AfD: program for the 2024 Thuringia state election

The AfD wants to review and scrap regulations, put expiration dates on new laws and consolidate the state's funding programs. Digital government services and fast internet statewide are meant to help reduce bureaucracy. The goal is relief above all for small and mid-sized businesses.

The AfD wants fewer rules for businesses. New laws should get an end date. There should be fewer funding programs. Government offices should offer services online. For that, fast internet is needed everywhere.

The AfD wants to make it easier to start or take over a business with a bonus of up to €20,000. It also wants to expand startup centers and support startups.

People who start a business should get money from the state. That also applies to taking over a business. The bonus should be up to €20,000. The AfD also wants more startup centers.

The AfD wants to end the Energiewende (energy transition) and the sanctions against Russia, and calls for a different monetary policy from the European Central Bank. It sees these as the causes of price increases since 2021. It also wants to bring strategically vital industries back home.

The AfD wants to end the energy transition. The sanctions against Russia should end too. Sanctions are penalties in trade. The AfD says both make energy expensive. Important industries should come back to Germany.

The AfD wants to relieve self-employed people and smaller tourism businesses of red tape and high costs. At the same time, homeland-focused marketing should make Thuringia better known as a travel destination.

The AfD wants to help hotels, restaurants and other tourism businesses. They should have less paperwork and lower costs. The AfD also wants more advertising for vacations in Thuringia. The ads should show the whole state, not just famous places.

The AfD wants to combine Thuringia's state marketing and its tourism marketing in one administration. It argues that business trips are increasingly combined with leisure and cultural activities. Smaller destinations should also be promoted more strongly and through digital channels.

Thuringia advertises itself as a state. It also advertises vacations there. Two separate offices do this today. The AfD wants to merge them. Small sights should get more advertising too.

The AfD wants to relieve restaurants and hotels of red tape, taxes and levies. The value-added tax on restaurant meals should drop to seven percent. The party aims to reverse what it sees as a politically caused wave of pub and restaurant closures.

The AfD wants to help restaurants and hotels. The tax on restaurant meals should go down. Businesses should have less paperwork. They should also get money for upgrades. That way, fewer restaurants should close.

The AfD wants to address the shortage of skilled workers and labor mainly with people already living in the country. Immigration would be considered only for specific needs and only for highly qualified people who speak German. Master craftsman training would become free.

The AfD wants to find missing workers at home first. Only a few well-trained people should come from abroad. They should speak German. Training to become a master craftsperson should be free. Young skilled workers should stay in Thuringia.

The AfD rejects Bürgergeld (citizen's income) because it believes it encourages people not to work. It would be replaced by a basic income support that clearly favors paid work. People who work should have noticeably more than those who do not.

The AfD is against Bürgergeld. It wants a different basic support. Basic support is money from the state to live on. People who work should have clearly more money. Work should always pay off.

The AfD wants to cut value-added tax on staple foods and baby supplies to zero and to tax energy less. Families would also get relief on municipal fees and charges. The platform regards the higher cost of living as politically caused.

The AfD wants to make life cheaper for families. There should be no more sales tax on basic foods and baby items. Energy should also be taxed less. Families should pay lower fees to their town.

The AfD wants to lower taxes and levies and simplify tax law. It rejects the carbon levy as ideologically motivated. The standard VAT rate would fall significantly, and a reduced rate would apply to energy and food.

The AfD wants lower taxes. The CO2 tax should go. That is an extra charge on gasoline, oil and gas. The sales tax, called VAT, should drop a lot. For energy and food it should be especially low.

The AfD wants cash to remain permanently available without restrictions. It rejects a digital euro issued by the European Central Bank because it sees this as a step toward abolishing cash.

The AfD wants to keep cash. Everyone should still be able to pay in cash without limits. The AfD does not want a digital euro. It thinks a digital euro could make cash disappear.

The AfD calls for ending the Staatsleistungen (historic state payments) to the Protestant and Catholic churches, as the Basic Law provides. It sees these payments as a reason for the churches' closeness to governments.

The churches get money from the state every year. This money comes from everyone's taxes. The AfD wants to end these payments. The constitution has called for this for a long time.

The AfD wants to concentrate state money on the state's core tasks and devote a larger share of the budget to investment. In the platform's view, Thuringia does not have a revenue problem but a spending problem, while schools, sports facilities, and roads receive too little funding.

The AfD wants to spend the state's money differently. The state should invest more in schools, roads, and security. Other things should get less money. The AfD says Thuringia spends too much on the wrong things.

The AfD wants to end public funding for projects it classifies as ideological, including climate projects, benefits for migrants, and government publicity work. It also wants fewer state-level grant programs so that the administration has less work.

The AfD wants to stop paying for certain projects with tax money. It calls these projects ideological. Examples are climate projects and money for migrants. There should also be fewer grant programs. That should mean less work for government offices.

At the federal level, the AfD supports ending “kalte Progression” (bracket creep) so that effort pays off more in tax terms. State and local taxes that take a great deal of administrative work to collect should be reviewed.

The AfD wants to end bracket creep. This means: a raise that only makes up for inflation can still lead to higher taxes. That should stop. The AfD also wants to check taxes that cause a lot of work in government offices.

The AfD wants a quarter of the state budget to go to municipalities, cities, and counties. The state should also pay in full for the social tasks that counties and independent cities carry out on its behalf.

The AfD wants to give towns and villages more money. A quarter of the state's money should go to them. The state should also pay for tasks it hands to local governments. Then local governments can decide more on their own.

The AfD wants a hardship fund for all property owners who paid more than 1,000 euros in road improvement charges. It should apply retroactively and not only cover cases with deferred or installment payments.

Property owners used to pay when their street was rebuilt. These charges ended in 2019. Some people still got bills afterward for earlier years. The AfD wants a fund to help these people. It should cover everyone who paid more than 1,000 euros.

The AfD wants to support families buying or building their first home with loans that are partly forgiven depending on the number of children. The real estate transfer tax would also be reduced for them. The platform hopes this will keep families in Thuringia for the long term.

The AfD wants to help families get their first home. Families should get a loan from the state. Families with more children pay back less. The tax on buying a home should also go down for families.

