FDP: program for the 2023 Bremen state election

The FDP wants to give more support to companies founded out of universities. To do so, an easily accessible founders' fund and a statewide network for would-be founders are to be created. Exchange between universities and business is also to grow.

Some people at universities want to start a company. The FDP wants to help them. There should be a fund with money for this. Access should be simple. There should also be a network for founders.

The FDP calls for more free trade agreements, arguing that Bremen, as an export-heavy state with ports and logistics, benefits from them. Its long-term vision is a free trade zone of all liberal democracies.

Bremen sells a lot of goods abroad. So the FDP wants more free trade deals. The ports should benefit from this. Rules for the environment and consumers should stay as strict as today.

The FDP wants to make starting a business simpler and more digital and to ease spin-offs from universities. A start-up strategy, relief from chamber fees, and more venture capital are meant to attract more founders to the state.

The FDP wants more people to start companies in Bremen. This should be easier and work online. New companies should pay no required chamber fees for five years. A fund should support young companies with money.

The FDP wants to promote company relocations and start-ups in environmentally and climate-friendly industries, especially in Bremerhaven. A green economy start-up center is to be built in the planned "Lune Delta" business park, with a focus on hydrogen and synthetic fuels.

The FDP wants to support companies that protect the environment and climate. A center for new companies should be built in Bremerhaven. Research on hydrogen should also happen there. Hydrogen is a gas that can supply energy. This should bring new jobs.

The FDP wants to designate new business parks faster, reactivate brownfield sites, and expand existing areas. The land should be well connected to transport routes and sold to businesses rather than granted under long-term ground leases.

Companies need space. The FDP says Bremen does not have enough of it. The FDP wants to create new land for companies faster. The land should get good roads. Companies should be able to buy the land.

The FDP wants to keep developing Bremen and Bremerhaven as tourist destinations with public investment. It regards the Bettensteuer (hotel bed tax) as harmful to the industry because it slows growth.

The FDP wants more visitors in Bremen and Bremerhaven. The city should spend money on attractive places. Boats with visitors should get more places to dock. The FDP thinks the tax on hotel stays is harmful.

The FDP wants to get small and mid-sized companies to plan their succession early, since many businesses face a generational handover. Advice, good examples, and attention to financing are meant to make company transfers easier.

Many company owners in Bremen will retire soon. Then the company needs a new owner. The FDP wants companies to plan this early. There should be advice and help. Employees should also be able to take over a company.

The FDP rejects the state training fund planned by Bremen's government, into which companies with more than five employees would pay a levy. The charge would add to companies' burdens at a time of rising costs. In the party's view, the problem is not a lack of willingness to train but a lack of suitable applicants.

Bremen's government plans a fund for job training. Companies with more than five workers would have to pay into it. The FDP is against this. It says companies want to train young people but cannot find suitable applicants. It blames poor schooling for this.

The FDP wants the state to invest more in maintaining, expanding, and digitizing Bremen's ports and to speed up planning procedures. Operations would go digital and cargo handling would be automated. This is meant to cut costs and strengthen the ports against international competitors.

The FDP wants more money for the ports in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Quay walls and facilities should be renewed. Planning should go faster. Work at the port should be digital and use more automation.

The FDP calls for an inventory of port land and how it is used, along with a flexible land-use plan. After the failure of the Bremerhaven offshore terminal, existing sites are to be used better and commercial land near the ports made available. A dedicated terminal for heavy and oversized cargo is to be created.

The FDP wants to check how land in the port is used. The land should be used better. Companies should be able to set up near the port. Very heavy and large goods should get their own loading area.

The FDP wants the seaports of northwestern Germany to work together more closely in order to hold their own globally and win back market share. It backs a national port strategy and its swift implementation at the federal level. Politicians should limit themselves to the essentials in negotiations.

The ports in northern Germany should work together more. This should help them compete with ports in other countries. The FDP supports one shared plan for all German ports. Politicians should only deal with the most important points.

The FDP wants to position Bremerhaven as the supply port for a floating rocket launch platform in the North Sea. It expects benefits for Bremen's aerospace industry and for the port.

A launch platform for small rockets could be built in the North Sea. The FDP wants Bremerhaven to be its home port. Ships from there would supply the platform. This should help companies and the port.

The FDP wants to change the rules on store opening on Sundays and public holidays so that shopping is possible on Sundays too. It cites competition from online retail and Bremen's appeal as reasons; stores are to decide for themselves whether to open.

The FDP wants stores to be allowed to open on Sundays. Many people shop online on the weekend. Stores in the city should not lose these customers. Each store should decide for itself whether to open on Sunday.

The FDP wants job centers and employment agencies to be required to check whether their reintegration programs work. Only providers that can show an adequate success rate should receive public money. Instead of ready-made courses, support should focus more on the individual unemployed person and on actual jobs.

The FDP wants to check help for unemployed people more closely. Job centers should measure whether a program works. Only successful providers should get public money. Each unemployed person should get help that fits them. The job center should stay in contact the whole time.

The FDP wants to lift the limit on daily working hours and regulate only weekly or monthly working time instead. In its view, the fixed eleven-hour rest period stands in the way of flexible work and of combining family and job. The state should step in only when employers and employees cannot agree.

The FDP wants more flexible working hours. There should be no fixed limit per day anymore. Instead, hours per week or month count. Bosses and workers should agree on this themselves. The state should only help if they cannot agree.

The FDP wants to scrap several restrictions on temporary agency work that it considers outdated. It sees agency work as a way for companies to respond flexibly and as an entry point for the unemployed, the low-skilled, older people and refugees. At the same time, agency workers should become eligible for Kurzarbeitergeld (short-time work allowance).

The FDP wants fewer rules for temp work. In temp work, an agency lends its workers to other companies. People from outside the EU should also be allowed to do this work. Temp work should also be allowed in construction. The 18-month limit should go.

The FDP wants to scrap Bremen's state minimum wage. It argues that the wage is unnecessary alongside the federal minimum wage and creates red tape that puts Bremen companies at a disadvantage compared with neighboring Lower Saxony. The party backs collective bargaining autonomy and rejects politically set wages.

Bremen has its own minimum wage. The FDP wants to abolish it. It says there is already a minimum wage for all of Germany. The Bremen wage causes a lot of paperwork for companies. Employers and unions should set wages, not politicians.

The FDP wants to end compulsory membership and mandatory dues for workers in Bremen's Arbeitnehmerkammer (Chamber of Employees). Instead, membership should be voluntary and paid, as is common with unions and political parties. The party argues that workers otherwise have to help fund political goals they do not share.

In Bremen, all workers must be members of the Chamber of Employees. They pay dues for it. The FDP wants to end this duty. Everyone should decide for themselves whether to join and pay.

The FDP wants to strengthen older people's social participation, for example through meeting places, home visits and support for their volunteer work. Senior facilities are to have Wi-Fi throughout and offer digital training.

The FDP wants old people to take part in city life. There should be places to meet and things to do. Homes for seniors should have Wi-Fi everywhere. Old people should also learn there how to use digital devices. The FDP also wants to support volunteer work by seniors.

The FDP wants to create more suitable training places and jobs for people with disabilities. Sheltered workshops are to place their workers in regular jobs more often, and companies are to receive better advice and support.

People with disabilities should find a regular job more easily. The FDP wants to give companies better advice and support for this. Workshops for people with disabilities should move more people into regular jobs. Advice for the people themselves should also get better.

The FDP wants to move the public pension system to a funded model in the long run, arguing that this is the only way to keep it affordable. The Aktienrente (stock-based pension) should be expanded and sped up for this purpose. In addition, the retirement age should become flexible, following the Swedish model.

The FDP wants to change the pension system. In the long run, pension money should be invested in the capital market. The stock-based pension should grow. People should choose for themselves when to retire. People who work while drawing a pension should be allowed to earn more.

The FDP wants to lower the Gewerbesteuer (local business tax) in both cities of the state. The aim is to relieve companies that, according to the platform, are struggling with the energy crisis and labor shortages, and to protect jobs.

Companies pay a tax to their city. The FDP wants to lower this tax in Bremen and Bremerhaven. This should help companies stay. New companies should also come.

The FDP wants the state and both of its cities to comply with the Schuldenbremse (debt brake) and take on no new debt. It justifies this with interest costs of more than 500 million euros a year and with fairness between generations. Spending should be reviewed, and investment in education, the economy and infrastructure should come first.

The FDP wants no new debt for Bremen. Bremen pays over 500 million euros in interest every year. The FDP wants to pay back old debt. Money should go first to education, the economy and roads. Bremen should use more funding from the EU and the federal government.

The FDP wants to review all of Bremen's holdings and municipal enterprises and sell those that, in its view, do not need to be in public hands. The general coverage of losses for holdings should end, and all holdings and grants should be disclosed. Public services should not be brought under public ownership where private providers perform them well.

