AfD on the economy

The AfD wants to support new businesses and business handovers with little red tape. The state of Saarland is to act as a venture capital provider and as a broker. The goal is to make Saarland Germany's leading state for founders.

The AfD wants to help new companies. The state should give founders money and connect them with investors. Handing a company over to a successor should also work better. Saarland should become the best German state for founders.

The platform wants Saarland to accompany the founding, growth and relocation of companies, especially in sectors with new technologies. Under defined conditions and for a limited time, the state would also provide money until the companies succeed on the market. Private investors and founders are to be brought together, with public co-financing where needed. The AfD also wants to invest in research, universities and links between science and business, for example around the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Saarbrücken.

The AfD wants more money for state roads, a new digital agency for mobile and fiber networks, and an end to the EEG surcharge. Structurally weak regions are to be strengthened with programs, tax incentives and bonuses. The platform argues that Saarland lags behind the national average.

The AfD wants to spend more money on roads in Saarland. A new agency should push mobile networks and fast internet. The EEG surcharge should go. That is an extra charge on power bills for green electricity. Weak rural regions should get special help.

The state road construction agency is to get more planning capacity. A newly founded digital agency would centrally steer mobile coverage, 5G, fiber and digitalization. The EEG surcharge would be scrapped to lower energy prices and stabilize power grids. The AfD wants to free rural areas from interference by Brussels and Berlin that it sees as violating the principle of subsidiarity. For structurally weak areas, it plans support programs, tax incentives, bonuses and the targeted creation of new jobs.

The AfD wants to support small and mid-sized businesses through less red tape and a business-friendly administration. Applications would have a maximum processing time, and public tenders would become simpler. The party sees these firms as the backbone of Saarland's economy.

The AfD wants to help small and mid-sized companies. There should be less red tape. Offices should handle applications within a fixed time. Public contracts should be easier to get.

According to the platform, mid-sized companies generate half of all revenue in Saarland and provide most jobs and training places. The administration should offer short routes and help firms find skilled workers. The threshold above which contracts must be put out to tender across Europe is to rise considerably. In the AfD's view, bureaucratic rules and extensive tender conditions weigh heavily on the economy.

The AfD wants to strengthen tourism in Saarland through targeted marketing, better infrastructure and less red tape for hotels and restaurants. It sees tourism as an important factor for attracting businesses and skilled workers.

The AfD wants more tourists to come to Saarland. The state should advertise better for this. Roads, bike paths and fast internet should improve. Hotels and restaurants should face fewer rules.

Marketing and funding programs should focus on young people and families, for example in hiking, city trips, camping, farm vacations and youth hostels. The season is to be extended into the winter months. Regional brands, local products and crafts should form the basis of joint marketing that highlights winegrowing and hiking; to this end the AfD wants to reform the three-tier model of tourism organization. Roads, rail, waterways, bike paths and broadband are to be maintained and expanded, and digital services improved. The party considers rules on fire safety, accessibility and parking excessive and wants to lower the hurdles for licenses when businesses change hands.

The AfD wants more support for restaurants, pubs, and hotels, pointing to many insolvencies among small businesses after the coronavirus crisis. The platform describes inns as key meeting places for villages, towns, and local clubs. It proposes a funding program, more flexible working hours, and no bed tax.

Many small pubs and restaurants are closing. The AfD wants to stop this. It wants to give money to pubs in rural areas. Workers in hotels and restaurants should be able to work more flexible hours. The AfD rejects a bed tax. That is a charge on overnight stays.

Hotels and restaurants would be recognized as a seasonal-work sector. The AfD suggests a dedicated funding program for rural pubs and restaurants, citing Bavaria as a model. It rejects the bed tax as bureaucratic. In the platform's view, the rules on daily working time of eight hours, with exceptions up to ten or twelve, no longer fit the hospitality trade; added flexibility should still be compatible with protecting workers' health. Hotel management schools should be kept across the region to secure skilled staff.