The AfD wants to scale back construction rules on energy, insulation and heritage protection because, in its view, they make housing more expensive. The state is to support new construction and aim for 50,000 new homes.

The AfD says too many rules make building expensive. It wants to cut rules on heating, insulation and heritage protection. Building permits should come faster. The state should aim for 50,000 new homes.

The AfD wants to abolish the Grundsteuer (annual property tax) to reduce the tax burden on housing in Thuringia. It points out that, at its urging, the real estate transfer tax for families buying their first home was already eliminated in 2023.

The AfD wants to end the property tax. This is a yearly tax on land and houses. The party says housing would cost less. It says it already helped cut the tax on buying a home.

The AfD wants to tighten Article 15 of the Thuringian constitution, which commits the state to working toward sufficient and adequate housing. In its view, the provision is too vague, which is why the state and municipalities have done too little for housing construction.

The Thuringian constitution says the state should make sure there is enough housing. The AfD thinks this rule is too vague. It wants to write the rule more clearly. Then the state and towns would have to do more to build homes.

The AfD wants favorable conditions for housing cooperatives and wants to support social housing with low-cost land and state funding. It says social housing should be reserved for low-income residents of Thuringia and not be used to house asylum seekers.

The AfD wants to support housing co-ops. These are groups that rent out homes without making a profit. It also wants to support social housing. There should be cheap land and money from the state for this. Asylum seekers should not live in social housing.

The AfD wants to simplify building planning law so that municipalities can develop existing residential and commercial areas and designate new ones according to local need. Municipalities should also find it easier to buy unused buildings and develop their town centers.

The AfD wants to make building easier. Local governments should be able to set aside new land for homes and businesses more easily. They should also be able to buy empty buildings in town more easily. That way, town centers get better use.

The AfD wants to keep long-term protection for existing garage complexes. They should not have to make way, without replacement, for denser housing or for compensation measures tied to other building projects.

The AfD wants to keep garage complexes. They should not be torn down for new housing. The AfD says garages are also meeting places. Owners and tenants should not lose out.

The AfD wants parliament to review the effects of the COVID measures on families and to prevent similar interventions in the future. The platform regards the policy of that time as a violation of fundamental rights that harmed children, parents and older people.

The AfD wants the state parliament to examine the COVID rules. The focus is on the effects on families. The AfD says the rules harmed children and old people. This should never happen again.

The AfD wants to introduce a Kinderbegrüßungsgeld (newborn welcome payment) in Thuringia: 10,000 euros per newborn child, tax-free and spread over five years. It would go to parents who are liable for income tax because of their work. At the federal level, the party wants to push for a fairer balance between parents and childless people in taxes and pensions.

The AfD wants to introduce a welcome payment for babies. Parents get 10,000 euros for each new baby. The money is paid over five years. It is only for parents who work and owe income tax.

The AfD demands that parents be free to decide on upbringing and childcare and that care at home not be put at a disadvantage. At the same time, nurseries and kindergartens should offer high quality through an adequate staff-to-child ratio. The party invokes parental rights under the Basic Law.

The AfD wants parents to decide on childcare themselves. Parents who care for their child at home should not be worse off. Daycare centers should have enough staff for the children. Childcare workers should be paid well.

The AfD opposes writing separate children's rights into the constitution. In its view, children already hold fundamental rights, and such a step would weaken parents' right to raise their children in favor of the state.

The AfD does not want special children's rights in the constitution. It says children already have basic rights. Parents should decide how to raise their children. The state should step in only when parents fail.

The AfD wants to keep sex education out of kindergarten and elementary school and sees it primarily as the parents' task. In kindergarten teaching, it rejects content it calls early sexualization, such as addressing queer ways of life.

The AfD wants no sex education in kindergarten and elementary school. It says this is first a job for parents. Kindergarten should be about playing and learning. The party rejects topics like queer ways of life there.

The AfD wants a tiered school system that separates students by ability, with high standards in every school type. The Gymnasium (academic high school) should again focus on preparing students for university, and the party rejects what it sees as excessive academization.

The AfD wants different kinds of schools for different talents. Standards should be high in all schools. The Gymnasium should prepare students for university. The AfD thinks too many students go to the Gymnasium.

The AfD wants to put the Regelschule (Thuringia's non-academic secondary school) at the center of the school system, with more hands-on lessons and career guidance. All schools should give grades for behavior, participation and orderliness from second grade on.

The AfD wants to strengthen the Regelschule. That is a type of secondary school in Thuringia. It should offer more practical lessons. Students should do internships at local companies. All schools should grade behavior, participation and orderliness.

The AfD wants to preserve the network of Förderschulen (special-needs schools) across Thuringia and give parents a right to have their child taught there. It calls inclusion under the current school law a mistake and demands inclusion with a sense of proportion.

The AfD wants to keep special-needs schools in Thuringia. Parents should have the right to send their child there. The AfD thinks the school law pushes joint classes too hard. Children with disabilities should get good support.

The AfD wants to preserve the network of vocational schools, especially in rural areas, and draw more young people into dual vocational training. Advanced vocational qualifications for master craftsmen, technicians and business specialists should be free of charge.

The AfD wants to keep vocational schools, especially in the countryside. More young people should do vocational training. Training to become a master craftsman or technician should cost nothing. People who get this support should stay in Thuringia longer.

The AfD rejects expanding compulsory all-day schools. It prefers half-day schools with voluntary afternoon care, arguing that the compulsory model intrudes too far into parents' decisions.

The AfD does not want mandatory all-day schools. Lessons should take place in the morning. In the afternoon there should be voluntary care. Parents should decide for themselves.

The AfD wants minimum enrollment rules applied flexibly so that small rural schools can stay open. Independent schools should be funded well enough to pay teachers like state schools do without charging high parent fees.

The AfD wants to keep small schools in the countryside. Children should go to school close to home. Independent schools should get enough money from the state. Children from poor families should also be able to attend them.

The AfD demands that school staff be penalized for breaches of political neutrality. Programs it regards as politically motivated should not take place in schools, including the "Bildungsplan bis 18 Jahre" (education plan up to age 18) and related teacher training.