Bremen owns many companies in whole or in part. The FDP wants to review all of them. The state should sell what it does not need. The money should go to investment or paying down debt. The state should no longer cover these companies' losses across the board.

The FDP wants citizens to be able to choose freely how they pay at state and city offices, without disadvantages or extra costs. Cash should remain a general means of payment. The party rejects caps on cash payments and demands that public offices at every level be required to accept cash.

The FDP wants people to choose freely how to pay at public offices. They should be able to pay by card, digitally or in cash. Cash should stay. The FDP is against a limit on cash payments. Public offices should have to accept cash.

The FDP wants the city of Bremerhaven to stop running the Bad Bederkesa school camp and the Wüstewohlde youth hostel itself. Where possible, nonprofit or private operators should take them over. The platform cites operating losses and a risk to the city budget.

Bremerhaven owns a school camp and a youth hostel outside the city. The FDP wants the city to give up both. Other operators should take them over. The FDP says the two houses cost the city too much money.

The FDP wants to change how Germany collects import value-added tax. The model is the offset system used in other EU countries, where the tax is settled later through the advance VAT return. According to the platform, the current procedure ties up liquidity and creates administrative costs.

Companies pay a tax when they bring in goods from outside the EU. In Germany they must pay right away. The FDP wants to change that. Companies should be able to settle the tax later, as in other EU countries.

The FDP wants to abolish the dog tax. It considers the tax arbitrary and argues that the cost of collecting this minor tax is out of proportion to the revenue.

People who own a dog pay a tax today. The FDP wants to end this tax. It thinks the tax is unfair. To the FDP a dog is not a luxury but part of the family.

The FDP wants to create new housing in downtown Bremen, mainly by building upward. Permits are to be faster, commercial space easier to convert into apartments, and a high-rise plan is to define where tall buildings are allowed.

More people should be able to live in downtown Bremen. The FDP wants to build higher for this. Attics should become apartments more easily. Offices and shops should also be turned into apartments. Permits should be faster.

The FDP wants a new waterfront district to emerge in Bremerhaven's northern Fischereihafen over two decades. Investors are to get as much freedom as possible, and the district is to be sustainable and climate-positive.

A new district by the water should be built in Bremerhaven. It is called Werftquartier. Companies that build there should be able to decide a lot themselves. The district should be good for the climate. One housing area should have no cars.

The FDP wants to designate more building areas quickly, for apartment buildings as well as for single-family and two-family homes. In the platform's view, more land and taller buildings will help against scarce housing and rising rents.

The FDP wants new land for building, and fast. Apartments should be built there. Houses for one or two families should be built there too. The FDP says: More homes make housing cheaper.

The FDP wants to abolish the rule that at least 30 percent of units in new building projects must be social housing. Instead of subsidizing apartments, it wants to support people directly, for example through Wohngeld (housing benefit).

Today there is a rule for new building projects. 30 percent of the homes must be social housing. The FDP wants to drop this rule. It wants to give money to people directly instead. One way is Wohngeld, a housing benefit.

The FDP wants to introduce an allowance of up to 500,000 euros on the real estate transfer tax for a first owner-occupied home. In addition, municipal housing companies are to offer rent-to-own models, and the property tax is to fall to the level of the surrounding region.

People who buy a home pay a tax. The FDP wants to drop this tax for a first home of your own. This should apply up to a price of 500,000 euros. Renters should be able to buy their home step by step. This is called rent-to-own.

The FDP wants to review building rules, remove those it sees as unnecessary and lower ancillary costs. It regards the state government's "Bremer Standard" for new building areas as excessive in many respects and calls for technology neutrality in heat generation.

The FDP wants fewer rules for building. This should make building cheaper. Bremen has its own rules for new building areas. They are called the Bremer Standard. The FDP thinks these rules are too strict.

The FDP rejects state intervention in the rental market such as the Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) and a rent cap, as well as expropriations in housing. Instead, more should be built, which in its view will lower rents and prices in the long run.

The FDP does not want state limits on rents. It does not want expropriations either. Expropriation means: The state takes homes away from their owners. The FDP wants to build more homes instead. Then rents will fall, it says.

The FDP calls for Bremen to quickly get a qualified Mietspiegel (rent index), meaning a recognized overview of customary local rents. This is meant to make the market more transparent and strengthen competition.

The FDP wants a rent index for Bremen. A rent index is a list. It shows what rents are usual in the city. This makes it easier to compare rents.

The FDP wants to make building more dorms for students and trainees more attractive and to promote investment in them. According to the platform, too little affordable housing worsens the shortage of skilled workers in the long run.

Students and trainees need cheap homes. Often they cannot find any. The FDP wants more dorms for them. Building them should pay off more. Old dorms should be renovated.

The FDP wants to make building permits faster, simpler and digital. If the authority does not respond to a complete application within a set period, preferably three months, the application is to count as approved.

The FDP wants faster building permits. People should be able to apply online. The office should answer within three months. If it does not answer, the application counts as approved. Then building can start.

The FDP wants to promote housing and care arrangements that let older people live independently with the support they need. It sees these as an alternative to nursing homes that costs less and relieves relatives and long-term care insurers.

Many old people want to stay in their own home for a long time. The FDP wants to support new ways of living for them. These include shared apartments for seniors and houses for several generations. Assisted living should also get support. The FDP says this is cheaper than a nursing home.

The FDP wants to extend daycare opening hours substantially and abolish the fixed closure days in nurseries and kindergartens. Care should be available when parents need it, including those working full time or in shifts.

Daycare centers should stay open longer. Each district should have one center open from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. There should also be centers open day and night. The FDP also wants to end fixed closure days. Then parents can plan their vacation freely.

The FDP supports fee-free daycare, including nurseries, after-school care, and early and late hours. Parents should continue to decide whether their child attends; the party rejects compulsory daycare years.

Parents should not pay for daycare. This should also apply to nurseries and after-school care. Quality should not get worse. Parents should decide if their child goes to daycare. The FDP does not want to make daycare compulsory.

The FDP wants to introduce a Kinderchancengeld (child opportunity benefit) that combines and simplifies existing child-related benefits. It would consist of a base amount, an income-dependent amount and digital access to education and participation services. The program justifies this with the high rate of child poverty in the state of Bremen.

The FDP wants a new child opportunity benefit. It combines all support for children into one. Every child gets a fixed amount. Families with little money get more. Parents can apply online for help with education and leisure.

The FDP wants less red tape and digital procedures for Elterngeld (parental allowance) and a more flexible partnership bonus. Elterngeld and ElterngeldPlus should fit families' real lives better. In the future, only one parent at a time should be able to receive the allowance.

The FDP wants to make parental allowance simpler. Parents should be able to apply online. The bonus for couples should become more flexible. Only one parent at a time should get the allowance.

The FDP wants to strengthen funding for open child and youth work and use it more flexibly according to need. It also wants more leisure options for young people and a future plan for youth services in Bremerhaven.

Open child and youth work offers meeting places and help for young people. The FDP wants to strengthen it. The money should go where it is needed. There should be more things to do in free time. In Bremerhaven, young people should help decide on the offers.

The FDP wants to support single parents through reliable childcare, lower taxes and fees, and job training. The state would also recover far more of its advance child support payments from parents who fail to pay.

The FDP wants to help parents who raise children alone. There should be reliable childcare for children of every age. These parents should pay less in taxes and fees. If a parent does not pay child support, the state pays instead. The FDP wants the state to get that money back more often.

The FDP wants to continue the renovation program for children's playgrounds in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Public sports fields would be expanded and playgrounds enlarged with new equipment.

The FDP wants playgrounds to be repaired regularly. There should be new play equipment. Public sports fields should get bigger. This applies to Bremen and Bremerhaven.

The FDP wants to expand the number of nursery and daycare places until supply matches demand. The platform justifies this by pointing to a shortfall of more than 3,800 places in the city of Bremen.

Bremen does not have enough daycare places. The FDP wants to create more places. This includes nurseries. Nurseries are for children under three. Childminders and company daycare centers should help too.

The FDP wants to enforce a ratio of two qualified staff per 20 children in all daycare centers for three- to six-year-olds and to prevent larger groups. In the party's view, daycare centers should develop from a place of safekeeping into an education center.

Each daycare group should have two trained staff for 20 children. Groups should not get bigger. The FDP wants better training for daycare teachers. Working in daycare should get better. Outside experts should check the quality of the centers.

The FDP wants mandatory language assessments for children in the early daycare years. Children with deficits are to receive individual support, and taking part in that support is to be compulsory.

The FDP wants to check early how well children speak. The test should be mandatory. It should happen in the first daycare years. Children with problems then get help. This help should be mandatory too.

The FDP wants private providers of early childhood education to receive the same funding per child as state facilities. Setting up private daycare centers is to become easier, and qualified childminders are to be paid more.

Some daycare centers are private, run by companies or parent groups. The FDP wants to give them the same money per child as state centers. New private centers should be easier to open. Childminders should get better pay.

