FDP: program for the 2025 federal election

The FDP calls for an immediate three-year halt to new bureaucratic burdens on businesses and a bureaucracy brake in the constitution. In its view, red tape weakens the economy, and cutting it is a stimulus program that costs nothing.

The FDP says companies have too much paperwork. For three years there should be no new rules for companies. The only exception is when other rules are removed first. The constitution should get a brake on bureaucracy.

The FDP wants to consolidate federal law and repeal outdated or contradictory statutes. Applications should normally count as approved if an authority does not respond in time. The aim is to cut red tape and strengthen competitiveness.

The FDP wants to remove old and unneeded laws. Offices should decide faster on applications. If an office does not answer in time, the application counts as approved. Businesses should have less paperwork.

The FDP wants to greatly simplify the rules for public contracts. In the program's view, complex procedures burden authorities and especially small and medium-sized businesses.

The state buys many things from companies. There are many rules for this. The FDP wants to make these rules much simpler. Small companies should get contracts more easily.

The FDP wants to scale back financial aid and tax breaks for individual industries and companies. Government stakes in companies are to be sold because, in the party's view, private investors run businesses better.

The FDP wants less state money for single companies and industries. The money should go to education instead. The state should sell its shares in companies. The FDP says private owners run companies better.

The FDP wants the EU to conclude as many free trade agreements as possible and calls for immediate ratification of the Mercosur agreement. More trade with more partners is meant to make Germany less dependent on single countries such as China and to secure jobs.

Germany sells many goods to other countries. The FDP wants more free trade deals. The deal with South America should take effect quickly. This should make Germany depend less on China.

The FDP wants to replace the daily maximum working time with a weekly one and simplify labor law. It rejects a statutory four-day week at full pay and political interference in the Minimum Wage Commission.

Today there is a limit on working time per day. The FDP wants a limit per week instead. People should be able to plan their work more freely. The FDP rejects a law for a four-day week.

The FDP wants to put the self-employed on an equal footing with employees and reform the procedure that determines whether someone is self-employed or an employee. The self-employed would be free to choose how they save for retirement.

The FDP wants fairer treatment for self-employed people. Their health insurance payments should depend on their real income. There should be clear rules on who counts as self-employed. They should choose their retirement savings freely.

The FDP wants new rules for strikes in critical sectors. In its view, strikes there risk disproportionate harm to society, which distorts the bargaining power of the parties.

The FDP wants new rules for strikes. This applies to important areas like trains, hospitals and daycare. Strikes there must be announced early. An emergency service must keep running.

The FDP wants to fundamentally restructure Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and gear it more toward taking up work. The unemployed would have to prove their own efforts, sanctions would be tougher and the standard rate lower. The program cites work incentives and fairness to taxpayers.

The FDP wants to change Bürgergeld a lot. Bürgergeld is the basic benefit for people without work. Jobless people should prove that they are looking for work. Those who make no effort get less money step by step. The standard rate should go down.

The FDP wants to merge tax-funded benefits such as Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and housing benefit into a single payment handled by one agency. The tax and welfare systems would be aligned along the lines of a negative income tax so that extra work pays.

Today there are many different welfare benefits. The FDP wants to turn them into one single benefit. One office should be in charge. People who work more should keep more money.

The FDP wants to let employees pay lower unemployment insurance contributions in exchange for a lower unemployment benefit. It cites the shrinking risk of long-term unemployment amid labor shortages and greater personal responsibility.

Employees pay into unemployment insurance. The FDP wants to allow a choice. Those who pay in less get less unemployment benefit later. In return, more of their wages is left over.

The FDP wants to prevent social security contributions from rising ever further above 40 percent. Future governments would be obliged to take countermeasures. In the party's view, high contributions burden workers and businesses and hold back new jobs.

The FDP wants to limit social security contributions. These are payments for pensions, health care and long-term care. They should not keep rising above 40 percent. The government would then have to act.

The FDP wants everyone to decide for themselves when to retire. The condition is that the pension is high enough to live on without additional welfare benefits. Those who work longer would get a higher pension, those who stop earlier a lower one.

The FDP wants people to choose when they retire. This only works if the pension is enough to live on. People who retire later get more money. People who retire earlier get less money.

The FDP wants to invest a small share of pension contributions in the capital market. An independent fund would manage the money. The party argues this offers better protection against an aging population and keeps contributions affordable.