The AfD says schools must be politically neutral. Teachers should not put down any party. Those who break the rule should face consequences. The AfD also wants no political programs in schools.

The AfD wants to prohibit gender-inclusive language in Thuringia's schools. It argues that such texts are often grammatically wrong and make learning harder for students.

The AfD wants to ban gender-inclusive language in schools. This kind of language uses special word forms for women and men. The AfD says such texts are often wrong. It says they make learning harder.

The AfD rejects Islamic religious instruction in Thuringia's schools as long as questions of separating it from political Islam remain open. Sex education should not take place in kindergarten or elementary school but only during puberty.

The AfD does not want Islamic lessons in Thuringia's schools. It says political Islam does not fit with a secular state. Sex education should start only at puberty. It should not happen in kindergarten or elementary school.

The AfD wants sex education in schools to be taught solely by teachers. Outside providers and project-based formats would no longer be allowed. Schools are to promote an approach that presents having a child of one's own as something natural.

The AfD wants to change sex education in schools. Only teachers should teach it. People from outside should no longer do this. Schools should show that having your own child is a good thing.

The AfD wants school grades to be mandatory from second grade onward and wants students to be able to repeat any grade level. According to the platform, the performance principle should apply consistently at every level. The special tenth-grade assessment at Gymnasium schools is to be kept.

The AfD wants grades starting in second grade. Students should be able to repeat any school year. The tenth-grade exam at Gymnasium schools should stay. The AfD says children need clear feedback on their work.

The AfD wants to revise school curricula and set fixed content requirements for every subject. Elementary school should center on reading, writing and arithmetic, and cursive handwriting should be taught as a requirement. It rejects the “reading through writing” method and digital devices in elementary schools.

The AfD wants new curricula. They should say exactly what children learn in each subject. Elementary school children should learn cursive handwriting. There should be no tablets or computers in elementary schools.

The AfD wants the state to give municipalities and school operators enough funding to renovate school buildings and keep equipment up to date. It also wants binding quality standards for school lunches.

Many schools in Thuringia are in bad shape. The AfD wants the state to give towns more money for this. Schools should also have good equipment. There should also be fixed rules for healthy school lunches.

The AfD wants children without sufficient German to be taught in preparatory classes first. Only after a mandatory assessment would they move into regular classes or vocational schools. According to the platform, regular lessons are not the right place for learning the language.

Some children from abroad do not speak German yet. The AfD wants to teach them in separate classes first. They learn German there. Then there is a test. Only after that do they join a regular class.

The AfD wants to give school authorities and teachers tools to respond quickly to violence and disruptive behavior. The class's right to undisturbed lessons should count for more than one individual's schooling.

The AfD wants faster action against violence in schools. Teachers and authorities should get simple tools for this. The class should be able to learn in peace. That should matter more than lessons for one disruptive student.

The AfD wants to keep and expand Thuringia's specialized Gymnasium schools for sports, languages and music. All students with the relevant talent should be able to attend them. In addition, every school should offer support for gifted students.

Thuringia has special high schools for sports, languages and music. The AfD wants to keep these schools and expand them. Talented students should be able to learn there. Other schools should also offer help for very gifted children.

The AfD wants digital media used in class with a sense of proportion and rejects replacing teachers with technology. It considers a ban on artificial intelligence in schools unrealistic. Instead, students and teachers should learn to deal with it critically.

The AfD wants computers in class to be used in moderation. Technology should not replace teachers. The AfD does not want to ban programs like ChatGPT in schools. Students should learn what these programs can and cannot do.

The AfD wants teacher demand and canceled lessons to be recorded openly and wants to relieve teachers of paperwork. To counter the teacher shortage, it proposes faster hiring, more university places, a scholarship and a new teacher training college.

Thuringia does not have enough teachers. The AfD wants an exact count of how many are missing. Assistants should take office work off teachers' hands. There should be more university places for future teachers. The AfD also wants to found a new college for teachers.

The AfD wants to strengthen Thuringia's universities and withdraw political support from what it calls left-wing identity politics. In its view, this movement politicizes research and teaching and endangers academic freedom.

The AfD wants to strengthen universities in Thuringia. It says left-wing groups bring too much politics into universities. It says this harms the freedom of research and teaching. The AfD wants to stop supporting this kind of politics.

The AfD wants to abolish gender studies at Thuringia's universities. It regards the field as ideologically driven and denies that it is a real science.

The AfD wants no gender studies at universities in Thuringia. Gender studies looks at the roles of the sexes. The AfD says it is not real science. So the subject should be dropped.

The AfD wants students to no longer be automatic members of their university's official student body. In its view, the student bodies' committees use their position for one-sided left-wing politics.

Today all students are members of the student body. That is the group that speaks for students at a university. The AfD wants to end this duty. It says these groups do one-sided left-wing politics.

The AfD wants to give universities more independence and adequate base funding. Accreditation of degree programs would be dropped, and universities would again be allowed to offer Diplom and Magister programs. German would be promoted as a language of teaching and research.

The AfD wants to give universities more freedom and enough money. Universities should be allowed to offer Diplom and Magister again. These are older German degrees. Students should pick their degree themselves. German should stay important at universities.

The AfD wants to charge tuition fees to students from countries outside the EU. It justifies this with high dropout rates and the claim that many leave Thuringia after graduating. The revenue would benefit research and teaching.

Students from countries outside the EU should pay for their studies. The AfD says many of them drop out. Many leave Thuringia afterward. The universities should get the money.

The AfD wants training in non-academic health professions to stay free of school fees. In addition, trainee Heilerziehungspfleger (disability care workers) should get substantial financial relief to attract more recruits.

People training as elder care nurses or physical therapists no longer pay school fees in Thuringia. The AfD wants it to stay that way. Trainees in disability care should also pay less. This should bring more young people into these jobs.

The AfD wants schools to teach regional culture and its history thoroughly. Public music and art schools should receive adequate funding. Musically gifted children should be supported regardless of their social background.

Children should learn a lot about Thuringia's culture at school. Music schools and art schools should get enough money. Gifted children should get support. This also goes for children from poor families.