The FDP calls for a plan to train all pedagogical daycare staff in digital early childhood education within five years. Every daycare center is to have a binding media policy, and daycare administration and communication are to become more digital.

Children use digital media earlier and earlier. The FDP wants daycare staff to be trained for this. This should happen within five years. Each center should have fixed rules for media. Centers should also talk digitally with parents and offices.

The FDP wants to speed up the expansion of all-day schools. This is meant to give children from families with little formal education better chances and to give working parents reliable care.

The FDP wants more all-day schools. Children stay there in the afternoon too. This should help children learn. Working parents can rely on the care. After-school centers and all-day primary schools should work together.

The FDP wants to introduce free school choice for primary schools in the state of Bremen as well, by removing catchment boundaries. At the same time, children should start school with the language, social and physical skills needed for lessons.

Today, where you live decides your primary school. The FDP wants to change that. Parents should choose the primary school freely. Children should start school well prepared. Daycare and primary school should work together more closely.

The FDP wants to bring back school grades from third grade onward and the repeating of school years. It justifies this with the principle of performance, with feedback for children, and with better comparability.

The FDP wants grades again from third grade. Children should also be able to repeat a school year again. The FDP says performance should matter more in school. Grades are easy to understand. Parents should always know how well their child is learning.

The FDP wants an investment drive to eliminate the repair backlog at schools in Bremen and Bremerhaven within ten years. In addition, education spending per capita should not fall behind Berlin and Hamburg.

Many schools in Bremen are in bad shape. The FDP wants to repair and modernize them. This should be done within ten years. New schools should be planned for more students. Bremen should spend as much on education as Berlin and Hamburg.

The FDP wants schools to decide for themselves how to implement uniform education standards. To that end they are to get more pedagogical, staffing and financial freedom and a budget of their own.

Schools should decide more on their own. Each school should get its own budget. A budget is money the school controls itself. With it, the school can choose staff and teaching materials. It should also plan its timetable more freely.

The FDP wants to publish the comparative results of every individual school to help parents choose and to spark competition among schools. Independently run schools are to be better funded through a revised private schools law.

The FDP wants to show how well each school performs. The results should be public. This helps parents choose a school. Schools should spur each other on. Private schools should get more money from the state.

The FDP aims for teacher staffing of 106 percent at all schools and wants to train, recruit and relieve more teachers to get there. A campaign is meant to reduce canceled lessons.

Bremen does not have enough teachers. The FDP wants to train and recruit more. Each school should have slightly more teachers than it needs. Then fewer lessons are canceled. People from other jobs should be able to teach too. Teachers should have less paperwork.

The FDP supports inclusive schooling and wants to give it more staff and funding. At the same time, the special schools for students with visual, hearing and severe multiple disabilities are to be kept. The platform argues that inclusion is underfunded, so many children do not reach the best qualification they could.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. The FDP wants more trained staff and more money for this. Special schools for blind, deaf and severely disabled children should stay. No child should be left without lessons.

The FDP wants classroom teaching brought in line with current teaching science. Training is to be expanded and made mandatory, especially for teachers with many years of service. The platform regards many of today's teaching and learning methods as outdated.

Lessons should become more modern. The FDP thinks many methods are out of date. Teachers should therefore do more training. For older teachers, this training should be required.

The FDP wants to broaden language offerings at all schools and provide more subject teaching in English. European exchange programs such as Erasmus+ are to become better known in schools and be used more often. The platform justifies this with an increasingly international world in which language skills are necessary.

Students should be able to learn more languages. Some subjects should be taught in English more often. Schools should use exchange programs in Europe more. This way young people get to know other countries.

The FDP wants politics and economics established as stand-alone subjects taught weekly from secondary school onward. Lessons should also prepare students better for everyday life, for example on personal finances and legal matters. The platform considers Bremen's current requirements for economic education too loose.

Politics and economics should be their own school subjects. They should be on the schedule every week. School should also teach more knowledge for daily life. This includes handling money and legal questions.

The FDP wants to allow Bundeswehr youth officers to inform students at Bremen schools about security and defense policy. According to the platform, this is currently not permitted in the state of Bremen, unlike in many other German states.

Experts from the Bundeswehr, the German armed forces, should be allowed into Bremen schools. They should inform students about security and defense. The FDP says this is not allowed in Bremen so far. The FDP wants to change that.

The FDP wants to anchor existing Gymnasien (academic-track schools) in the school law and found new ones where needed. More Gymnasien are to offer the Abitur after 13 years without abolishing the 12-year route. A trial period in grades 5 and 6 is to determine whether a child stays or moves to an Oberschule (comprehensive school).

The FDP wants to keep the Gymnasien and found new ones. A Gymnasium is a school that leads to the Abitur, the university entrance diploma. More of them should offer it after 13 years. The fast route after 12 years should stay. Grades 5 and 6 should be a trial period. After that the child stays or changes schools.

Within four years, the FDP wants to create a state scholarship for at least 3,000 gifted students from low-income families. In addition, the talent school pilot from North Rhine-Westphalia is to be brought to Bremen and Bremerhaven. According to the platform, educational opportunity should not depend on parents' income or the neighborhood.

The FDP wants a scholarship for school students. A scholarship is support with money. At least 3,000 gifted children from poor families should get it. There should also be talent schools like in North Rhine-Westphalia.

The FDP calls for a program to make up for learning gaps from the pandemic. It includes a broad assessment of learning levels, more support and tutoring programs, and voluntary summer schools. In the platform's view, school closures and unprepared digital teaching caused serious deficits.

Many children learned less during the COVID period. The FDP wants to make up for that. First, schools should check what the children know. Then there should be more tutoring. In the summer break there should be voluntary learning offers.

The FDP wants all vocational schools to operate independently and be equipped to current standards. Schools are to prepare students neutrally for both university and dual vocational training, since the platform believes training has received too little attention lately. Vocational Gymnasien are to count as an equal alternative to regular upper secondary school.

Vocational schools should be able to decide many things themselves. They should get modern equipment. Schools should inform fairly about university and job training. The FDP thinks training in companies has been neglected.

The FDP wants training at vocational schools for health and care professions to be free of tuition. Training for preschool teachers, by contrast, is to be organized as a dual program. In addition, the Aufstiegs-BAföG (aid for career advancement training) is to be used more in the state, and the BAföG process is to be fully digital.

Some training programs charge school fees. This is true for speech therapists or occupational therapists, for example. The FDP wants to end these fees. Preschool teachers should learn at a workplace and at school in the future.

The FDP wants to make Bremen and Bremerhaven leaders in digital education. Digital and hybrid learning are to be a permanent part of the school system, schools are to be technically equipped, and their administration digitized. Students are to learn how to handle technology and data responsibly.

Schools should become more digital. Every classroom should have good Wi-Fi. Every school should get a staff member for the technology. Children should learn how to use the internet safely. Paper forms in school offices should go away.

The FDP wants to give universities more freedom: they are to set their own priorities in research and teaching and decide on their staff by themselves. The party explicitly supports private universities and professorships endowed by companies.

Universities should be allowed to decide more on their own. They should choose their own topics. They should also hire and dismiss staff themselves. The FDP also supports private universities.

The FDP rejects statutory civil clauses and also wants to abolish universities' internal ones, especially at the University of Bremen. Civil clauses commit universities to research for civilian purposes only. According to the platform, research and teaching with a military connection are to be supported.

Some universities may not do research for the military. This rule is called a civil clause. The FDP wants to end such rules. Universities in Bremen should also be allowed to do research for military purposes.

The FDP wants to raise universities' core funding so that they reach the national average. The platform considers today's funding inadequate and sees resulting disadvantages in recruiting and a heavy dependence on third-party funds. In Bremerhaven, the number of study places is to rise to 5,000 in the medium term.

Universities in Bremen should get more money. They should be able to plan with this money long term. Old buildings should be renovated. Bremerhaven should have 5,000 study places in the future.

The FDP wants to make an orientation semester possible at all universities in the state, taking up a proposal from Hochschule Bremen. According to the platform, better guidance in choosing a degree should lower the number of dropouts.

The FDP wants to make an orientation semester possible. There, young people can get to know different subjects. This helps them find the right degree. Then fewer people drop out of university.

The FDP wants to support continuing education during working life with a "Midlife-Bafög" (a midlife education grant) and personal Freiraumkonten (learning accounts). Employees could save part of their pay in these accounts free of tax and social contributions to fund training. The program argues that technological change requires constant learning.

The FDP wants people to keep learning during their working life. There should be a personal learning account for this. Workers can save money for courses there without paying tax. People with low or middle incomes get extra support. This support is called Midlife-Bafög.

The FDP wants to make Bremen more attractive for aspiring lawyers because the state competes with other German states for young talent. To that end, law studies, exams, and the Referendariat (post-graduate legal traineeship) are to be improved and trainees paid better.

The FDP wants to improve legal training in Bremen. Exams should be possible on a computer. There should be more places for legal trainees. Trainees should get more money.

