contributions benefit everyone.

The AfD wants parents to pay less tax. This should apply while children cost money. The party prefers this to social benefits. It says children later pay into the pension system. Everyone gains from that.

The AfD announces an education overhaul built on achievement, discipline and identity. Curricula would be fundamentally revised, with more testable knowledge and priority for STEM subjects. It also wants proof of German skills before leaving school and a binding code of conduct.

The AfD wants to change schools a lot. Students should learn more knowledge that can be tested. Math, technology and science should matter more. Nobody should leave school without enough German. There should be fixed rules for behavior.

The AfD wants the German flag flying at every public school in the state within 100 days. The platform links this to an education policy built on identity and a German Leitkultur (guiding culture).

The AfD wants the German flag at every public school. This should happen within 100 days. The AfD says school should also show German culture.

The AfD puts knowledge, skills and performance at the center and wants to keep the tiered school system. The elementary school recommendation is to count for the Realschule (mid-level secondary school) as well, and the nine-year Gymnasium is to get more lessons. Inclusion is to happen only with a sense of proportion.

The AfD wants to keep different types of schools. Performance should matter at school. Elementary school should help decide who goes to the mid-level school. Children must know enough German before elementary school. Children with disabilities often learn better in special schools, the AfD says.

The AfD wants to relax compulsory school attendance and replace it with a duty to be educated that also allows homeschooling. The state is to keep checking performance. The program argues that the state only inadequately secures the right to education.

Today all children must attend a school. The AfD wants to change that. Children should also be allowed to learn at home. But the state should check what the children have learned.

The AfD wants to tackle the shortage of skilled workers by raising the standing of traditional vocational training relative to university study. Economic considerations would weigh more heavily in decisions to expand or cut degree programs, with an eye to demand in STEM fields.

The AfD wants more young people to do vocational training. Schools should show how important skilled trades are. The state also needs more people for technology and computer science. For university subjects, the benefit to the economy should count more.

The AfD wants to halt the 2025 hospital reform because it fears hospital closures, especially in rural areas. Hospitals should remain largely a public responsibility rather than being widely privatized.

The AfD wants to stop the 2025 hospital reform. It fears that rural hospitals will close. Hospitals should belong to the state. Companies should not run them for profit.

The AfD wants to attract doctors to rural and structurally weak areas with organizational and financial support. Owner-run pharmacies and rehab facilities should be preserved, and wholesalers should keep medicines in stock.

Rural areas lack doctors. The AfD wants to help doctors with money to open a practice there. Pharmacies and rehab clinics should stay. Wholesalers should store key medicines for two months.

The AfD wants better support for family caregivers and would align the Pflegegeld (care allowance) with what outpatient care services are paid. To tackle staff shortages it relies on better pay, less paperwork and more training. It demands strict checks for professionals from non-EU countries.

Many people care for relatives at home. The AfD wants to give them a higher care allowance. Nurses should earn more and have less paperwork. Doctors and nurses from outside the EU should take a test.

The AfD wants to abolish every vaccination mandate, citing the fundamental right to physical integrity. Decisions on medical treatment should rest with the individual alone. It also rejects any duty to donate organs.

The AfD wants to end every vaccine mandate. Each person should decide on their own treatment. Nobody should have to donate organs. Alternative healers should also be allowed to keep working.

The AfD wants a parliamentary committee of inquiry in the state parliament to examine COVID policy. In its view, many measures were unfounded, ineffective or harmful. People who suffered harm as a result should be compensated.

The AfD wants a close look at the COVID period. The state parliament should set up a committee for this. The AfD says many rules were wrong or harmful. People who were harmed should get money.

The AfD wants insured people to receive neutral information about the electronic patient record (ePA) after the fact and wants its usage options adapted to patients' needs. People who reject the ePA should be able to store emergency data directly on their health insurance card.

The electronic patient record stores data about medical treatment. The AfD says people were poorly informed about it. It wants neutral information for everyone. People who do not want the record should be able to store emergency data on their insurance card.

The AfD wants to hold a statewide referendum on migration policy within 100 days. Voters would decide on turning people back at the borders, detaining everyone who is required to leave but does not, and benefits in kind only for asylum seekers. A yes vote is meant to back the state government in the expected dispute with the federal government.

The AfD wants people to vote on migration. The vote is about three things. People without a right to stay should be turned back at the border. People who must leave but stay should be locked up. Asylum seekers should get goods, not money.

The AfD wants to pull Baden-Württemberg out of the nationwide distribution of refugees and impose a general intake stop. It would last until the borders are again protected against illegal crossings and is meant to put more pressure on the federal government.