The AfD wants sports and exercise built more firmly into daily life at kindergartens and schools and calls for a daily exercise hour. It cites a lack of physical activity among children, which it says COVID measures made worse, and wants to rule out future bans on sports.

Many children do not move enough. The AfD wants one hour of exercise in school every day. Kindergartens should also do more sports. Sports bans like during COVID should never happen again.

The AfD wants every maternity clinic to be reachable within 40 minutes at most and births to be attended one-to-one. Doctors, pediatricians and midwives are to be trained in Thuringia and kept in the state.

The AfD wants women to reach a maternity clinic quickly. The trip should take 40 minutes at most. During birth, one midwife should care for just one woman. Thuringia should train and keep more doctors and midwives.

The AfD wants more university places in medicine and dentistry and state scholarships for students who commit to working in underserved regions for ten years. This is meant to secure local outpatient care, especially in rural areas.

Thuringia does not have enough doctors, especially in the countryside. The AfD wants more university places for medicine. Students should get money from the state. In return, they later work for ten years in areas with few doctors.

The AfD wants to preserve rural hospitals providing basic and standard care and not hand them over to private hospital chains. The state should meet its investment obligations, and a state-owned company should ease the financial burden on municipal operators.

The AfD wants to keep small hospitals in the countryside. They should belong to towns, counties or non-profit groups. Private hospital companies should not buy them. The state of Thuringia should give more money to hospitals.

The AfD wants to strengthen care within the family: relatives should receive as much money as care services, get better advice and earn pension credits for their care work. In nursing homes, better working conditions should bring back former care workers.

Many people care for their parents or grandparents at home. The AfD wants to give them more money. They should get as much as a care service. This care work should also count toward their pension. Work in nursing homes should get better too.

The AfD wants applicants in medicine and nursing without a qualification from an EU country to pass an equivalence exam and prove German at C1 level. It is critical of actively recruiting doctors and nurses abroad.

Some doctors and nurses trained outside the EU. The AfD wants them to take an exam. They should also speak German very well. The AfD does not want to actively bring in staff from other countries.

The AfD wants to introduce hygiene rules in health care like those in the Netherlands in order to reduce harm from multi-resistant germs as far as possible. Patients should be tested on admission to a hospital, paid for by the statutory health insurers.

Hospitals have dangerous germs. Many medicines do not work against them. The AfD wants strict hygiene rules like in the Netherlands. Patients should take a test for these germs in the hospital. Public health insurers should pay for the test.

The AfD demands that authorities offer protective measures against attacks to ambulance services, emergency rooms and doctors' offices. According to the platform, assaults on staff and patients are increasing.

Doctors and rescue workers are sometimes attacked. The AfD says this happens more and more. The authorities should help protect them. This covers ambulance services, emergency rooms and doctors' offices.

The AfD rejects the legalization of cannabis and any social normalization of its use. It points to risks to the brain, especially for young people. It is open to medical use.

The AfD is against legal cannabis. It says cannabis can harm the brain. This is especially true for young people. The AfD accepts cannabis as medicine.

The AfD calls for a parliamentary committee of inquiry into COVID policy and wants those responsible taken to court where warranted. Comparable restrictions should never happen again. It also rejects the WHO pandemic treaty.

The AfD wants COVID policy to be examined. A committee of inquiry in the state parliament should do this. People responsible could face court. The AfD is also against the WHO pandemic treaty. The WHO is the World Health Organization.

The AfD wants to abolish Thuringia's health card for asylum seekers. People whose claims are rejected or not recognized would receive emergency care only. The platform justifies this with the cost to the state budget and to insured people.

Asylum seekers in Thuringia have a health card. The AfD wants to end this card. Rejected asylum seekers would only get care in an emergency. The AfD says the card costs too much money.

The AfD wants a change of course in asylum policy and a needs-based immigration law modeled on Japan. Asylum should be reserved for people who are actually politically persecuted. The platform calls the multicultural society a wrong path that it wants to end.

The AfD wants to change asylum policy. Only politically persecuted people should get asylum. Only people the country needs should immigrate. Japan is the model for this. The borders should be fully secured.

The AfD wants to enforce the obligation to leave the country through a state-level deportation initiative. This includes deportation flights organized by Thuringia itself, a deportation detention facility, and separate housing for asylum seekers with a record of violence.

The AfD wants to deport more people. To deport means the state makes people without a right to stay leave. Thuringia should organize its own flights for this. There should also be a detention center for deportations.

The AfD wants to abolish Thuringia's hardship commission because, in the party's view, it unlawfully lets people who are required to leave stay on. Church asylum would also no longer be tolerated, and groups that support it would lose public funding.

Thuringia has a hardship commission. It can let people stay in special cases. The AfD wants to abolish this commission. The AfD also wants to stop tolerating church asylum. Groups that help with such things should get no money from the state.

The AfD wants to sharply lower the standard of provision and housing for asylum seekers in order to make migration into the welfare system unattractive. Benefits in kind and shared accommodation would be the rule, and the health card would be scrapped.

The AfD wants to give asylum seekers less. They should mostly get goods instead of money. They should live in shared housing. The health card should go. Doctors should only help in emergencies and with pain.

For refugees and low-skilled migrants, the AfD wants to preserve their ability to return home rather than focus on integration. The party argues that integration often fails for lack of willingness and of the necessary preconditions.

The AfD thinks integration often does not work. Integration means newcomers become part of society. So the AfD wants many migrants to leave again soon. Courses should teach them things they need back home.

The AfD wants to allow family reunification only for a few groups, arguing that it is used as a route into the welfare system. The conditions would be language skills and a job that also supports the relatives.

Family reunification means relatives may follow someone to Germany. The AfD wants to allow this only rarely. People who want to bring family should have learned German. They should also have a job and support the family themselves.

The AfD demands that the age of all unaccompanied refugees who claim to be minors be determined using approved methods. The party rejects the objection that X-raying the hand violates human dignity.

Some young refugees arrive without parents. The AfD wants to check the age of all of them. This can be done with an X-ray of the hand, for example. The AfD thinks that is reasonable.