The FDP wants to expand swimming lessons for children and teenagers and let daycare centers get children used to water. Swimming in lakes and rivers is to become part of training in order to prevent drowning accidents. In Bremerhaven, swimming at the Weserstrandbad is to be allowed again.

More children should learn to swim. Even in daycare, they should get used to water. Children should also practice in lakes and rivers. This should mean fewer swimming accidents. In Bremerhaven, people should be allowed to swim at the Weser beach again.

The FDP wants medical and psychological research to focus more on women, arguing that it has so far been geared mainly toward men. It also calls for more gynecological care, better cancer prevention, and comprehensive help for endometriosis and after miscarriages.

Medical research has mostly studied men. The FDP wants more research on women's health. There should be more gynecologists in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Health insurers should pay for all needed endometriosis treatment. Endometriosis is a painful illness involving tissue like the lining of the womb.

The FDP wants every district of Bremen and Bremerhaven to have enough general practitioners and specialists. The Kassenärztliche Vereinigung (association of statutory health insurance physicians) is to draw up a care plan with the health department, and emergency services are to be expanded.

Some neighborhoods have too few doctors' offices. The FDP wants to change that. The doctors' association should make a plan together with the city. Emergency services by doctors should also grow. Doctors with their own offices should stay.

The FDP calls for a thorough needs assessment for hospitals and wants to adopt a state hospital plan by 2024 at the latest. All sites are to be kept through specialization, and the hospital group Gesundheit Nord (GeNo) is to be fundamentally reorganized.

The FDP wants to keep all hospitals in Bremen and Bremerhaven. There should be a new plan for this by 2024. Each hospital should build on its special strengths. The hospital group GeNo should be reorganized. The single hospitals should decide more on their own.

The FDP wants more treatment and counseling services close to home for people with mental illness. A central coordination office is to provide faster help in acute cases, and campaigns are to raise public awareness of the issue.

The FDP wants more help for people with mental illness. There should be more places for treatment and advice close to home. A central office should organize help in an emergency. The FDP also wants campaigns. They should show that mental illness is as serious as physical illness.

The FDP rejects new taxes on fat, sugar, dairy products or meat. In its view, lifestyle is a matter for the individual, and the state should limit itself to education and prevention.

The FDP wants no new taxes on sugar, fat, dairy products or meat. It says each person decides how healthy to live. The state should only inform and help prevent illness. The information should be based on science.

The FDP wants to give public health offices more staff and better technology so they can respond quickly in a crisis. It wants to do without restrictive COVID measures and continue research on long COVID.

Public health offices should get more staff. They should also get better technology. Open jobs should be filled right away. The FDP wants no more COVID rules that restrict people. Research on long COVID should go on.

The FDP wants to tackle staff shortages in nursing and health professions with more training, better working conditions and faster recognition of foreign qualifications. Nursing assistants are to relieve qualified nurses of simpler tasks.

Nursing and health jobs lack skilled workers. The FDP wants more training and more study places for these jobs. Degrees from other countries should be recognized faster. Nurses should get flexible hours and good child care. Assistants should take over simple tasks from them.

The FDP wants to train more midwives, win back those who have left the profession and improve working conditions. It supports midwife centers in underserved neighborhoods and midwife-led delivery rooms.

The FDP wants to train more midwives. Midwives who stopped working should come back. The work should get better. Then part-time midwives may work more hours. Neighborhoods with too little care should get midwife centers.

The FDP wants to expand addiction prevention in schools and youth facilities while making illegal drugs harder to obtain. People with addictions are to get easy-to-reach support, including a diamorphine clinic and privately funded drug checking.

The FDP wants to protect young people from drugs. Schools should run more programs for this. More police should make buying drugs harder. People with addictions should get help more easily.

The FDP wants good, affordable care for the aging population in the state of Bremen. The 2018 geriatric care plan is to be revised and give more weight to inpatient care for people with dementia.

The FDP wants good care for old people. Care should stay affordable. Care workers should have less strain. People with dementia should get better care in homes.

The FDP wants to further expand outpatient and inpatient palliative care and give hospices more financial support. It argues that changing family structures make more professional services necessary.

The FDP wants more help for dying people. There should be more hospices. A hospice is a house where dying people get care. Hospices should get more money. Children's hospices should be well equipped too.

The FDP wants to manage labor immigration through a points system modeled on Canada's. It justifies this with demographic change and the labor shortage in the state of Bremen. Foreign vocational qualifications should be recognized more simply and quickly.

The FDP wants to bring in more skilled workers from abroad. There should be a points system like in Canada. People get points for things like education, language and work experience. Foreign qualifications should be recognized faster.

The FDP wants to let well-integrated people seeking protection make a "Spurwechsel" (change of track) into labor migration. Anyone who is working, in training or studying should not be expelled. All asylum seekers and people with tolerated status should be allowed to work after three months without approval from the Federal Employment Agency.

The FDP wants refugees to be allowed to work sooner. After three months, everyone should be able to take a job. An agency no longer has to approve it. People who work or are in training should be allowed to stay. The FDP calls this a change of track.

The FDP wants an integration policy that welcomes immigrants but also expects them to make their own effort. Language and integration courses should be available everywhere and free of charge from the start. In addition, neighborhoods should become more socially and culturally mixed.

The FDP wants immigrants to become part of society. Language courses should be free and start right away. People should also attend the courses. Different people should live mixed together in the neighborhoods.

The FDP commits to the constitutional right to asylum and to admitting war refugees without red tape. At the same time, it demands complete registration at the border, consistent deportations, and enough detention places for people awaiting deportation. Some unaccompanied minor refugees are to be redistributed to other states.

The FDP wants to keep the right to asylum. War refugees should be able to stay easily for a limited time. People who must leave should be deported. Bremen should have to care for fewer young refugees without parents.

The FDP calls for a zero-tolerance policy against discrimination of LGBTQIA+ people. It wants to expand prevention, prosecute violence and hate crime, and create contact points and safe housing.

The FDP wants to protect queer people better. Nobody should treat them unfairly or attack them. The police should pursue such crimes and count them separately. There should be more help centers and safe apartments. Schools should teach about the topic.

The FDP wants to add sexual identity to the ban on discrimination in the Basic Law (Germany's constitution). The term "race" would be replaced with different wording in the Basic Law and in Bremen's state constitution.

Germany's constitution bans unfair treatment. The FDP wants it to name sexual identity too. The word "race" should be removed from the constitution. Bremen's state constitution should also use a different word.

The FDP wants to make it easier for women to work and train and to make Bremen a model for balancing work and family. It relies on part-time training models, childcare, flexible working hours and support for women in science.

The FDP wants all women to be able to work if they wish. Training should also be possible part-time. Every training course should come with childcare. Employers should offer flexible hours. More women should work and lead in science.

The FDP wants more and better places in women's shelters, especially in the city of Bremen. The state action plan on the Istanbul Convention (the European treaty on violence against women) is to be carried out quickly and in full, including on digital violence.

Many women suffer violence at home. The FDP wants more places in shelters. There should be enough psychological care there. The FDP also wants to do more against violence online. There should be a special counseling center for that.

The FDP wants people with disabilities to be able to live as independently as possible and take full part in everyday life. Accessibility is to apply in public spaces, in housing and in how public authorities communicate.

People with disabilities should decide about their own lives. The FDP wants to remove barriers for them. Sidewalks and public toilets should work for everyone. Letters and forms from public offices should also be easy to access. Sign language should count as a language of its own.

The FDP wants to organize the energy transition through technology-neutral sector coupling, meaning the linking of electricity, gas, heat, and transport. This includes expanding renewables, backup capacity for supply security, and support for hydrogen and synthetic fuels.

The FDP wants to link electricity, gas, heat, and transport better. This is called sector coupling. No technology should be favored. Wind power should grow. Hydrogen should get support. Energy should stay secure and affordable.

The FDP wants to increase the share of heat pumps and expand electricity and heat storage. To do so, it calls for a heat plan for the state and an expansion plan for the energy grids in Bremen and Bremerhaven.

Heat pumps heat with almost no harm to the climate. The FDP wants more of them in Bremen. The state should get a plan for heating. The power grids should also become stronger. The steel plant should get a better power line.

The FDP wants the state and its cities to make suitable land for solar and wind power available to citizen energy cooperatives. This is meant to raise public support for the energy transition. The expansion of renewables should also speed up in inner-city areas.

The FDP wants more power from sun and wind. The state and the cities should offer land for this. Citizens should run the plants together. More solar panels should also be built in the city, and faster.

The FDP wants to examine whether Bremerhaven could get its own hydrogen terminal. It also supports facilities where ships can refuel with alternative fuels. Shore power would be installed only where it proves economically and technically feasible case by case.

The FDP wants to check if Bremerhaven can get a hydrogen terminal. Ships could deliver hydrogen there. Ships should also be able to fill up with new fuels. Power from land for ships should only come where it pays off.

