AfD on the economy

The AfD wants to relieve businesses and employees of rules from Brussels, Berlin and Munich. Among other things, small and medium-sized firms would be exempt from the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, the Supply Chain Act would be scrapped, and quotas for women and migrants abolished.

The AfD wants less paperwork for companies. Small firms should no longer have to follow the EU data protection rules. The Supply Chain Act should go. The AfD also wants to end quotas for women and migrants. People should be able to file every application online.

Besides ending the Supply Chain Act, the AfD wants to block the EU's carbon border adjustment and loosen the laws on whistleblower protection and on documenting working conditions. Implementation of the EU taxonomy is to stop, and the party rejects mandatory sustainability reports. For each new law, old ones are to be repealed. Public administration is to go digital. For smaller firms, the program lists uniform thresholds, broader small-business rules, shorter record retention periods and an end to mandatory receipts.

The AfD wants to strengthen Bavaria as a location for industry and high tech. To that end, industry clusters with special rules are to be created, starting a company should take one day, and production sites are to be brought back to Bavaria.

The AfD wants more industry and modern technology in Bavaria. There should be special zones with their own rules for tech companies. People should be able to start a company in one day. Factories should come back to Bavaria from abroad.

The clusters are to cover semiconductors, artificial intelligence, robotics and aerospace. Founders should get easier access to venture capital. The AfD wants to end what it sees as a politically intended shortage of energy and raw materials, and to tighten competition oversight. The auto and chemical industries are to be relieved of requirements the party calls ideological.

The AfD wants to secure Bavaria's auto and supplier industry and its jobs, including those tied to the combustion engine. In its view, the market rather than politics should decide which drive technologies prevail.

Many people in Bavaria work in the car industry. The AfD wants to keep these jobs. It also wants to keep allowing gasoline and diesel cars. People should choose for themselves which car they drive.

The program stresses the strategic importance of the auto and supplier sector for Bavaria and Germany. Companies and jobs that depend on the combustion engine are to remain. Citizens should be free to choose how they get around.

The AfD wants to preserve and expand the defense industry in Bavaria so that the Bundeswehr can be equipped with modern gear. It opposes selling German defense companies to foreign buyers.

The AfD wants to strengthen defense companies in Bavaria. These companies build weapons and gear for the military. This should give the German army modern equipment. German defense companies should not be sold to buyers abroad.

According to the platform, about 70 defense companies are based in Bavaria, ranging from global corporations to mid-sized suppliers, which is roughly a third of the German sector. The AfD justifies its demand with a rapidly changing security environment. It regards the sector as an essential part of national self-defense and of national interests. It says German manufacturers lead the world technologically in many fields. The party rejects sales of such companies to foreign owners.

The AfD wants to ease the burden on restaurants and hotels, which it sees as part of Bavaria's cultural heritage and an important part of the small and mid-sized business sector. VAT on food and drinks served in restaurants would stay permanently reduced, and red tape such as the mandatory receipt rule would be cut.

The AfD wants to help restaurants and hotels. The sales tax on food and drinks in restaurants should stay low for good. There should be fewer rules. For example, the receipt rule should go. That rule says a business must always print a receipt.

The platform blames the difficult situation of many restaurants and pubs on Covid restrictions, the energy transition and inflation. It calls for a permanently reduced VAT rate on food and drinks served in restaurants. Bureaucratic requirements are to be cut back, with the mandatory receipt rule given as an example. Rules in general should take account of the particular circumstances of these businesses.

The AfD wants to strengthen technical and scientific subjects, link research and industry more closely, and keep young technology companies in Bavaria with venture capital. The platform argues that a country with few raw materials can only secure its prosperity through technological excellence.

The AfD wants more technology and research in Bavaria. Schools should give more weight to math, computer science and science. Young tech companies should get money more easily. That way these companies should stay in Bavaria.

Math, computer science, natural sciences and engineering are to get more weight in schools and research institutions, and performance standards are to rise. The AfD wants to promote cross-disciplinary research and cooperation between teaching, research and industry, including start-up centers. It names priorities such as automation, energy technology, artificial intelligence, new materials, aerospace, nuclear and defense technology, biotechnology and chemistry. Funding programs that provide venture capital in exchange for company shares, without interfering in management, are to be expanded. The party sees the digitalization of production ("Industry 4.0") as an opportunity given demographic change, and wants incentives for companies that moved abroad to return.