The AfD wants puberty blockers for minors allowed only in individual cases where they are medically indispensable. It rejects use motivated by gender politics and points to irreversible consequences.

Puberty blockers are drugs. They pause puberty. The AfD wants to allow them only in rare cases. A doctor must find them absolutely necessary. The AfD says the effects cannot be undone.

The AfD stresses that state law takes precedence over religious rules and considers orthodox Islam incompatible with the secular state under the rule of law. Freedom of religion applies to Muslims too, it says, but creates no special rights; religious extremism is to be fought.

The AfD says state laws rank above religious rules. Muslims may practice their faith. But they should not get special rights. The AfD wants to fight religious extremism.

The AfD wants to end measures that, in its account, favor non-European people in appointments, jobs and participation. It sees these as disadvantaging the native population and wants to cut state funding for them.

The AfD says some programs favor people from outside Europe. For example, with public posts or jobs. The AfD wants to end such programs. The state should no longer pay for them.

The AfD wants to repeal Thuringia's climate law and change other state rules that it believes harm the economy. The state should not favor particular technologies. Businesses should get freedom and planning security.

The AfD wants to scrap Thuringia's climate law. It says such rules hurt businesses. The state should not favor any one technology. The best products should win in the market.

The AfD opposes building any more wind turbines, especially in forests. It also rejects solar installations on farmland or on largely unspoiled land. It argues that wind power harms nature and the landscape and cannot provide a reliable power supply.

The AfD wants no new wind turbines. This applies especially to forests. It also rejects solar plants on farmland. The party says wind turbines harm nature and the landscape.

The AfD wants to end state support for renewable energy, such as guaranteed purchase prices, and abolish its priority access to the power grid. It rejects the SuedLink, SuedOstLink and P540 power lines. It argues that the energy transition has raised costs and made supply less secure.

Wind and solar power get fixed prices and go first in the grid today. The AfD wants to end both. It also rejects big new power lines through Thuringia. The party says the energy transition makes power costly and less secure.

The AfD wants electricity in Thuringia to come mainly from gas-fired plants and calls for Germany to return quickly to nuclear power. Natural gas should again be bought from Russia, and the Nord Stream pipelines should be repaired. It rejects fracking and is skeptical about hydrogen.

The AfD wants power to come mainly from gas. Germany should use nuclear power again. Gas should come from Russia again. The Nord Stream pipelines should be repaired for that. The party rejects fracking. That is a way to get gas out of deep rock.

The AfD wants to repeal Thuringia's climate law and cut energy-saving requirements for buildings and appliances to a minimum. It rejects the federal ban on conventional oil, gas and wood heating systems. It calls the ban a disproportionate intrusion on property and freedom and a driver of costs.

The AfD wants to repeal Thuringia's climate law. Nobody should be forced to save energy in their home. The party also rejects the ban on older heating systems. It says the rules cost too much and interfere with property.

The AfD rejects the carbon price charged since 2021, which it calls a price-driving tax. In its view, climate policy leads to the deindustrialization of Western countries and endangers the auto industry and its suppliers in Thuringia.

Since 2021, emitting CO2 has cost money in Germany. The AfD is against this. It says this makes everything more expensive. In its view, climate policy hurts industry and car companies in Thuringia.

The AfD fundamentally rejects the EU's decision to phase out combustion engines and calls for openness to all technologies. In its view, the ban puts Thuringian carmakers and suppliers at a disadvantage in international competition.

The EU wants to ban new cars with combustion engines. The AfD is against this. It says the ban hurts car companies in Thuringia. Every technology should stay allowed.

The AfD wants better flood protection and forests that can withstand drought. It also wants to replant forests and do more to prevent wildfires.

The AfD wants better protection against floods. Forests should cope better with dry weather. New trees should be planted. There should be fewer forest fires.

The AfD wants a broad study into the causes of insect decline that also looks at wind power and solar installations. To protect ground-nesting birds and small game, it wants to test large insect habitats and step up hunting of introduced species such as raccoons.

There are fewer and fewer insects. The AfD wants a big study on this. The study should also look at wind turbines and solar panels. The AfD also wants to protect birds and hares. Hunters should hunt more raccoons.

The AfD wants farm animals to be transported only over short distances to the nearest regional slaughterhouse. Animal testing should become less common through alternative research methods, and animal welfare laws should be consistently enforced.

Animals should travel only a short way to the slaughterhouse. The slaughterhouse should be nearby. There should be fewer tests on animals. Researchers should use other methods.

The AfD wants to cut the number of wolves in Thuringia and across Germany, following the Scandinavian example, to prevent attacks on livestock. Species that once lived in the region should be reintroduced only if a long-term scientific plan exists.

The AfD wants fewer wolves in Thuringia and Germany. This should stop wolves from killing sheep and other farm animals. Affected owners should get money to make up for losses. Old species should only come back with a good plan.

The AfD wants the state to fund animal shelters better and to support volunteers working in animal welfare. More inspection staff and public information are meant to counter illegal animal keeping, which it links to online trade.

Animal shelters should get more money from the state. The AfD also wants to support volunteers. There should be more checks against illegal animal keeping. People should be better informed.

The AfD rejects the industrial slaughter of animals without stunning and calls for a ban. It points to rules already in place in other European countries.

In ritual slaughter, animals are killed without being stunned first. The AfD is against this. It wants to ban it. Other countries in Europe have already done so.

The AfD wants to reforest damaged Thuringian woodlands quickly and restructure them so they can withstand changed environmental conditions. Wind turbines should be kept out of forests as a matter of principle and permanently.

The AfD wants to replant damaged forests quickly. The forest should cope better with drought and pests. There should be no wind turbines in the forest. The AfD says turbines and their access roads destroy forest land.

The AfD rejects new restrictions on hunting and wants to leave the state hunting law essentially unchanged. It considers the state government's "forest before game" approach wrong and opposes higher culling quotas.

The AfD wants no new bans for hunters. Lead ammunition should stay legal. The AfD also does not want hunters to have to shoot more and more animals. It says game animals belong in the forest. Fences and other protection for young trees are better.