The FDP commits to making the state of Bremen climate neutral by 2038 and wants to implement the measures of the Enquete Commission (a parliamentary study commission) with a timeline and financing plan. The estimated 7 billion euros are to come from EU, federal, and budget funds without new borrowing.

Bremen should be climate neutral by 2038. That means Bremen no longer harms the climate. The FDP does not want new debt for this. The money should come from the EU, the federal government, and the budget.

The FDP calls for a state fund to support innovative and environmentally friendly ideas. In its view, cutting CO2 emissions requires technological progress and sustainable growth.

The FDP wants a fund for new ideas on climate protection. A fund is a pot of money. The money should flow quickly and simply. That way good ideas become real faster.

The FDP wants to implement the coastal protection master plan quickly and expand protection against heat. It points to the flood risk Bremen faces and to rising temperatures in both cities.

Bremen is at risk of flooding. The FDP wants to raise the dikes quickly. Sirens should warn people again in a disaster. People should also be better protected from heat.

The FDP wants to raise the state of Bremen's recycling rate in order to save raw materials. For public goods, raw material use should be disclosed and kept as low as possible.

The FDP wants Bremen to recycle more waste. This saves raw materials. The state should use little material when it builds. It should also show how much it uses.

The FDP wants more greenery in both cities and plans a greening concept with medium- and long-term planning. It cites residents' well-being, better air, the urban climate and climate protection as reasons.

The FDP wants more trees and plants in Bremen and Bremerhaven. There should be a plan for this. The trees should cope well with heat. Roofs and walls of public buildings should also be able to go green. This should make the air better and cool the city.

The FDP wants more trees planted in Bremerhaven, including one for every newborn child. In both Bremen and Bremerhaven, small and densely planted mini forests, known as Tiny Forests, are to be created.

The FDP wants more trees in the city. Bremerhaven should plant one tree for every new baby. Both cities should get small forests. They are called Tiny Forests. These are very small areas with many trees.

The FDP wants a dog law that focuses on owners' responsibility rather than on banned breeds. Anyone who wants to get a dog should first provide proof of competence.

Some dog breeds are banned in Bremen. The FDP wants to change that. What matters should be the owner, not the breed. Anyone who wants a dog should first show they know how to handle one.

The FDP commits to the United Nations' 2030 Agenda and calls for a binding sustainability strategy for the state and its two cities. It is meant to implement the 17 global Sustainable Development Goals locally and link all policy areas.

The United Nations has 17 goals for a good future. The FDP wants Bremen to make a firm plan for them. The plan should cover all areas of politics. People should be able to measure whether Bremen reaches the goals.

The FDP wants to integrate green spaces better into urban planning, preserve existing ones, and designate new ones. If green space is lost to construction, it is to be replaced elsewhere; on nature conservation the party relies on voluntary action and cooperation.

The FDP wants more green in the city. Parks and meadows should stay. Anyone who builds on green space must create new green elsewhere. Bremen should get 2038 new trees.

The FDP wants to appoint a volunteer municipal animal welfare commissioner to act as a link between animal welfare groups, politicians, and the administration. In addition, the Bremerhaven animal shelter is to be paid enough to cover its costs, and more off-leash areas for dogs are to be examined.

The FDP wants to protect animals better. One person should look after animal welfare in the city as a volunteer. The animal shelter in Bremerhaven should get enough money for its tasks. Dogs should get more areas to run free.

The FDP wants to preserve biodiversity in Bremen and Bremerhaven through protection and care, and calls for more wildflower meadows for bees and other insects. It adds research and joint restoration projects with Lower Saxony.

The FDP wants to protect bees and other insects. There should be more meadows with wild flowers. Researchers should get money from the federal government. Bremen should work with Lower Saxony on nature.

The FDP wants a wildlife management system that permits hunting species such as wolves, cormorants, and nutria. It considers hunting necessary to prevent disease, limit damage caused by wildlife, and obtain game meat.

The FDP wants hunters to be allowed to hunt more kinds of animals. These include wolves, cormorants, and nutria. The FDP says hunting protects against disease and damage. To the FDP, hunters are also protectors of nature.

The FDP wants to continue conservation projects in the Fehrmoor while opening the bog for recreation and education. It also wants to prioritize measures that automate water management and improve water quality in the drainage ditches.

The Fehrmoor is the last raised bog in the state of Bremen. The FDP wants to protect it. People should still be able to visit it. The water in the ditches should also get cleaner.

The FDP wants more support for digital technology in agriculture and wants to raise the farm investment program (AFP) to at least €40 million a year. It also calls for a federal digitalization strategy for agriculture. The platform argues that higher standards are only possible if farms can earn money with new technology.

The FDP wants more modern technology on farms. There should be more funding for this. One funding program should get at least 40 million euros a year. The federal government should also make a plan for digital farming.

The FDP demands that crop protection substances be approved whenever the responsible German and European agencies declare them safe. The platform regards crop protection as sustainable because it uses land efficiently and enables healthy food. Poisonous ragwort is to be controlled more closely.

Farmers protect their plants with products against disease and weeds. Agencies test these products. The FDP says: tested and safe products must be allowed. Poisonous ragwort plants should be controlled better.

The FDP wants to relieve agriculture of red tape and what it sees as unnecessary requirements, and to give farms planning certainty. It rejects livestock caps in building law and municipal approval requirements. For fertilizer use, the needs of crops at each location should remain the standard.

The FDP wants fewer rules for farmers. Farmers should still be able to expand their farms. Building law should not set a maximum number of animals. Towns should not have to give extra approval for keeping animals.

The FDP wants prices throughout the food supply chain to be set by the market. To that end, the antitrust authorities' abuse oversight and merger control are to be strengthened. The platform rejects political interference in their work.

The FDP wants fair prices from the farm to the supermarket. The market should set the prices. Antitrust agencies make sure big companies do not abuse their power. These agencies should become stronger. Politicians should not interfere.

The FDP favors a premium for cows kept on pasture that offsets part of the lower yield. The platform argues that grazing supports many ecosystems. Nature conservation and agriculture should work together as partners.

Cows on pasture give less milk than cows in a barn. But pasture is good for nature. The FDP wants to pay farmers money for this. Conservation groups and farmers should work well together.

The FDP commits to Bremen Airport and wants to fully clear its maintenance backlog. It wants to support new flight routes with one million euros a year and look for a partner to take a stake in the airport.

The FDP wants to keep and strengthen Bremen Airport. All needed repairs should be done. Each year, one million euros should go to new flight routes. An experienced partner should join the airport. But the city should still decide.

The FDP wants to adapt the Weser's shipping channels toward the sea and inland as needed and maintain them continuously. This is meant to keep the ports accessible to large modern vessels. Environmental and nature protection are to be taken into account.

The FDP wants to adapt the shipping channel of the Weser river. The channel is the deep part of the river for ships. Big ships should still be able to reach the ports. Nature should be considered in this work.

The FDP wants to link the ports better to the hinterland by rail, road, and inland waterways and to remove bottlenecks. It names specific rail and highway projects, including outside the state of Bremen. The goal is for the ports to keep pace with Rotterdam, Antwerp, and other locations.

The FDP wants better routes from the ports to the rest of the country. This includes more rail tracks and new highways. River ships should play a role too. This should help the ports keep up with other big ports.

The FDP wants to move the tram out of Obernstraße and turn the street into a promenade and experience street. The freed-up space is to be used for markets, events, restaurants, greenery and relaxation.

Today the tram runs through Obernstraße in Bremen. The FDP wants to take the tram out of this street. The street should become a place for strolling. There should be room for markets, cafés and more plants.

The FDP wants downtown Bremen to remain easy to reach by every mode of transport, including by car. It relies on a mix of transfer hubs, more parking, sharing services, better sidewalks and a new loop bus.

Everyone should be able to get to downtown Bremen easily. This includes cars. The FDP wants to build places for changing, for example from car to tram. There should be more parking. A new bus should drive in a loop through downtown. Sidewalks should get better.

The FDP wants to review the future of Columbusstraße in Bremerhaven. The road is to keep its capacity but no longer separate downtown from the Havenwelten; narrowing it without a plan for the freed-up land is rejected.

Columbusstraße in Bremerhaven separates downtown from the harbor area. The FDP wants to change that. But cars should still be able to drive well. First there should be a plan for the free land. Residents should have a say.

The FDP wants to close a section of Bürgermeister-Smidt-Straße in Bremerhaven, known as the "Alte Bürger," to motorized through traffic. This is meant to create more outdoor space for restaurants and help the street grow as a meeting place for culture, business and students.

The Alte Bürger is a street in Bremerhaven with many bars and restaurants. The FDP wants fewer cars there. Residents, bikes and delivery vans can still drive. Restaurants should get more space outside. There should be more trash cans.

The FDP wants to improve sidewalks in Bremen and to record and clear the repair backlog. Paths are to be safe, clean and accessible, which according to the platform also benefits retail, restaurants and the climate.