The FDP wants a stock-based pension. A small part of pension contributions would go into a fund. A fund invests money, for example in stocks. The FDP says this keeps contributions affordable.

The FDP wants to introduce a tax-advantaged investment account for private retirement savings that is also open to the self-employed. Company pensions should also be allowed to invest more in stocks. Pensions should not be taxed twice.

The FDP wants a new account for private retirement savings. The account holds investments such as stocks. The state would support saving there with tax benefits. Company pensions should also be allowed to hold more stocks.

The FDP wants to restructure income tax so that extra work pays off more. The rate schedule would rise evenly, the top rate would apply only at much higher incomes, and the solidarity surcharge would be abolished entirely.

The FDP wants people to pay less tax on their wages. The highest tax rate should start only at 96,600 euros a year. The solidarity surcharge should end. Work should pay off more.

The FDP wants to bring the corporate tax burden below 25 percent and replace the trade tax (Gewerbesteuer) with a different model. Small and medium-sized firms and restaurants would get additional relief. The program cites international competition as the reason.

Companies should pay less tax. The tax burden should fall below 25 percent. The trade tax should be replaced by another solution. Food in restaurants should be taxed at only 7 percent.

The FDP wants a more digital tax administration and a largely automated tax return for many people. It also wants tougher action against tax fraud, financial crime and undeclared work.

The tax return should become easier. The tax office should fill it in ahead of time for many people. Citizens should have to give their data only once. The FDP also wants to do more against tax fraud.

The FDP wants to ease taxes on private wealth-building through stocks and channel more private capital into start-ups. Its stated aim is to turn Germany from a country of savers into one of shareholders.

The FDP wants more people to put money into stocks. Gains from stocks should be taxed less. Students should learn more about money. Young companies should get money from investors more easily.

The FDP wants financial market regulation to focus more on competitiveness and is critical of a common European deposit insurance scheme. It sees a threat to the protection schemes of savings banks and cooperative banks.

The FDP wants to check and simplify rules for banks. It is critical of a shared European protection for savings. It fears harm for savings banks and cooperative banks. The supervisor should also promote the financial center.

The FDP welcomes cryptocurrencies and wants crypto ETFs to be permitted. At the same time it wants to keep cash and accept a digital euro only as a voluntary supplement that protects privacy.

The FDP likes digital money such as Bitcoin. Central banks should be allowed to hold Bitcoin as a reserve. Cash should stay. Nobody should be forced to use the digital euro.

The FDP wants the federal government and the states to comply with the constitutional debt brake, citing fairness between generations. It strictly rejects giving the EU the power to take on debt.

The FDP wants the state to take on little new debt. The debt brake in the constitution should stay in force. Otherwise children will have to pay the debts later. The EU should not take on debt of its own either.

The FDP wants to boost housing construction with better tax depreciation, fewer requirements and faster permits. New government rules that make building more expensive would be halted immediately. The goal is more affordable housing.

The FDP wants more homes to be built. Building should become faster and cheaper. Many building rules should go. Offices should handle requests faster. If the office does not answer in time, the request counts as approved.

The FDP does not want to extend the Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) and rejects a nationwide rent cap. In its view, the regulation deters investors and private landlords and so worsens the housing shortage.

The rent brake limits rents in new leases. The FDP wants this rule to end. It also wants no rent cap for all of Germany. The FDP says companies build more homes with fewer rules.

The FDP regards Wohngeld (housing benefit) as the right tool to help people with low earnings. It wants to coordinate it better with Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and other benefits so that additional work pays off more.

Housing benefit helps people with low pay cover their rent. The FDP thinks this benefit is right. It wants to match it better with other aid. People who work more should end up with more money.

The FDP wants to exempt the purchase of a first owner-occupied home from real estate transfer tax up to 500,000 euros. The allowance would rise by 100,000 euros per child. The aim is to help more people become homeowners.

People pay a tax when they buy a home. The FDP wants to drop this tax for the first home you live in. This applies up to a price of 500,000 euros. Each child adds 100,000 euros.

The FDP wants to tie the full Elterngeld (parental allowance) to both parents taking at least four months each. Maternity protection is to be extended to the self-employed and to women after miscarriages, and childcare, care services and flexible working hours are to make family and work easier to combine.

The FDP wants to change parental allowance. Both parents should take at least four months. Then they get the full 14 months. Self-employed women should also be able to get maternity protection. The FDP wants to scrap the Working Hours Act.