Germany spreads refugees across all states. The AfD no longer wants to take part. Baden-Württemberg should take in nobody new. This should last until the borders are protected. The AfD wants to pressure the federal government this way.

The AfD wants the state interior ministry to treat returns as a priority. People without a right to stay are to leave the country quickly. Asylum seekers are to receive benefits in kind instead of cash.

The AfD wants more people without a right to stay to leave. The interior ministry should deal with this first. Asylum seekers should no longer get money. They should get goods instead, such as food and clothes.

The AfD wants to grant Bürgergeld (citizen's income) to people without German citizenship only after at least ten years of regular work in Germany, and then limit it to one year. Refugees from Ukraine would get the same benefits as asylum seekers. The platform calls Bürgergeld an incentive for illegal immigration.

The AfD wants to limit Bürgergeld for foreigners. Bürgergeld is the basic welfare payment. Foreigners must first work ten years in Germany. Then they get it for one year only. Refugees from Ukraine would get less, like asylum seekers.

The AfD wants to deport more people who have no right to stay. To do so, the deportation authority and the responsible police units would get more staff, and the task would be spread across the four Regierungspräsidien (regional administrative authorities). The platform points to many failed deportation attempts.

The AfD wants to deport more people. It means people with no right to stay. The authority and the police would get more staff. Four regional state offices would handle deportations.

The AfD wants to give asylum seekers in-kind benefits only wherever possible and end what it calls misuse of the payment card. Asylum seekers in ongoing proceedings and rejected applicants would no longer get work permits. In the platform's view, the support offered in Germany attracts people.

The AfD wants to stop giving asylum seekers money. They would get things like food and clothes directly. Asylum seekers would not be allowed to work. This also applies to rejected applicants. The state should count health costs exactly.

The AfD wants to stop housing asylum seekers in county and municipal shelters. Instead, there would be central arrival and departure centers and interim shelters near the four Regierungspräsidien (regional administrative authorities). According to the platform, this would make deportations and in-kind benefits easier.

The AfD does not want asylum seekers spread across towns and villages. They would live in large centers. These centers would be near the four regional state offices. Only recognized asylum seekers would move to towns.

The AfD does not want refugees to be housed in social housing. It blames immigration for rising rents and the housing shortage and calls for returning foreigners who are required to leave.

The AfD says immigration makes homes scarce and costly. Refugees should not get social housing. Foreigners with no right to stay should leave the country.

The AfD rejects puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender-altering surgery for minors. Such decisions should be possible only from the age of majority because, in its view, the consequences are irreversible.

Some young people want to change their gender. There are hormones and operations for this. The AfD does not want this for people under 18. Only adults should be allowed to decide this.

The AfD opposes the expansion of wind power in the state and backs citizens' groups fighting it. In its view, wind turbines, large solar fields and energy crops harm nature. It also wants to end biofuel blending and rejects driving bans.

The AfD is against more wind turbines in the state. It says wind turbines and big solar fields harm nature. It wants no more ethanol in gasoline. It is also against driving bans.

The AfD rejects climate protection as a policy goal because it does not regard human-made CO₂ emissions as the cause of climate change. Instead it wants to focus on adapting to climate changes, scrap the carbon levy, and cut the energy tax to the minimum.

The AfD does not want climate protection. It says humans are not the cause of climate change. It only wants to protect people from the effects. The tax on CO₂ should go. This should make energy cheaper.

The AfD wants to keep all coal-fired power plants, build new ones, and return to nuclear power as quickly as possible. It argues that Baden-Württemberg now generates only half of its electricity itself and that industry needs cheap, reliable energy.

The AfD wants to keep coal power plants and build new ones. It also wants to use nuclear power again. Two shut-down nuclear plants in the state should run again. This should make power safe and cheap.

The AfD considers further wind power expansion in Baden-Württemberg pointless and wants to end subsidies for wind and solar power. It also rejects funding for hydrogen and deep geothermal energy; energy subsidy programs in general should be reviewed and abolished where possible.

The AfD wants no new wind turbines in forests. Wind turbines should stand farther from homes. The state should stop paying money for wind and solar power. There should be no funding for hydrogen or deep geothermal energy either.

The AfD wants to scrap the Heizungsgesetz (heating law) entirely and lift obligations to use district heating. It also rejects forcing transport to go electric, arguing that this would require doubling the electricity infrastructure.

The AfD wants to abolish the heating law. No one should be forced to use district heating. The AfD also wants no pressure to switch to electric cars. It says the power grids and storage for that are missing.