The AfD wants to bring the wolf under hunting law and manage its population on the Swedish model. Problem animals should be killed quickly and with little red tape to limit conflicts with people and livestock farmers.

The AfD wants hunters to be allowed to shoot wolves. The number of wolves should be limited, as in Sweden. The AfD says wolves kill sheep and other grazing animals. The owners of these animals should get help.

The AfD wants to shield recreational anglers from additional requirements. Children and teenagers should be allowed to fish without their own license when accompanied by an adult license holder.

The AfD wants to make fishing easier. Children and teenagers should be able to fish without their own license. An adult with a license must be with them. New rules should only come if they truly help nature.

The AfD wants to allow burning days again, meaning days on which garden waste may be burned. In the party's view, their abolition by the Left-SPD-Green state government ignores everyday life in rural areas.

The AfD wants to bring back burning days. On these days people may burn garden waste. The state government ended this. The AfD says this does not fit life in the countryside.

The AfD wants to reduce regulations and red tape for farms and rejects current agricultural policy at the EU, federal and state levels. It also calls for protection against farmland and farms being bought up.

The AfD wants fewer rules for farmers. It thinks farm policy from the EU, the federal government and the state is bad. Fields and farms should not simply be bought up. The AfD wants to protect farmers from that.

The AfD wants to increase support for grassland farming and the livestock it requires. The platform argues that grassland contributes to biodiversity and is a core part of an intact cultural landscape.

The AfD wants more support for meadows and pastures. Farm animals on this land should get more support too. The AfD says meadows and pastures help many kinds of plants and animals. They are part of the landscape in Thuringia.

The AfD wants to strengthen the regional origin of Thuringian farm products, including by bringing slaughterhouses back to the state and expanding mobile slaughtering. Barriers to selling Thuringian products should be removed; in this context the party criticizes the sanctions against Russia.

The AfD wants more food from the region. It wants more slaughterhouses in Thuringia again. Slaughtering on the farm should also happen more often. Then animals do not have to travel far. The AfD is also against the sanctions on Russia. Sanctions are trade bans against a country.

The AfD wants to allow genetic engineering in farming only if harm to people, animals and nature can be ruled out. Genetically modified food and feed should be labeled.

The AfD wants strict rules for genetic engineering in farming. Genetic engineering means changing the genes of plants. First, experts should check carefully if it causes harm. Food made with it should carry a label.

The AfD wants to keep kindergartens and schools in rural areas and expand bus and rail connections. Public transit is to be geared more toward families and older people. The party aims to stop people leaving the countryside and ease pressure on urban housing markets.

The AfD wants to make life in the countryside better. Kindergartens and schools in villages should stay. Buses and trains should run more often. Old people should also be able to reach a doctor easily.

The AfD wants to provide more money to maintain and expand roads and bridges, especially in rural areas. It commits to car travel and rejects a general speed limit on highways.

The AfD wants to repair and expand roads and bridges. There should be enough money for this. This matters most in rural areas. The party does not want one fixed speed limit on all highways.

The AfD rejects the so-called transportation transition and wants to repeal political rules on vehicle drivetrains where they shut many people out of car travel. No drivetrain should be favored or excluded; businesses, researchers and consumers should decide on technologies.

The AfD wants to cancel rules about how cars are powered. Everyone should choose: gasoline, diesel or electric. The government should not favor one technology. The party wants to keep the combustion engine. It opposes limits on cars in cities.

The AfD wants to expand and maintain bike paths and close gaps in the network. It rejects favoring cycling at the expense of cars and opposes government subsidies for buying cargo bikes.

The AfD wants more and better bike paths. Gaps in the bike path network should be closed. Cars should not be put at a disadvantage. The government should not pay for people to buy cargo bikes.

The AfD wants to maintain and expand local public transit by bus and rail, including on routes with few riders. It regards transit as a basic public service so that rural areas do not fall further behind.

The AfD wants to keep and expand local buses and trains. They should be reliable and cheap. Routes with few riders should stay too. The party wants to use on-call buses and shared taxis.

The AfD wants people with disabilities, children and apprentices to be able to use buses and trains at little or no cost. It rejects fare-free transit for everyone. It also wants train stations, stops and trains to be safer.

The AfD wants buses and trains to be free for some people, if possible. These are people with disabilities, children and apprentices. Everyone else should keep paying. Stations and trains should be safe.

The AfD wants to maintain and expand long-distance passenger rail by upgrading existing lines and reopening closed ones. Rail freight should also be strengthened where it makes economic sense. The party wants to keep Erfurt-Weimar airport as an asset for the region's economy.

The AfD wants more long-distance trains. Existing lines should be improved. Closed lines should be used again. More goods should travel by train. The Erfurt-Weimar airport should stay.

The AfD wants to introduce a "Thüringer Gästekarte" (Thuringia guest card) that combines tourist offers with local public transit. Thuringian families with at least three children would get it for free. Roads, local transit, cycling and hiking trails and internet access should also be expanded.

The AfD wants a guest card for Thuringia. The card works for many attractions. It also works for buses and trains. Large families from Thuringia get it for free. Roads and trails should get better.

The AfD wants the constitutional ban on censorship applied across the board, explicitly including the internet. It sees growing interference with statements critical of the government online and considers a free internet necessary to protect democracy.

The AfD wants a free internet. No one should suppress opinions there. The German constitution bans censorship. This should apply online too. Children and teenagers should still be protected online.

The AfD rejects not only direct state censorship but also what it calls indirect censorship, which it sees mainly on social media as a result of the Netzwerkdurchsetzungsgesetz (Network Enforcement Act). It wants stronger user rights and protection against arbitrary bans from platforms.

The AfD wants more free speech on the internet. It is against the Network Enforcement Act. This law makes platforms delete certain posts. The AfD calls this censorship. Platforms should not be allowed to ban users for no good reason.

The AfD rejects the EU-imposed obligation to install upload filters, arguing that it restricts smaller providers and weakens free internet culture. It also opposes the EU Commission's plans to scan online chats outside of criminal prosecution.