The FDP calls for a new reproductive medicine law that permits egg donation and non-commercial surrogacy. Family law is to be adapted to diverse family forms, and shared parenting is to become the default model after separations.

The FDP wants to allow egg donation. Surrogacy without payment should also be possible. Unmarried couples should be allowed to adopt children. After a separation, both parents should care for the child.

The FDP wants uniform quality standards for daycare centers (Kitas) across Germany. These include staffing ratios based on actual need, less red tape, and teams drawn from several professions. The aim is reliable hours and high-quality care.

The FDP wants the same rules for all daycare centers in Germany. There should be enough staff for the children. Daycare centers should have less paperwork. Parents should be able to rely on the opening hours.

The FDP wants every preschool-age child nationwide to take a mandatory language test. Children would only start school once their German is good enough to follow lessons. Where needed, language support would be compulsory.

All children should take a language test before school. The test should be required. Children should start school only when they know enough German. Children who need help must take part in language support.

The FDP wants to fundamentally modernize initial and continuing training for childcare staff in order to tackle the shortage of skilled workers in daycare. Training would no longer cost tuition and would be adequately paid.

Daycare centers do not have enough trained staff. The FDP wants to renew the training for childcare workers. The training should cost nothing. Trainees should get paid.

The FDP calls for a fundamental reform of education federalism with uniform standards and a stronger federal role. The Kultusministerkonferenz (the states' conference of education ministers) would be abolished as a decision-making body and replaced by a federal education council. Uniform final exams are meant to make school diplomas comparable nationwide.

Today the states mostly decide about schools. The FDP wants the federal government to have more say. There should be the same rules for all of Germany. The final school exam should be the same everywhere. A new council should replace the meeting of state ministers.

The FDP calls for renovating Germany's school buildings and modernizing their technology through a Digitalpakt 2.0. At the same time, schools would get more decision-making power and a budget of their own.

Many school buildings are in bad shape. The FDP wants them repaired. Schools should get better technology. Every school should get its own money. With it, the school can decide more on its own.

The FDP wants to introduce economics and computer science as school subjects nationwide and update curricula. Teacher training would become a dual program combining study and practice, and teachers would be paid based on performance. Visits to memorial sites would be mandatory for students.

The FDP wants new school subjects: economics and computer science. Future teachers should get more practice during their studies. Good teachers should earn more. Students should have to visit a Holocaust memorial site.

The FDP wants to attract more young people to vocational training. Its plans include a career orientation year, expanded scholarships and Aufstiegs-BAföG (aid for advanced vocational training), and an exchange service for trainees.

The FDP wants more young people to do vocational training. There should be a year for trying out jobs. There should be more scholarships for trainees. Trainees should find it easier to go abroad.

The FDP sees learning as a lifelong process and wants to support continuing education. A new Lebenschancen-BAföG (life chances grant) would cover training costs, and a personal Freiraumkonto account would allow saving for it free of taxes and social contributions.

People should be able to learn all their lives. The FDP wants a new kind of financial aid for this. It is called Lebenschancen-BAföG. People should also be able to save for training without paying taxes on it.

The FDP wants the choice of degree not to depend on a student's family background and would therefore make BAföG (student aid) independent of parental income. Tax-free education savings and more stays abroad through Erasmus would be added.

Today student aid depends on the parents' money. The FDP wants to change that. All students should be able to get help. Parents and grandparents should save for education without paying taxes. School students should also go abroad with Erasmus.

The FDP wants to strengthen the whole research chain, from basic science to application in companies. A research freedom act would ease fusion research, genetic engineering and stem cell research. Germany is also to become one of the world's leading locations for artificial intelligence.

The FDP wants to strengthen research in Germany. A new law should give researchers more freedom. This covers nuclear fusion and genetic engineering, for example. Companies should pay less tax when they do research. Germany should be a leader in artificial intelligence.

The FDP wants family doctors and pediatricians to be patients' first point of contact. Hospitals are to specialize more, emergency care is to be better coordinated, and Germany is to be strengthened as a location for pharmaceuticals.

The FDP wants patients to see their family doctor first. For children it is the pediatrician. Hospitals should focus on certain treatments. Important medicines should be made in Germany and Europe again.

The FDP wants to keep statutory and private health insurance side by side and rejects a single citizens' insurance. Spending by the statutory funds is not to grow faster than their revenue.