The AfD wants to shield domestic agriculture from foreign competition through tariffs, subsidies and direct payments. It justifies this with security of food supply. At the same time, rules on fertilizer and crop protection would be relaxed.

The AfD wants to protect local farmers. For this it wants tariffs and money from the state. Tariffs are charges on goods from abroad. Farmers should have fewer rules on fertilizer.

The AfD wants to scrap the planned phase-out of combustion engines without replacement and not limit state subsidies to electric cars. It rejects CO₂ taxes, driving bans and speed limits it considers unjustified. The platform cites protecting the auto industry and its jobs.

The AfD wants to keep allowing cars with combustion engines. The state should not support only electric cars. The party is against CO₂ taxes and driving bans. It wants to protect the car industry and its jobs.

The AfD wants to make road freight more efficient, expand rest stops and truck parking, and build more loading terminals for rail. It rejects a truck toll at the state level. It points out that more than 80 percent of goods are moved by road.

The AfD wants to build more rest stops for trucks. Drivers can take breaks and refuel there. More goods should also be moved onto trains. The AfD does not want a state truck toll. A toll is a fee for using roads.

The AfD regards the car as part of personal freedom and wants to lower parking costs for drivers. Cycling should get no priority over cars, and the Landesmobilitätsgesetz (state mobility law) should be repealed without replacement.

The AfD wants to help drivers. Parking should cost less. Bikes should not come before cars. The state mobility law should go.

The AfD wants to sharply raise funding for maintaining and expanding roads and bridges. In its view, the motor vehicle tax should go entirely to roads. The highway network should also be expanded.

Many roads and bridges are in bad shape. The AfD wants to spend much more money to fix them. Money from the car tax should pay for roads. There should also be more highways.

The AfD wants more tracks, trains and train drivers to allow more frequent service. A state-owned company would be set up to reopen disused rail lines. Airports should stay competitive and flights affordable.

The AfD wants more tracks and more trains. More train drivers should be trained. Then trains can run more often. Flying should stay affordable for people.

The AfD rejects surveillance without cause, data retention, and chat control, and wants end-to-end encryption to become the standard. It also calls for a recognized right to live without digital processes and for keeping cash.

The AfD does not want the state to watch people without a reason. Messages should be safely encrypted. People should be able to live without computers and phones. Cash should stay.

The AfD rejects EU regulation of artificial intelligence, including the Artificial Intelligence Act and the Cybersecurity Act, and wants national rules instead. AI should be usable in Germany but remain under human control and must not be used for mass surveillance.

The AfD does not want EU rules for artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is called AI for short. These are computer programs that learn on their own. Germany should make its own rules for AI. People should always stay in control of AI.

The AfD wants to supply everyone in Baden-Württemberg with internet at one gigabit per second, citing Switzerland as the model. It treats network expansion as part of the state's duty to provide basic services; commercial and industrial zones are to be connected first.

The AfD wants fast internet for everyone in the state. Switzerland is the model for this. Business areas should get fast internet first. The state should make sure the networks get built. The networks should also work in a crisis.

Within its first 100 days, the AfD wants a state registry of repeat offenders and police preventive detention modeled on Bavaria. Prosecutors would have to seek prison without probation for repeated violent offenses. Foreigners who commit crimes would be deported without exception.

The AfD wants to be tougher on violent offenders. The state should keep a list of repeat offenders. Police should be able to lock up dangerous people in advance. People who are violent again and again should go to prison. Foreign criminals should have to leave.

The AfD wants to hire noticeably more police officers, especially in cities with high crime rates, and to increase police presence in rural areas. Officers are also to receive tasers and bodycams. The program justifies this with what it sees as a worsening security situation.

The AfD wants to hire more police officers. This applies most to cities with a lot of crime. The police should also be seen more often in rural areas. Officers should get tasers and body cameras.

The AfD calls for a statewide plan that enables the police to detect and stop drones. According to the program, the state police currently lack the technology, clear responsibilities and legal basis to do so.

The AfD wants a plan against dangerous drones. Drones are small aircraft without a pilot. The police should be able to find and stop them. For this, they should get new technology and clear legal powers.

The AfD calls for tough action against violent extremists, whether far-left, far-right or Islamist. People classified as terrorist threats are to be detained and deported. Public money for organizations the party regards as far-left extremist is to be cut off.

The AfD wants tough action against violent extremists. This applies to left-wing, right-wing and Islamist offenders. Dangerous people should be put in detention. The state should deport them. Far-left groups should no longer get tax money.

The AfD wants to declare Baden-Württemberg a "space of free speech." Prosecutors would generally drop cases based purely on statements of opinion, and the special criminal protection for politicians would go. The AfD would have EU rules on online content reviewed and, where warranted, stop enforcing them in the state.