The AfD is against upload filters. These are programs that check content automatically when it is uploaded. The AfD says this hurts small internet providers. It is also against scanning private chats. Both are EU rules or plans.

The AfD wants to support the use of artificial intelligence in Thuringia's economy and warns against too much regulation. Mid-sized companies should be able to use AI, and universities should receive support for research and development.

The AfD wants to promote artificial intelligence in Thuringia. Artificial intelligence is called AI for short. These are computer programs that learn on their own. Politicians should not regulate AI too strictly. Companies and universities should get support.

The AfD wants to invest heavily so that fast internet is available everywhere in Thuringia without gaps. It sees this as a condition for economic development and jobs outside urban centers.

The AfD wants fast internet in all of Thuringia. It wants to spend a lot of money on this. Villages should be well connected too. This should make jobs in rural areas possible.

The AfD calls for abolishing the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, in German DSGVO). Among its reasons are bureaucratic duties that volunteer-run clubs can hardly meet.

The GDPR is an EU law that protects personal data. The AfD wants to get rid of this law. It says clubs have too much paperwork because of it. Volunteers often cannot manage that.

The AfD wants uniform statewide standards for digital administration so that procedures become simpler and cheaper in the long run. At the same time, government offices should remain reachable in person and without digital tools.

The AfD wants government offices to be reachable online. People should be able to file applications on the internet. All of Thuringia should have the same rules for this. People who do not want to go online should still be able to visit the office.

The AfD wants to provide more money and staff for swift prosecution of crimes and to appoint more judges to the courts. Crimes from the far-left spectrum are to be pursued consistently, and conditions for prison staff improved.

The AfD wants crimes to be prosecuted faster. There should be more money and more staff for this. Courts should get more judges. Far-left crimes should be pursued more strictly. Prison staff should also get better conditions.

The AfD wants to hire more officers and equip the state police better. This includes tasers, body cameras and digitally equipped patrol cars. The platform justifies this with the tasks it expects in the coming years.

The AfD wants more police officers in Thuringia. The police should get better equipment. This includes tasers and small cameras worn on the body. Patrol cars should also get digital technology.

The AfD supports video surveillance in urban places where it sees public safety as especially at risk. According to the platform, safety in city centers has declined, which the party attributes in part to immigration policy.

The AfD wants cameras in certain places in cities. These are places the party considers especially unsafe. The AfD says cities have become less safe. It partly blames immigration for this.

The AfD wants to abolish Thuringia's Office for the Protection of the Constitution (the state's domestic intelligence agency) in its current form. In the platform's view, the agency is politically steered and used against peaceful opposition; the party considers it beyond reform.

The AfD wants to abolish the Verfassungsschutz in Thuringia. This is a domestic intelligence agency. The AfD says it is used against the opposition. The party does not believe it can be fixed.

The AfD rejects stricter gun laws and wants to abolish checks on gun storage that are carried out without cause. In the platform's view, gun law in Thuringia is used politically against government critics; the party demands that it be depoliticized.

The AfD does not want stricter gun rules. Authorities should no longer check gun storage without a reason. The AfD says gun law is used against critics of the government. This should stop.

The AfD wants to make volunteering in Thuringia's fire departments more attractive in order to prevent staff shortages and the closure of local brigades. It also wants the state to spend more on firefighting equipment and to fund the construction of rescue stations.

The AfD wants to strengthen volunteer fire departments. Volunteers should pay less in local fees. The state should give more money for new fire trucks. Rescue stations should also become more modern.

The AfD wants voting to be reserved for people who have reached the age of majority. It calls this its clear position in the debate over voting rights.

The AfD wants only adults to vote. In Germany you are an adult at 18. Younger people should not vote.

The AfD wants to defend freedom of expression and demands that the state actively protect it. In its view, the state government has the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence service) fight unwelcome positions, and this practice should end.

The AfD says everyone should be able to speak freely. The state should protect this right. The Verfassungsschutz is a state intelligence service. The AfD says it should not fight opinions.

The AfD wants to make direct democracy in Thuringia more workable. Fewer signatures should be needed for citizens' initiatives and referendums, and citizens should be able to overturn laws passed by the state parliament through a vote.

The AfD wants citizens to have more say. Fewer signatures should be enough to start a citizens' initiative. In such an initiative, citizens propose a law themselves. Citizens should also be able to stop laws passed by the state parliament.

The AfD wants citizens to be able to dissolve the state parliament early through a referendum. In addition, the people should have a mandatory say in every amendment to the state constitution.

The AfD wants citizens to be able to vote out the state parliament early. This should happen through a public vote. Citizens should also always vote on changes to the constitution.

The AfD wants to tie the size of the state parliament to the population. Instead of the regular 88 members there would be 62, which the party says would relieve taxpayers.

The AfD wants a smaller state parliament. Today it normally has 88 members. In the future it should have 62. The AfD says this saves tax money.

The AfD rejects voting rights for foreigners because, in its view, they contradict popular sovereignty. Participation in direct-democratic votes at every level should likewise be limited to people who hold German citizenship.

The AfD wants foreigners not to be allowed to vote. They should also not take part in referendums. For that, a person should have to be a German citizen.

The AfD opposes letting a person's political convictions decide access to public service, training, meeting venues, gun ownership or public contracts. It sees this as a path to a state that polices opinions, which it considers incompatible with fundamental rights.

The AfD says the state must not treat people by their political opinion. Opinion should not decide who may work for the state. It should not decide who gets rooms or contracts either. Police and authorities should enforce the law equally for everyone.

The AfD wants political parties to have no say in appointing judges and prosecutors. It argues that appointments, for example of constitutional judges, have become politicized and that this weakens trust in the judiciary.

The AfD wants an independent justice system. Parties should no longer help decide who becomes a judge or prosecutor. The AfD says politics has too much influence today. Peaceful members of the opposition should also be allowed to work in the justice system.

The AfD wants to deliberately raise the share of East Germans among judges and prosecutors in Thuringia, saying they are underrepresented. Public bodies and companies should also award advisory mandates to Thuringian law firms more often.

The AfD wants more East Germans as judges and prosecutors in Thuringia. It says too few East Germans work there so far. Courts should know East German life experience. Public offices and companies should also hire lawyers from Thuringia more often.