The FDP wants to keep public and private health insurance. It rejects one single insurance for everyone. Public insurers should not spend more than they take in. Some benefits should be dropped.

The FDP wants to launch a prevention strategy and let insurers reward people who take preventive care with a lower supplementary contribution. Waiting times for psychotherapy are to fall below four weeks, and the party stands by cannabis legalization.

The FDP wants people to do more to stay healthy. People who do so should be able to pay less to their health insurer. Nobody should wait more than four weeks for psychotherapy. Cannabis should stay legal.

The FDP wants people to be able to use assisted dying with legal certainty while significantly expanding suicide prevention. Organ donation numbers are to rise without touching each person's free decision.

The FDP wants people to decide about their own death. Help with dying should have clear legal rules. People with thoughts of suicide should get more help. There should be more organ donations.

The FDP wants to free care providers from red tape, recruit more skilled workers at home and abroad, and ease the burden on family caregivers. Long-term care insurance is to remain a partial-coverage pay-as-you-go system but gain a capital-funded element.

The FDP wants less paperwork in care. More care workers should come, also from abroad. Care insurance should invest part of its money. This should keep contributions stable.

The FDP wants to attract more workers from abroad and simplify procedures. All rules on immigration and asylum would be gathered in one legal code, and labor migrants would deal with only one agency. The Blue Card would also be open to skilled workers without a university degree.

The FDP wants more workers from abroad. They should deal with only one office. All rules should be in one law book. The Blue Card should cover more skilled workers. The Blue Card is an EU work permit.

The FDP wants to take recognized refugees, including those from Ukraine, out of Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and give them a separate status. It would combine more help with finding work and lower benefits. People obliged to leave the country would generally get no more support.

The FDP wants to stop paying Bürgergeld to refugees. Bürgergeld is the basic welfare benefit. Refugees would get their own, lower benefit. They would get more help finding work. People who must leave would mostly get no money.

The FDP wants people without a right to stay to leave Germany quickly and wants to concentrate responsibility for deportations at the federal level. Family reunification for people with subsidiary protection would be suspended. Turning people back at the borders would be tested as a pilot.

The FDP wants to limit migration without permission. The federal government should handle deportations. Some refugees could not bring their families for now. The FDP wants to test turning people back at the border. Asylum procedures should be faster.

The FDP wants to separate language courses from integration courses and review how well the existing courses work. Citizenship should come only after successful integration and stay tied to earning one's own living and accepting the values of the constitution.

The FDP wants to split language courses and integration courses. The courses should mainly prepare people for work. Only well-integrated people should get a German passport. They must earn their own money.

The FDP wants to fight discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people. The equality article of the Basic Law (the German constitution) would be extended to include sexual identity. Police would record hate crimes against these groups the same way everywhere.

The FDP wants to protect queer people better. Queer people are, for example, lesbian, gay and trans people. The constitution should name their protection clearly. Police should count and pursue hate crimes against them the same way everywhere.

The FDP wants more accessibility and an inclusive education system from daycare through vocational training. Special-needs schools would be kept at the same time. A permanent disability would only have to be proven once.

The FDP wants fewer barriers for people with disabilities. Children with and without disabilities should be able to learn together. Special-needs schools should still exist. A permanent disability only has to be proven once.

The FDP wants women's shelters to be adequately funded and free places to be visible online nationwide. Medical care is also to be better tailored to women, and women's rights strengthened worldwide.

The FDP wants more money for women's shelters. Women find protection from violence there. A website should show free places right away. Doctors should do more research on women's illnesses.

The FDP wants to improve care for women with unwanted pregnancies and make it possible for all women to have the cost of an abortion covered. The next Bundestag is to debate a reform of the criminal provisions without party discipline.

The FDP wants to give more help to women with an unwanted pregnancy. All women should be able to have the costs of an abortion covered. Doctors should learn the procedure in training. Parliament should decide freely on the criminal law.

The FDP wants to abolish tax classes 3 and 5 and make childcare costs and maintenance payments more deductible. More women are to start businesses, and couples are to split pension points to reduce old-age poverty among women.

The FDP wants to end tax classes 3 and 5. Parents should deduct more childcare costs from their taxes. More women should start companies. Couples should share pension points.

The FDP opposes ending lignite mining before the legally set phase-out year of 2038. It points to the particular economic challenges in eastern Germany.

Germany plans to stop mining lignite coal by 2038. Some people want to stop earlier. The FDP is against that. It is thinking of the economy in eastern Germany.