Many people walk. The FDP wants better sidewalks. Broken paths should be repaired. The paths should be safe and clean. People in wheelchairs should be able to use them well too.

The FDP wants to expand cycling in Bremen and Bremerhaven and remove danger spots. Added to this are a plan for bike parking, green-arrow signs for cyclists and, in Bremerhaven, new routes and bicycle streets.

The FDP wants more cycling. Cycling should become safer. Dangerous spots should go away. There should be better parking for bikes. Bremerhaven should get new bicycle streets.

The FDP wants to repair existing bike paths and provide enough money for that. It rejects new premium cycling routes as long as upkeep of the existing network is not secured, and the bike lane on the street Am Wall is to go back to car traffic.

Many bike paths are in bad shape. The FDP wants to repair them first. It does not want to build new big bike routes for now. The bike lane on Am Wall should be for cars again.

The FDP continues to see the car as indispensable and wants to keep main traffic arteries efficient. It wants to tackle the parking shortage with neighborhood garages, resident parking and digital parking management rather than bans.

The FDP says: Many people need a car. Traffic should flow well. There should be more parking garages in the neighborhoods. The FDP does not want parking bans. There should be more charging stations for electric cars.

The FDP wants to put the taxi market on a market footing and open it to new mobility services such as Uber. The duty to operate for taxis is to be dropped, and private sharing services are to grow.

The FDP wants to open the taxi market. New companies like Uber should be allowed to drive in Bremen. Today taxis must be on call at set times. The FDP wants to drop this duty.

The FDP wants ride-hailing services such as Uber to be available in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Sharing services should also reach outlying districts, and new digital mobility services such as e-scooters should be permitted under fair competitive conditions.

The FDP wants to allow ride services like Uber in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Shared cars should also be available at the edge of the city. New services like e-scooters should be possible. The same rules should apply to all companies.

The FDP wants more frequent bus and tram service in Bremen, with waits of no more than seven minutes during the day and a ride every 25 minutes at night. Stops and ferry landings are to become safer and better equipped.

The FDP wants more buses and trams in Bremen. During the day, nobody should wait longer than 7 minutes. At night, there should be a ride every 25 minutes. Stops should be bright and safe.

The FDP wants more and more frequent buses to the freight village (GVZ), the overseas ports, and the fishing port. For the Überseestadt district, a loop service with electric, ideally autonomous vehicles and a ferry link are to be examined.

The FDP wants more buses to the ports and the freight center. This makes it easier for workers to get to work. The Überseestadt district should also be easier to reach. The FDP wants to test small electric vehicles and a ferry for this.

The FDP wants to link key hubs in the state with express lines and serve hard-to-reach neighborhoods with shuttle and on-demand minibuses. The city of Bremen's park-and-ride plan is also to be revised to cut downtown traffic and CO2 emissions.

The FDP wants fast buses between important places in the state. Small buses on request should go to remote neighborhoods. There should be better parking lots with links to buses and trams. People can leave their car there and switch.

The FDP wants to close the gap in the A281 highway as quickly as possible. According to the platform, the highway ring would noticeably ease traffic.

The FDP wants to finish building the A281 highway. Then there will be a ring around Bremen. The FDP says this eases traffic in several districts.

The FDP wants to clear the repair backlog for roads and bridges within ten years and rejects makeshift solutions. At the same time, Bremen's road construction standards are to be lowered, and new bridges over the Weser are to be built for more than just bicycles.

The FDP wants to repair broken roads and bridges. This should be done within ten years. Bremen should build roads in a less costly way. New bridges over the Weser river should not be for bikes only.

The FDP calls for a port bypass road (Hafenrandstraße) in Bremerhaven linking the Zollhaus Roter Sand with Cherbourger Straße and the port tunnel. It is meant to relieve the port and the Lehe district of through traffic.

The FDP wants a new road along the edge of the port in Bremerhaven. Then fewer cars and trucks drive through the port. The Lehe district should also get less traffic and noise.

The FDP wants a joint guideline across all agencies for construction sites and road closures so that information comes earlier and is clearer. Traffic light timing is to be reviewed continuously with digital tools so that all road users can move without long waits.

The FDP wants to plan road work better. Agencies should tell people earlier about road closures. Traffic lights should be timed better. Nobody should wait long, whether on foot, by bike, or by car.

The FDP wants to add two tracks to the rail line between Bremen and Bremerhaven and connect the two cities more often and at night. Bremerhaven is to become a regular long-distance stop, and the link to Groningen is to become a high-speed line in the long-distance network.

The FDP wants more tracks between Bremen and Bremerhaven. Trains should run more often, also at night. More long-distance trains should stop in Bremerhaven. The line to Groningen in the Netherlands should also get faster.

The FDP calls for a transport development plan for Bremerhaven and for the related council decisions to be carried out. To that end, the city planning office is to be moved back into the building department.

The FDP wants a plan for traffic in Bremerhaven. The plan should cover all kinds of transport. The ports and downtown should be easy to reach. The city planning office should belong to the building department again.

The FDP wants to set up an AI cluster at Bremen's universities and also create a cybersecurity cluster. Both are meant to connect academia, business, and public agencies and strengthen Bremen as a location for these technologies.

AI is short for artificial intelligence. These are computer programs that learn by themselves. The FDP wants to strengthen AI research in Bremen. Universities and companies should work together more closely. The same goes for protection against attacks from the internet.

The FDP wants contact with government offices to run digitally through a citizen account. Internal agency workflows are also to be digital from end to end and automated as far as possible. In the medium term, paper-based procedures would be dropped entirely to avoid duplicate work.

The FDP wants people to handle all official business online. There should be a digital citizen account for this. The offices themselves should also work without paper. Later, the old paper methods should end.

The FDP wants agencies to share existing data with each other more easily so that citizens and businesses do not have to submit it repeatedly. Those affected would have to approve each transfer for a specific purpose. The platform also calls for uniform digital interfaces with public offices.

Public offices should share data with each other more easily. Then people do not have to give the same information again. People should agree first. There should also be the same digital access points for all offices.

The FDP wants to repeal the 2022 law that assigns application development for Bremen's agencies exclusively to the IT provider Dataport. Instead, public offices would work more closely with digital companies from Bremen and Bremerhaven. This is meant to secure local jobs.

A law lets only one company build software for Bremen's public offices. The company is called Dataport and is based in Kiel. The FDP wants to end this law. Companies from Bremen and Bremerhaven should be able to get contracts too.

The FDP wants at least 90 percent of households and businesses in the state to have fiber to the home by 2030. Public Wi-Fi hotspots are also to be set up in city buildings, on public squares, and in public transit. The platform treats fast internet as a precondition for digital innovation.

The FDP wants fast internet for almost everyone. By 2030, 90 percent of homes and companies should have fiber. Fiber is a very fast internet line. There should also be more free Wi-Fi, including in buses and trains.

The FDP wants to expand the unit investigating cybercrime in both staff and technology. Networks and IT systems in the state are to be protected against sabotage and hacking according to a recognized security standard.

There is more and more crime on the internet. The FDP wants more experts for this in the police. The police should get modern technology. The computer systems of the cities should also be better protected.

The FDP wants people to be able to see the data stored about them, including raw data held by companies. Private addresses from the residents' register should only be released when someone proves a special interest.

Everyone should be able to see what data is stored about them. This should also apply to companies. Anyone asking an office for another person's address should need a good reason. The office should tell the person concerned about it.

The FDP commits to a right to anonymity online and in public spaces and to a right to encryption. It rejects camera surveillance without cause, blanket data retention, a real-name requirement and so-called state trojans.

The FDP wants people to be able to stay anonymous online and outdoors. The state should not watch people without a reason. Nobody should have to use their real name online. People should be allowed to encrypt their messages.

The FDP wants to advance the digitalization of the justice system and make digital communication the norm. By the end of the next legislative term, all courts and prosecutors' offices in Bremen are to work with electronic files.

The FDP wants to make the justice system digital. Courts should keep their files on computers. This should be done by the end of the next term. Online hearings should also be possible more often.

The FDP favors more digitalization in medicine to ease the workload of staff. It welcomes digital prescriptions, digital patient records and the digitalization of health insurers.

The FDP wants more digital technology in medicine. Programs should fill in forms automatically. That saves staff work. The FDP also likes digital prescriptions and digital patient records.

The FDP wants to raise police staffing in Bremen from about 2,750 to 3,300 and in Bremerhaven from 490 to 580. Pay is to rise to Hamburg's level, and officers are to be relieved of tasks outside their core work.

The FDP wants more police officers. Bremen should have 3,300 and Bremerhaven 580. They should earn as much as officers in Hamburg. Other offices should take over some tasks from the police.

The FDP wants to fight political extremism regardless of where it comes from. Extremist associations are to be banned, and organizations that work with such groups are to lose public funding.