The AfD wants to abolish the "Landesprogramm für Demokratie, Toleranz und Weltoffenheit" (state program for democracy, tolerance and open-mindedness). It would be replaced by a funding program that supports clubs for their regular work under their bylaws and their contribution to cultural life. The party sees the current program as funding based on political conviction.

Thuringia has a funding program for democracy and tolerance. The AfD wants to end this program. It says the program only funds certain opinions. A new program should fund clubs for their normal work.

The AfD rejects a territorial reform that would create larger counties and municipalities and wants to keep Thuringia's small-scale administrative structure where it has proven itself. Instead, it favors an administrative reform preceded by a review of tasks.

The AfD does not want bigger counties and municipalities. The small local governments should stay. Mayors and county leaders should be close to the people. But the AfD wants to check which tasks the administration has. After that, the administration should be reformed.

The AfD rejects a European health union and wants health policy to remain a national responsibility. It points to EU mistakes during the COVID period, such as vaccine procurement.

The EU plans a health union. The AfD is against it. Germany should decide on health itself. The AfD says the EU made mistakes during COVID.

The AfD wants Thuringia to keep receiving money from EU funding programs but calls for a fundamental reform. EU programs should serve only the single market and economic structures; projects such as the Green Deal and Fit for 55 should be ended.

The AfD wants to change EU funding a lot. Thuringia should still get EU money. But the money should only help the economy. The AfD wants to end EU climate programs like the Green Deal. Applying for money should be less work.

The AfD wants to reform EU procurement law so that public contracts can more often go preferentially to regional and national firms. This is meant to strengthen the local economy.

The AfD wants to change the rules for public contracts. Local firms should get preference more often. Today the cheapest offer from the whole EU often has to win. That should change.

The AfD considers the EU a failure and wants to found a new European economic and interest community of sovereign nation-states. It rejects an EU superstate and says a referendum should decide on Europe's future.

The AfD says the EU has failed. It wants a new union of states in Europe. Each state should decide for itself. The states should work together mainly on trade. In the end, the people should vote on this.

The AfD calls for ending the sanctions against Russia and for resuming and expanding trade with the country. It justifies this with the importance of cheap Russian natural gas for Thuringia's economy.

The AfD wants to end the sanctions against Russia. Sanctions are trade penalties between countries. Thuringia should trade more with Russia again. The AfD says gas from Russia was cheap and important for companies.

The AfD wants to fundamentally reorganize public broadcasting, which it considers unbalanced, politically one-sided and too close to government. To do so, it wants to terminate the interstate treaties, abolish the broadcasting fee and sharply reduce the number of broadcasters.

The AfD wants to change public broadcasting a lot. Nobody should have to pay the broadcasting fee anymore. There should be far fewer public stations. They should only offer the basics, such as news. The AfD says public broadcasting today is one-sided and too expensive.

The AfD wants to write German as the official language into the Thuringian constitution and the Grundgesetz (Basic Law). This would oblige the state to cultivate the language and counter its neglect. The party rejects gender-inclusive language.

The AfD wants to put German into the constitution. The constitution is the most important law. The state should then protect and care for the German language. The AfD is against gender-inclusive wording.

The AfD wants to preserve the network of theaters and orchestras and fund it reliably. At the same time, it criticizes rising subsidies in individual cases and wants cultural funding arranged so that grassroots culture is not disadvantaged. It wants to end what it sees as a one-sided political orientation of theaters.

The AfD wants to keep theaters and orchestras. They should get reliable funding. But the AfD says some theaters cost too much. Public pools and Christmas markets should stay too. Theaters should not do party politics.

The AfD wants towns, municipalities and regions to have more room to fund culture themselves. It says this would counter what it sees as a centralized and politicized cultural sector.

The AfD wants more culture funding at the local level. Towns should decide more on their own. The AfD says politics interferes too much in culture. It wants to change that.

The AfD wants to preserve Thuringia's monuments, especially in rural areas, and calls for state support for municipalities. At the same time, heritage protection rules should not make private renovations unprofitable.

The AfD wants to keep Thuringia's monuments. The state should help towns with this. The rules for protected buildings should not be too strict. Otherwise owners cannot afford to renovate.

The AfD wants to clear the investment backlog at Thuringia's palaces, castles and gardens. It calls for adjusting current financing plans to higher construction prices and for a further special program after 2027.

Thuringia has many palaces and gardens. Many of them need repairs. The AfD wants more money for this. After 2027 there should be a new program.

The AfD commits to values of Christian origin and to the separation of church and state. It criticizes churches in Thuringia for taking political positions and sees this as a failure of their mission.

The AfD stands by Christian values. Church and state should stay separate. The AfD says the churches do too much politics. They should focus on caring for people's souls.

The AfD wants to raise the state lump sum for free use of public sports facilities from five to 20 million euros a year. Sports funding should become a mandatory municipal task, and the state should invest considerably more in sports facilities.

The AfD wants more money for sports facilities. The state should pay 20 million euros a year instead of 5 million. Towns should be required to support sports. Run-down sports facilities and outdoor pools should be kept.

The AfD wants to give clubs and associations higher subsidies and adequately equip the Sportgymnasien (sports high schools) in Oberhof, Erfurt and Jena. This is meant to support young talent and ensure coaching by full-time trainers.

The AfD wants to support young sports talent. Clubs should get more money. The three sports high schools in Thuringia should be well equipped. Winter sports in Oberhof should also get support.

The AfD rejects tying funding for sports clubs to political requirements. In its view, clubs and associations should represent their members' sporting interests and not be co-opted politically.

Sports clubs get money from the state. The AfD says this money must not depend on politics. Clubs should be about sports. Politics should play no part there.

The AfD regards allotment gardens as part of the culture and wants to revive sites in rural areas and to keep, expand and create sites in large cities. Owners and tenants would get more freedom, while the gardens remain affordable for everyone.

The AfD wants to protect allotment gardens. These are small garden plots that people rent. Old sites in the countryside should be used again. Big cities should get new gardens. The gardens should stay cheap.