The AfD wants more freedom to speak and write. Prosecutors should usually drop cases about things people said. One law gives politicians extra protection from insults. The AfD wants to end this law. It wants to stop using some EU internet rules in the state.

The AfD wants to reduce the number of state ministries from twelve to seven or eight and cut at least 250 positions in the state administration every year. It justifies this with sharply increased personnel and pension costs, which in its view will restrict the state's financial leeway for a long time.

The AfD wants fewer ministries in the state. Twelve should become seven or eight. At least 250 jobs should also be cut each year. The AfD says staff cost the state too much money.

The AfD wants the state not to use its resources to strengthen particular political positions and wants to end funding for NGOs it sees as one-sided and for favored media. It also opposes a widening of the term extremism, which it regards as a restriction of free speech.

The AfD says the state must be politically neutral. It should not give money to groups that back only one political side. It should not favor certain media either. The AfD wants to protect free speech.

The AfD wants administrative procedures to be handled fully digitally and data to be requested only once. Uniform IT standards, consolidated registers and the use of AI are meant to speed up processing and ease the load on businesses and citizens.

The AfD wants government offices to work digitally. People and businesses should only have to give their data once. All offices should use the same technology. Computer programs should help with the work. This should make applications go faster.

The AfD wants to push back the EU's influence on state politics and restore federal structures. In the platform's view, the EU reaches far beyond the single market into areas the German constitution assigns to the states.

The AfD says the EU decides too much in Baden-Württemberg. It wants the German states to decide more for themselves again. The EU should have less power.

The AfD wants an EU confined to economic cooperation among sovereign states, with decisions kept at the national or regional level where possible. Federal foreign policy should follow German interests rather than moral arguments. In foreign trade, the party favors free trade and wants sanctions reviewed for their economic effects.

The AfD wants less power for the EU. Countries should decide more for themselves. German foreign policy should serve German interests. Trade with other countries should be free. Sanctions should be reviewed. Sanctions are penalties against other states.

The AfD wants to vote in the Bundesrat (the chamber of the states) against arms exports to war zones, economic sanctions and constitutional changes for more aid abroad. The premier would travel to the US and Russia within 100 days to revive the state's economic ties.

Foreign policy is really a federal job. But the AfD wants to say no in the chamber of the states. It is against weapons for war zones and against sanctions. Sanctions are trade penalties against a country. The premier should travel to the US and to Russia.

The AfD backs general conscription serving solely national defense and a Bundeswehr fully capable of defending the country. It also wants to systematically strengthen civil defense and disaster response.

The AfD wants conscription. That means citizens must serve in the armed forces. They should only defend their own country. The armed forces should be better equipped. Protection in disasters should also get better.

The AfD makes a total overhaul of public broadcasting the condition for Baden-Württemberg staying in the Medienstaatsvertrag (interstate media treaty). Public broadcasting would shrink by at least 90 percent and the license fee would go. If the other states do not agree within 100 days, the state would withdraw.

The AfD wants to make public TV and radio much smaller. They should mostly inform and teach. The AfD wants to end the broadcasting fee. The other states should agree within 100 days. If not, the AfD wants to quit the broadcasting treaty.

The AfD wants to review state funding of culture, which it often regards as ideologically motivated. At the same time, community cultural associations are to receive financial help. State-funded theaters are to remain neutral in party politics.

The AfD wants to check how culture is funded. It says the money is often given for political reasons. Small cultural clubs should get more help. Theaters with state money should not support any party.

The AfD wants Baden-Württemberg to immediately withdraw from the interstate treaty that governs the public broadcaster SWR. Public broadcasting would in future be paid for only by those who choose to pay.

SWR is a public broadcaster. A treaty sets its rules. The AfD wants to cancel this treaty right away. Only people who want to pay should pay for public broadcasting.

The AfD wants a fundamental reform of film funding in Baden-Württemberg. In its view, the state-owned agency MFG funds politically one-sided projects. If reform proves impossible, the MFG should be dissolved.

The state gives money for films. The AfD says this money goes to politically one-sided films. It wants to change the funding a lot. If that fails, the funding agency MFG should close.

The AfD wants to put church financing on a new footing and phase out the state's payment of bishops' salaries. It also wants to strengthen the Christian faith, focus religious education on teaching it, and protect Sundays and public holidays.

Today the state pays bishops. The AfD wants to end this. Churches should get their money in a different way. Religion classes should mainly teach the Christian faith. Sundays and holidays should stay protected.