BSW on the economy

The BSW rejects further privatization and outsourcing of hospitals, energy, water and public transit. Health care, housing, energy and water supply are to remain under municipal control and not serve profit-making.

Hospitals, power, water and buses should stay public. The BSW does not want to sell them to private companies. Towns should control them. Nobody should make a profit from them.

In the program's view, privatization and outsourcing often serve mainly to avoid collective wage agreements. The state is to help municipalities keep their hospitals. Support is also to go toward expanding energy infrastructure, water supply, wastewater disposal and public transit.

The BSW wants better protection for consumers against opaque contracts and terms and conditions. The Thuringian consumer advice center is to receive stable long-term funding and offer its services statewide.

Many contracts are hard to understand. The BSW wants to protect customers better. The consumer advice center should get more money. It should give advice everywhere, also in the countryside.

Institutional funding for the consumer advice center is to be put on a long-term, adequate footing. The program wants to strengthen consumer education. Tenant protection advice and debt counseling are to receive continued support. In the BSW's view, the consumer advice center strengthens social security and trust in state institutions.

The BSW wants equal living conditions in urban and rural areas and plans a master plan for the countryside. It includes meeting places in every village, more youth programs and economic development that distributes jobs and investment fairly between cities and rural regions.

Life in the countryside should become attractive again. The BSW wants a big plan for this. Every village should get a meeting place. Young people should have more things to do. Jobs should be created in rural areas too.

In the program's view, cuts to basic services such as doctors, public transit and culture made rural life less attractive and contributed to aging populations. A state program is to create a meeting place for residents in every village, and the founding of cooperatives is to be encouraged. Youth rooms, youth clubs and music and art schools are to receive funding. Economic development should benefit businesses as well as social and ecological projects and reduce dependence on urban centers. Social and cultural services should be open to everyone regardless of where they live.

The BSW calls for a foreign trade policy built on stable trade ties with many partners rather than on rival blocs and sanctions. In the program's view, sanctions on Russia and climate policy have driven up energy costs and threaten industry and jobs.

The BSW wants trade with many countries. It wants fewer penalties against other countries. These penalties are called sanctions. The BSW says sanctions on Russia made energy more expensive. Germany needs cheap energy and raw materials.

The program describes Germany as a strong exporter that is poor in raw materials. Foreign trade policy should secure supplies of raw materials and affordable energy. The BSW sees a risk that higher energy prices will cost industries and many well-paid jobs and push companies abroad. Overall, it aims for an innovative economy with fair competition, a large industrial share and a strong Mittelstand (small and mid-sized businesses), and it wants to limit market power to that end.

The BSW wants to set up a future fund for industry and the Mittelstand (small and mid-sized businesses) to support innovative Thuringian companies and start-ups. At the same time, the many funding programs should be consolidated and made easy to navigate through a "funding navigator."

The BSW wants a new pot of money for business. It is called a future fund. It should support new ideas from local companies. Young companies should get money too. A funding guide should show all companies what help exists.

According to the program, the fund should support the industrial base, research, culture, infrastructure and the innovative Mittelstand. An expert council is to draft proposals on structural change and growth-friendly solutions. The various funding pots should be merged as far as the state can do so, and a funding navigator or scout should give all companies equal access to funding opportunities. Funding policy should give equal weight to cities and rural areas, and cooperation between business and research should be supported.

The BSW wants to reduce reporting and documentation requirements for businesses and reform public tendering and procurement law. The thresholds above which public contracts must be openly tendered should rise, and founders should be temporarily exempted from regulations.

The BSW wants less red tape for companies. Companies should write fewer reports. Small public contracts should be easier to award. People who start a company should face fewer rules for a while. Crafts trades should get incentives for the master exam.

The BSW wants to push for procurement law reform at the federal and EU level. The higher limits for awarding contracts without tender that applied during crises should be reinstated immediately. Procedures should become leaner and more transparent, and digitalization of public administration should speed up; rules the program sees as pointless and anti-competitive should be scrapped. Start-ups should get temporary exemptions from regulations and help connecting with investors and research institutions. To address upcoming business successions, the BSW plans funding and training programs, such as incentives for master craftsman exams, especially in structurally weak rural regions.

The BSW wants to link leisure and cultural sites, regional products, restaurants and hotels, modeled on the Thüringer Wald Card, to keep more economic value in the state. Skilled tourism workers are to be retained and recruited. Tourism growth should be balanced with residents' interests.

Thuringia should be even better for visitors. Museums, leisure sites, restaurants and hotels should work together. The model is the Thüringer Wald Card, a regional visitor pass. Tourism lacks workers. The BSW wants to keep them and find new ones.

The program names fair pay, decent working conditions and practical training as prerequisites for attracting workers. Tourism infrastructure is to be supported through measures to recruit and retain skilled staff. The networking is meant to benefit tourists, residents and employees alike.