The FDP wants to phase out electricity and energy taxes and eventually replace them entirely with the CO2 price. Grid fees would also be reformed and grid expansion made cheaper so that energy prices fall.

Electricity and energy should become cheaper. The FDP wants to cut the electricity tax sharply. Later, only the CO2 price should apply. The vehicle tax should also end. New power lines should be built above ground.

The FDP wants to end support for new wind and solar plants under the Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) and scrap statutory expansion paths. New gas power plants would be built via a capacity market, and more natural gas would be produced in Germany.

New wind and solar plants should no longer get subsidies. They should pay for themselves on the market. The FDP wants new gas power plants. Germany should produce more of its own natural gas, including by fracking.

The FDP wants to make building new nuclear power plants and using nuclear fusion legally possible in Germany, without subsidies. Shut-down nuclear plants could also return to the grid if their operators choose.

The FDP wants to allow nuclear power in Germany again. Companies should be allowed to build new kinds of nuclear plants. Old nuclear plants should be allowed to run again. The state should not pay for this.

The FDP wants to reach the European climate targets mainly through a single EU emissions trading system and to scrap additional climate rules. Revenues would be returned to citizens per capita as a climate dividend. In the party's view, the carbon price cuts greenhouse gases where it is cheapest.

The FDP relies on emissions trading for the climate. Companies buy permits for the CO2 they emit. The number of permits falls every year. Other climate rules should go. All citizens should get the money back.

The FDP wants to move Germany's target year for climate neutrality from 2045 to the EU-wide year of 2050. In its view, national targets add no climate benefit under European emissions trading, and industry would gain time to adapt.

Germany wants to be climate neutral by 2045. The FDP wants to move this goal to 2050. That is the EU's goal. The FDP says companies get more time to change this way.

The FDP wants the Heizungsgesetz (heating law) to expire completely and to reach climate-friendly heating through carbon certificate trading rather than detailed rules. A climate dividend and much lower energy taxes are meant to cushion the costs.

The FDP wants to end the heating law. The state should not decide how people heat. Instead, CO2 emissions should have a price. People should get money back. Heating with wood should stay legal.

The FDP wants species protection to focus on whole populations and habitats rather than individual animals, and wants payments to replace compensation land for construction projects. The aim is faster projects and larger-scale conservation measures.

The FDP wants to change nature protection. The whole species should be protected, not each single animal. Builders should pay money instead of finding replacement land. Experts use the money for big nature projects.

The FDP wants to manage wolf and cormorant populations through hunting and sees hunting as part of species protection. In forestry, it rejects new management rules and interference with property.

The FDP wants hunters to be allowed to hunt wolves and cormorants. This should keep their numbers down. Forest owners should not face new rules. Wood should count as climate-neutral.

The FDP wants farm policy to focus more on farmers as business owners. Productivity and innovation are to take priority over subsidies, and rules and record-keeping duties are to be cut.

The FDP sees farmers as business owners. They should need less money from the state. They should have less paperwork. New technology and new breeding methods should help.

In food policy, the FDP relies on education, information and consumer choice. It rejects state rules on recipes and new levies, for example on sugar.

The FDP does not want a tax on sugar. The state should not tell companies how to make food. People should decide for themselves what they eat. They should get good information for this.

The FDP wants to overturn the EU rule that effectively bans new combustion engine cars from 2035 and to abolish fleet emission limits. It relies instead on alternative fuels such as e-fuels, arguing that fossil fuels, not the engine, are the problem.

From 2035, no new combustion cars are to be sold in the EU. The FDP wants to lift this rule. It counts on new fuels without oil. The CO2 limits for carmakers should also go.

The FDP wants to greatly speed up planning and permitting for transport routes and digital networks. Funding is to be secured within the debt brake, including with private capital.

The FDP wants to build roads, rail and networks faster. Planning should take only half as long. The state should not take on extra debt for this. Private investors should be able to help pay.

The FDP wants to make the driver's license cheaper and quicker to obtain, allow accompanied driving from age 16 and permit autonomous driving. It rejects a general speed limit on the Autobahn and mandatory driving tests for seniors.

A driver's license should cost less. Teens should be allowed to drive with an adult from age 16. Cars should be allowed to drive themselves. The FDP wants no speed limit on highways. It also wants no forced tests for older drivers.