The FDP wants to act against extremism. Extremism means that groups reject democracy. Such groups should be banned. Anyone who works with them should get no money from the state.

The FDP wants to equip the police with modern hardware, mobile devices, and specialized software and to introduce Tasers in Bremen. Prosecutors' offices and courts are to get more staff and digital technology so that proceedings take less time.

The FDP wants to give the police better computers and phones. The police in Bremen should also get Tasers. Tasers are devices that briefly stun a person with electricity. Courts should also get more staff and technology.

The FDP wants to equip police officers with bodycams and emergency vehicles with dashcams, including fire trucks and ambulances. The cameras are meant to deter attackers and make it easier to solve attacks on emergency personnel.

The FDP wants to protect emergency workers better. Police officers should wear cameras on their bodies. Fire trucks and ambulances should also get cameras. The cameras should scare off attackers.

The FDP wants police in Bremerhaven to keep their Tasers and wants to introduce them in the city of Bremen as well. The platform sees them as a milder option than a firearm.

A Taser is a device that gives an electric shock. Police in Bremerhaven have these devices. The FDP wants them to keep them. Police in the city of Bremen should get Tasers too.

The FDP wants a police force that stays approachable in the neighborhoods and wants to expand online crime reporting. People with disabilities should be able to file reports and make emergency calls without barriers.

Police should be easy to reach in the neighborhoods. People should be able to report crimes online easily. Deaf and blind people should also reach the police well in an emergency. For this, there should be video calls with a chat.

The FDP wants more staff for the Ordnungsamt (public order office) in Bremen and wants checks to take place at night and on Sundays and holidays too. Streets and squares should also be cleaned more often and more trash cans set up, because the platform sees order and cleanliness as shaping quality of life.

The public order office in Bremen should get more staff. It should also do checks at night and on holidays. The city should clean streets and squares more often. There should be more and bigger trash cans.

The FDP wants to make the area around Bremen's main train station safer and cleaner through more checks and more frequent cleaning. At the same time, it supports a permanent drug consumption room near the station so that marginalized groups are not simply pushed elsewhere.

The FDP wants to make the main station in Bremen safer and cleaner. Police and public order staff should do more checks there. People with a drug addiction should get a fixed room with help nearby. Helpers at the station should report damage and dirt.

The FDP wants to better protect children and teenagers from violence and sexual abuse. Reporting offices are to become more visible so that authorities learn of more cases and can act.

The FDP wants to protect children better from violence. Police and youth welfare offices should name fixed contact persons. Everyone should know where to report a suspicion. Police and courts should get more training on this.

The FDP wants to strengthen the rights of crime victims. Because, according to the platform, an especially large share of victim compensation claims fail in the state of Bremen, a research project is to look into the reasons.

The FDP wants to help crime victims more. In Bremen, the authorities reject many claims for compensation. Researchers should find out why. Victims should get more support during court cases.

The FDP wants to do more to prevent crime and to encourage civil courage among the public. Schools, clubs, employers and public campaigns are to teach how to help when a crime happens without putting oneself at risk.

The FDP wants fewer crimes to happen. People should look and help when a crime happens. They should not put themselves in danger. Schools, clubs and employers should teach this.

The FDP wants to push back organized crime through constant checks of relevant venues and businesses. At the same time, a network of agencies and institutions is to help people who want to leave criminal structures.

The FDP wants to act against criminal gangs. Police should check certain bars and shops very often. Other offices should help the police with this. People who want to leave a gang should get help.

The FDP wants to counter places with concentrated crime and use every means available to the state to do so. In weakened neighborhoods, it should be possible to suspend the social housing quota, and unsafe places are to be named openly and improved in a targeted way.

Some areas have a lot of crime. The FDP wants to change that. The city should name these places clearly. There should be more police, more light and more cleaning there. In weak neighborhoods, the duty to build social housing could be paused.

The FDP wants to give fire departments, rescue services and aid organizations lasting support in staff and modern equipment. The state of Bremen is also to meet its responsibilities in disaster response and provide its own resources.

The FDP wants to strengthen the fire service. There should be new fire stations and more staff. Children and teenagers should join the fire service early. The state should give more money for protection in disasters.

The FDP rejects stricter gun laws, which it already considers very strict. Instead, existing rules are to be enforced better.

The FDP does not want stricter rules for guns. It thinks the rules are strict enough already. But offices should check the rules better. They should get more resources for this.

The FDP wants to act against every form of extremism, whether right-wing, left-wing, religious, or nationalist. The platform calls right-wing extremism the greatest danger to democracy, while also demanding tougher action against left-wing extremist crime.

The FDP wants to fight extremism. This applies to right-wing and left-wing extremists. Right-wing extremist groups should be banned. Groups that work with left-wing extremists should get no state money.

The FDP wants to actively combat antisemitism and record antisemitic crimes more precisely. Schools would be required to report antisemitic incidents. Public authorities would stop working with openly anti-Israel or antisemitic organizations.

The FDP wants to fight hatred of Jews. Schools should have to report antisemitic incidents. The police should count such crimes more exactly. Antisemitic groups should get no more state money.

The FDP wants to support projects that prevent Islamist radicalization and help people leave the scene. Mosque congregations that support terrorism should receive no public money. Imams should more often be able to train at state universities.

The FDP wants to prevent Islamism. Schools should teach more about it. Mosques that support terrorism should get no state money. Imams should more often be able to study at German universities.

The FDP wants the state to respond faster to crimes by young people, arguing that this has the strongest educational effect and prevents further offenses. Fast-track proceedings are to be used more often. A "Haus des Jugendrechts" (House of Juvenile Justice) is to be set up in the city of Bremen.

The FDP wants faster proceedings when young people commit crimes. The response should come soon after the offense. Police, prosecutors, and youth services should work together more closely. Bremen should get a House of Juvenile Justice for this.

The FDP wants better staffing for Bremen's prison system so that prisoners can be successfully reintegrated into society. A probation app is to remind convicted people of appointments and court conditions and thus prevent avoidable imprisonment.

The FDP wants more staff in prisons. Prisoners should be able to live without crime after release. An app should remind convicted people of appointments and duties. This way, fewer people should have to go to prison.

The FDP wants to permit pyrotechnics in soccer stadiums under safe conditions. In the program's view, the current strict ban has not made spectators safer. Pilot events with fans, clubs, and the association are planned as a first step.

Fireworks are banned in stadiums today. The FDP wants to allow them, but only with clear rules. The party says the ban has not made stadiums safer. First there should be test events.

The FDP opposes Bremen billing the German Football League for extra policing at high-risk matches. In the program's view, this hurts Werder Bremen competitively and is a step toward privatizing public security.

Some soccer matches need a lot of police. Bremen sends the soccer league a bill for this. The league gets the money back from Werder Bremen. The FDP is against these bills. It says security is the job of the state.

The FDP wants to turn the public administration in Bremen and Bremerhaven into modern service providers through a staffing reform. To do this, the Personalvertretungsgesetz (the law on staff representation in the public sector) would be fundamentally modernized. By 2030, the share of administrative spending in the state budget should fall by half.

The FDP wants to make Bremen's administration smaller and more modern. By 2030, it should cost only half as much of the budget. The FDP wants to review tasks and do more digitally. The law on staff representation should also change. Bremen should set money aside for future pensions.

The FDP calls for sweeping deregulation and a reform of Bremen's public agencies. For every new rule, at least two comparable ones would be repealed. The platform argues that bureaucracy holds back solutions to many other problems.

The FDP wants fewer rules in Bremen. For every new rule, two old rules should go. Experts should check new laws first. They should say how much work a law causes.

The FDP wants to establish English permanently and across the board as an administrative language in Bremen and Bremerhaven. Every government service would also be available in English. The aim is to make things easier for international companies and to attract skilled workers from abroad.

The FDP wants public offices to use English too. People should be able to do all their paperwork in English. This should help companies from other countries. It should also bring skilled workers to Bremen.

The FDP wants a unified port policy with clear responsibilities for all ports in the state. Authority would rest with the state, while administration would lie with the city where each port is located. This is meant to better coordinate port and commercial areas.

The FDP wants clear rules on who is in charge of the ports. The state of Bremen should have top responsibility for all ports. The city where a port lies should manage it. This should help ports and business areas fit together.

The FDP wants to give Bremen's justice system better staffing and equipment. New positions are to be created for judges, prosecutors, and court administration. The platform sees the greatest need in the public prosecutor's office.

The FDP wants more staff for the justice system. There should be more judges and prosecutors. Court administration should also get more people. Pay should improve.

The FDP wants to reform the Magistrat, Bremerhaven's city government, to make democratic structures easier to understand. Whoever holds the majority should also fill the Magistrat. If the reform fails, the party will push for direct election of the mayor.

The Magistrat is the city government of Bremerhaven. The FDP wants to change it. Those who govern should also fill the Magistrat. If that fails, citizens should elect the mayor directly.

