BSW on democracy and the state

The BSW wants a cabinet made up of subject experts rather than party politicians. It notes that the constitution does not require government members to have risen through a party. The aim is to restore trust in the state and in democracy.

The BSW wants experts in the government. Ministers do not have to come from a party. The constitution does not require that. People should trust the state again.

The platform justifies the proposal by what the party sees as the country's serious situation. The experts should be guided by the good of the country and not by a later job in business. Competition between parties remains part of democracy, but the pool of people for government posts should be wider.

The BSW wants the state to guarantee basic services everywhere and to run areas such as health, housing, energy and water for the common good. Municipalities should get more money of their own and a solution for their legacy debts. Public administration should become more accessible and efficient.

The state should make sure basic services exist everywhere. This includes buses, doctors, shops and fast internet. Cities and towns should get more money of their own. They should decide for themselves how to spend it.

The guarantee covers local public transit, basic medical care, hospitals within reach, shops for everyday needs, meeting places for young and older people and fast internet. The program criticizes that municipalities are steered from outside through grant programs and wants to give them sufficient funds to use freely instead. Urban and rural areas should have equivalent living conditions. Public offices should handle requests quickly, helpfully and competently. As an employer, the administration should become more attractive through flexible working hours, lean management and early support for high performers.

The BSW wants to cut positions in federal ministries and shift staff to where citizens and businesses need service. The ministries' special commissioners would be abolished. Twice a year, agencies would weed out unnecessary rules.

The BSW wants fewer jobs in the ministries. There should be more staff in offices that serve people. The special commissioners in ministries should go. Twice a year, offices should throw out old rules.

According to the platform, the number of civil servants in federal ministries has grown by almost 45 percent since 2013 while citizen-facing offices are understaffed. A national "decluttering day" would be held twice a year, when staff check which rules are dispensable and how procedures can be sped up. The National Regulatory Control Council (Normenkontrollrat) would be strengthened. At the federal level, citizens would continuously rate all agencies, with results published on each agency's website.

The BSW wants to add substantially more staff to the justice system and reduce the number of cases. The platform justifies this with overload and overly long proceedings.

Courts and prosecutors have too few staff. Cases therefore take a very long time. The BSW wants to hire many more people. It also wants fewer cases.

According to the platform, justice authorities in the states are especially understaffed while case numbers rise every year. Fewer cases are to be achieved through reforms, mainly in criminal law. The BSW regards a functioning judiciary as a precondition for the rule of law.

The BSW wants to stop public money going to projects and organizations that, in its view, are meant to steer public debate in a political direction. The party rejects a Demokratiefördergesetz (democracy promotion act). It also wants to end any cooperation between the state and the media aimed at influencing opinion.

The state gives money to some groups and projects. The BSW says these groups push certain political opinions. The BSW wants to stop these payments. It does not want a law that funds such groups for the long term.

The platform names the funding of non-governmental organizations and fact-checkers as examples. In the BSW's view, fact-checkers often spread their own opinions rather than verified facts. The party demands that the state and the media not work together to steer how people form opinions. It rejects the planned democracy promotion act, which would put such funding on a permanent footing.

The BSW wants to abolish state-funded offices where people can report statements, and it opposes the state systematically recording expressions of opinion. The limits of free speech should not be shifted through vague terms, and criminal law should not be expanded at its expense.

There are offices where people can report what others have said. The state pays for many of them. The BSW wants to close them. The state should not collect and study opinions. Legal opinions should stay legal.

According to the platform, these offices also accept reports of statements that are protected by freedom of expression. The BSW considers terms such as "disinformation" or "hate and incitement" too vague because they could also cover lawful statements. The party opposes state action against statements that are not criminal. State bodies should observe their duty of neutrality and objectivity. The platform is also critical of the EU's Digital Services Act, which in its view can lead to self-censorship and excessive deletion.

The BSW wants public prosecutors to no longer be subject to instructions from politicians. The party sees prosecutors as currently exposed to political influence.

Public prosecutors investigate crimes. Today, ministers can give them orders. The BSW wants to change that. Prosecutors should work independently of politics.

The platform points out that public prosecutors in Germany are bound by instructions. As evidence of political influence, it cites the investigations into the Cum-Ex tax scandal, which it says met resistance within the justice system. The BSW also refers to the European Court of Justice, which it says does not consider the independence of German prosecutors to be guaranteed.

The BSW wants to amend the Basic Law so that citizens can vote directly on important questions nationwide. Through citizens' initiatives, they should also be able to force binding votes on laws themselves.

The BSW wants referendums for all of Germany. Then citizens vote on important questions themselves. For this, the constitution has to be changed. Citizens should also be able to demand a vote on a law.

As possible topics, the platform names a pension reform on the Austrian model and EU enlargement. With a citizens' initiative, people could both propose new laws and have existing ones repealed; the heating law serves as the example. The party intends to seek the majorities needed for the constitutional amendment. The BSW argues that citizens should have more influence on political decisions.

The BSW wants to push back corporate influence on laws and government action. Former politicians should be allowed to move into industries they dealt with only after at least five years, and private organizations should no longer share in decisions on regulatory bodies.

Companies try to influence laws. This is called lobbying. The BSW wants stricter rules against it. Politicians should wait five years after leaving office. Only then may they work in an industry they dealt with before.

Lobbying would be made transparent through much stricter rules. Germany should press for business associations to stop voting as equals on bodies that set product standards, for example in medicine and technology. The platform is also critical of joint conferences held by the government and industries, and of corporate funding for the United Nations and the WHO. In the BSW's view, such partnerships lead to conflicts of interest.