BSW on democracy and the state

The BSW wants to expand direct democracy in Thuringia's constitution. Citizens' initiatives should be allowed to decide on issues with financial consequences. Modeled on Switzerland, citizens should be able to block or correct laws passed by the state parliament.

The BSW wants citizens to decide more things themselves. In a citizens' initiative, people vote on a question. This should also work for questions about money. Citizens should also be able to stop laws from parliament.

The so-called budget taboo, which bars citizens' initiatives with fiscal impact, should be abolished. Together with the association Mehr Demokratie e.V. Thüringen, the BSW wants to agree on up-to-date thresholds for state and local initiatives. Following Switzerland's optional referendum, citizens should be able to halt state laws after passage. A concept for more citizen participation and oversight should also be developed, with affected people fully informed.

The BSW wants new rules, regulations and ordinances in Thuringia to undergo a 100-day review first. During that time, citizens should be able to raise objections and prevent them from taking effect. The party argues that out-of-touch regulations undermine trust in institutions.

New rules should wait 100 days first. During that time, citizens can object. Then a new rule can be stopped. Thuringia should be the first state to do this.

The BSW wants Thuringia to be the first state with such a review process. Within the 100 days, citizens should be able to lodge objections and stop new rules before they take effect. The program sees this as a way to counter burdensome regulations.

The BSW wants a state parliamentary inquiry committee to review COVID policy. In its view, fundamental rights were restricted to an unprecedented degree and many measures lacked a scientific basis. The goal also includes recommendations for future pandemics.

The BSW wants a close look at the COVID years. The state parliament should set up a committee. The BSW thinks many rules were wrong. Lessons should help in future pandemics.

Minutes and documents from authorities and expert councils should be published with as few redactions as possible. Coverage by public broadcasters should also be examined for objectivity and independence from government. The Bundestag and Bundesrat should not approve a WHO pandemic treaty until the role of the WHO and influential foundations and corporations has been reviewed. The program criticizes how critics of the measures and unvaccinated people were treated.

The BSW wants a fundamental reform of municipal finances based on actual needs, since local governments rely heavily on cyclical taxes. Municipalities are to set their own spending priorities and receive no new tasks without full funding.

Towns and districts should get enough money. The money should match their needs. Towns should decide for themselves what to spend on. New tasks only come with enough money. The state administration office should help the towns.

Financial relations between the state and municipalities are to be restructured and take regional differences into account. In the program's view, the state interferes in local affairs through grant funding; instead, municipalities should decide what is needed. Together with the municipal umbrella associations, the allocation of tasks is to be reviewed and inter-municipal cooperation made easier. Borrowing options for municipal economic activity are to be expanded, and the Landesverwaltungsamt (state administrative office) is to become a service agency for municipalities.

The BSW wants more cooperation among municipalities, stronger local self-government and a reform of municipal funding. Towns that provide services for neighboring communities are to receive more support.

Towns should work together more. They should decide more things on their own. The money for towns should be organized in a new way. Applying for grants should be easier.

The program aims to reorganize relations between municipalities and the state of Thuringia and reform municipal funding. It wants to examine a new spatial planning category, the "Regiopole" (regional hub city), in state development planning. New support models are planned for towns that, for example, run swimming pools used by schools from surrounding communities. The BSW wants to keep encouraging voluntary mergers of municipalities and counties and to cut red tape in awarding grants.

The BSW wants more judges, prosecutors and prison staff, along with digitization, to clear court backlogs. Sentences should be enforced faster, and the program rejects private operators in the prison system.

Courts have too many open cases. The BSW wants more judges and prosecutors. The work should become more digital. Punishment should come faster. Private companies should not run prisons.

To recruit new staff, schools and universities are to be targeted and legal training and university places expanded. Digitizing the justice system should come with staff training and additional IT specialists, and IT systems should become more uniform across states. Cases should no longer be dropped because deadlines run out, and prison staff should be paid better. The BSW sees the prison system as a core state function and rejects private operators and private security firms in courts and prisons. Laws should also be easier for non-lawyers to understand.

The BSW wants publicly funded legal advice centers, especially in rural areas, so that good advice does not depend on income. Knowledge of one's own rights should be taught more, starting in school.

Good legal advice should not depend on money. The BSW wants advice centers paid for by the state. This matters most in rural areas. Children should learn more about their rights at school.

The program wants to revamp access to legal advice as part of basic public services, including for people with low incomes. Existing legal advice centers run by lawyers are to be supported. Knowing one's rights should become part of general education and receive more attention in schools.