The FDP wants citizens to directly elect the heads of the district offices (Ortsämter) in Bremen. It justifies this with the goal of achieving more democracy and trusting people to make important decisions themselves.

The FDP wants people to have more say. Citizens should elect the heads of the district offices themselves. Their term should match the term of the state parliament. This should apply at the next elections already.

The FDP wants political decisions to be made in the state parliament and city council again rather than in municipal enterprises and companies. Public enterprises are to be critically reviewed, including for tasks that private businesses could do better. More practitioners are to sit on supervisory and administrative boards.

Bremen and Bremerhaven own many companies. The FDP wants to review these companies. Private firms should take over some tasks. More experts with practical experience should sit on the supervisory boards.

The FDP wants to expand the legal service of the Bremische Bürgerschaft (Bremen's state parliament) into a full research service. This is meant to help parliament oversee the Senate more effectively.

The Bürgerschaft is Bremen's parliament. It is supposed to check the Senate. The Senate is the government. The FDP wants to give parliament more experts. These experts would advise the lawmakers.

The FDP wants to replace the state and city Deputationen (joint bodies of lawmakers and administration) with parliamentary committees, arguing that committees are independent of the administration. In addition, motions and bills would normally be referred to committees for debate.

Bremen has bodies called Deputationen. Lawmakers and the administration work together in them. The FDP wants to turn them into committees of parliament. The committees should check the government better. Motions and bills should almost always be discussed there.

The FDP wants to involve Bremen's Beiräte (elected district councils) and Bremerhaven's neighborhood conferences earlier in decisions. The work of Bremen's district councils would also become traceable for everyone through a single digital information system.

Bremen's districts have elected councils called Beiräte. Bremerhaven has neighborhood conferences. The FDP wants them to have a say earlier. There should also be one website for all the councils. People can search there for topics and decisions.

The FDP wants to create citizens' forums in Bremerhaven whose members are selected by lot and who advise the city council members. Decisions would still be made only by the elected city council.

The FDP wants citizens' forums in Bremerhaven. A lottery decides who takes part. The forums advise the city council members. Only the elected city council makes the decisions.

In the long term, the FDP wants to turn Germany's Staatskirchenrecht (the law governing relations between the state and churches) into a constitutional law of religion. It would offer a suitable legal status to all religious communities that accept certain principles.

Germany has a law on how the state and churches relate. The FDP wants to turn it into a law for all religions. Every religious community should get a fitting status. To get it, a community must accept basic rights.

The FDP wants Germany to support Ukraine with humanitarian and economic aid and with weapons, and later to help with reconstruction. In Bremen and Bremerhaven, refugees from Ukraine should receive help, especially children through much better education and support services.

Russia attacked Ukraine. The FDP wants to help Ukraine, including with weapons. People from Ukraine should get help in Bremen. Children should get better offers for learning. After the war, Germany should help rebuild.

The FDP backs the protest movement in Iran and calls for swift, united action by democratic states. Together with European partners, pressure on the Iranian leadership should increase and further sanctions should be imposed.

In Iran, many people are fighting for more freedom. The FDP is on their side. Europe should put more pressure on Iran's government. There should be more sanctions. Sanctions are penalties against a country.

The FDP calls for ending all cooperation with the Confucius Institutes because, in its view, they serve the Chinese government for disinformation and propaganda. Instead, Bremen and Germany should offer Taiwan cooperation, including a Taiwanese institute and a city partnership.

Confucius Institutes are Chinese cultural centers in Germany. The FDP says China uses them for propaganda. Bremen should stop working with them. Instead, Bremen should work more closely with Taiwan. There should be a Taiwanese institute.

The FDP wants to simplify permits for film and television shoots in the ports and promote the ports as filming locations. It expects this to improve the image of the maritime industry and of both cities.

The FDP wants to make filming in the ports easier. Film crews should get permits faster. The ports should become known as places to film. This should be good for the image of Bremen and Bremerhaven.

The FDP wants to preserve and maintain historic buildings in Bremen and Bremerhaven. To do so, more money is to go into heritage protection of city-owned buildings, and a fund is to be created from which private owners can apply for money.

The FDP wants to keep old buildings. The city should spend more money on its old buildings. There should also be a fund. A fund is a pot of money. Private owners can get money from it.

The FDP wants to limit public broadcasting to information and education and remove entertainment from its mandate. Through reforms of mandate and structure, the broadcasting fee is to fall to no more than 10 euros a month in the long run. Part of the broadcasting council is to be directly elected.

The FDP wants to make public broadcasting smaller. It should only inform and educate. Entertainment should be dropped. The broadcasting fee should fall to at most 10 euros a month.

The FDP wants to adequately fund the major cultural institutions in Bremen and Bremerhaven and to give targeted support to the independent arts scene. The program also views cultural spending as a way to strengthen the local economy and therefore wants to focus more on cultural tourism.

The FDP wants to pay theaters, museums, and other cultural places well. Independent artists should also get support. Culture should bring more visitors to the cities. The FDP says this also helps the economy.

The FDP supports lifting the general ban on dancing on certain public holidays. Its reasoning is that faith is a private decision and that no religious community should be favored.

On some holidays, public dancing is not allowed. The FDP wants to end this ban. It says faith is a private matter. No religion should get special treatment.

The FDP wants to strengthen Bremerhaven's cultural offerings, preserve the city's theaters, and expand cultural education for children and teenagers. The program sees culture as an asset for the city's appeal and as a driver of neighborhood development.

The FDP wants to strengthen culture in Bremerhaven. The theaters should stay. Children and teenagers should find it easier to enjoy culture. The city should advertise its culture more.

The FDP wants a new civic hall built on Wilhelm-Kaisen-Platz in Bremerhaven. An investor is to build and finance it, and the city would then rent it. In the program's view, this is the only way to get a new building soon.

Bremerhaven should get a new civic hall. It is for sports, culture, and trade fairs. A private company should build and pay for it. The city then rents the hall.

The FDP wants to strengthen the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven and have its museum ships repaired. The permanent exhibition of the Historical Museum is to be modernized, and admission fees are to be charged there again.

The FDP wants to strengthen the Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven. The old ships should be repaired. The Historical Museum should get a new exhibition. Visiting it should cost money again.

The FDP wants to give the Nordseemuseum (North Sea Museum) in Bremerhaven a permanent exhibition site with a storage depot. The platform argues that many of the exhibits, currently in storage, are of high historical value.

The Nordseemuseum has no building of its own right now. Many items are kept in boxes. The FDP wants a fixed place for the exhibition. A storage space should be part of it.

The FDP wants downtown Bremen to serve more purposes: housing, education, culture, sports and dining are to matter more alongside shopping. To that end, the Domshof square, the Wallanlagen park, the Weser riverfront and open squares are to be redesigned, with residents involved through citizen workshops.

Downtown Bremen should offer more than shopping. There should be concerts on the Domshof square in the evening. New playgrounds should be built in the Wallanlagen park. There should be places for young people. Residents should be able to bring their own ideas.

The FDP wants to redesign the surroundings of Bremen's main train station to make them more pleasant and safer. Squares are to host events, walkways are to be improved and the Gustav-Deetjen tunnel is to be laid out differently.

The FDP wants to make the area around Bremen's main station nicer. There should be sports and festivals on the squares. Paths should be brighter and better. Bikes should get their own lane in the tunnel. This should make the area safer.

The FDP wants to use the redevelopment after Karstadt's departure to reposition Bremerhaven's downtown and open it toward the Havenwelten waterfront. It supports private investors but demands transparency about building plans and enough open space.

The Karstadt department store in Bremerhaven is gone. The FDP wants to redesign downtown there. People should get easily from downtown to the Havenwelten at the harbor. So buildings should not stand too close together. The plans should be shown openly before building starts.

The FDP rejects a ban on private fireworks on New Year's Eve. The party wants families to be able to keep up this tradition responsibly.

The FDP wants to keep fireworks on New Year's Eve legal. Families should be allowed to set off rockets privately. The FDP says most harm comes from banned firecrackers. A ban could lead more people to use those firecrackers.

The FDP wants to set up a memorial forest in Bremerhaven where burials beneath trees are possible. So far the city has no such option.

In Bremerhaven, people cannot be buried in a forest. But many people wish for that. The FDP wants a memorial forest there. That is a forest with graves next to trees.

The FDP wants to clear the repair backlog in sports halls, expand fields and halls as needed, and provide the budget funds for this. Schools and daycare centers are to work more closely with sports clubs, and the University of Bremen is to offer sports science again.

The FDP wants to repair run-down sports halls. There should be more fields and halls. Schools and daycare centers should work with sports clubs. The University of Bremen should train sports teachers again.

The FDP wants to support elite sports in Bremen and Bremerhaven with funding and public backing. Esports are to count as a sport regardless of game content, and esports clubs are to be recognized as nonprofit.

The FDP wants to support top-level sports with money. Esports should also count as a sport. Esports means competitions in video games. Esports clubs should get the same benefits as other sports clubs.