The FDP wants to split Deutsche Bahn into rail network and train operations and create more competition on the rails. This is meant to make rail more reliable. In local transit, flexible, digitally linked services would supplement fixed routes.

The FDP wants to split Deutsche Bahn. One part looks after the tracks, another runs the trains. More companies should run trains. The FDP says this makes trains more reliable. Buses and trains should run more flexibly.

The FDP wants to abolish the air travel tax and lower aviation security fees. According to the platform, flying should stay affordable and Germany should remain competitive as an aviation hub.

There is a special tax on plane tickets. The FDP wants to end this tax. Fees for airport security should also go down. This should keep flights affordable.

The FDP wants to protect Germany better against espionage, sabotage, disinformation and cyberattacks, which it attributes mainly to Russia and China. Manufacturers would have to build in security from the start and be liable for damage from vulnerabilities. The state would refrain from using state trojans.

The FDP wants more protection against attacks from the internet. Makers should build their products to be safe from the start. They should pay for damage caused by security gaps. The state should not use spy software on devices.

The FDP wants a dedicated digital ministry to steer the digitalization of public administration uniformly nationwide. It would be formed from existing departments of other ministries. For network expansion, the party relies mainly on private companies.

The FDP wants a new ministry for digital matters. It should steer digital government across the country. Departments from other ministries would move there. Mostly companies should build fast internet.

The FDP wants citizens and businesses to be able to handle all government services online and to provide information only once. Analog processes would be replaced by digital ones rather than running both in parallel.

The FDP wants government offices to go digital. Everyone should have a right to online services. People should give their data only once. Paper processes should end. Helpers in offices support people who find this hard.

The FDP wants to redistribute responsibilities among the security agencies of the federal government, the states and municipalities. Intelligence services would get clearer legal foundations and, at the same time, better oversight. New powers would be reviewed in advance for their effect on civil rights.

The FDP wants to reorganize the security agencies. Many agencies do similar jobs today. The intelligence services should get clear rules. Someone should check them better. The FDP wants new powers to be reviewed first.

The FDP wants to take action against criminal clans and other organized crime. Money laundering would be stopped and assets from crimes confiscated. The party's aim is that crime should not pay.

The FDP wants to fight criminal clans. The state should take away money from crimes. It should stop money laundering. Money laundering means hiding that money comes from crimes.

The FDP rejects blanket video surveillance, automated facial recognition and the storage of data without specific cause. Instead, data would be secured only when there is suspicion and a judge orders it. A right to encryption would protect private communication.

The FDP does not want everyone to be watched. Cameras should not recognize faces automatically. The state should not store data without a reason. Only with a suspicion can a judge allow it. Everyone should be allowed to encrypt messages.

The FDP wants to take action against political and religious extremism, especially Islamism and antisemitism. Public money should not go to groups that deny Israel's right to exist. Further bans on organizations would be examined.

The FDP wants to fight extremism. This includes Islamism and hatred of Jews. Jewish people should feel safe in Germany. Some groups should get no money from the state. The FDP wants to look at further bans.

The FDP wants to make courts more digital, test AI in the justice system and allow online proceedings. The criminal code would be reviewed and outdated offenses removed. Riding public transit without a ticket would become a mere administrative offense.

The FDP wants more digital courts. Some cases should run online. Old criminal rules should go. Riding without a ticket should no longer be a crime. There would only be a fine.

The FDP wants to turn the law on church-state relations into a body of law that applies equally to all religious communities. The state payments to the churches would be ended through a settlement. Islamic associations would be reviewed to determine whether they can be partners of the state.

The FDP wants the same rules for all religions. The state still pays the churches money under old agreements. These payments should end. The FDP wants to check Islamic associations closely. More imams should be trained in Germany.

The FDP wants to relieve clubs and associations of red tape and liability risks and strengthen sports as a task for society. It rejects general compulsory service as a serious intrusion on freedom and relies on voluntary service instead.

The FDP wants to make work easier for clubs. They should have less paperwork. Big sports events like the Olympics should come back to Germany. The FDP rejects mandatory service for young people.

The FDP calls for a Bundestag committee of inquiry into the COVID pandemic. It is to examine failures and what the party regards as excessive restrictions on fundamental rights, and to make recommendations for future crises.

The FDP wants a close look at the COVID years. A committee in parliament should do this. It should uncover mistakes. It should also give advice for later crises.

The FDP wants to review all responsibilities and administrative processes of the federal government, states and municipalities and then reform federalism. The aim is a leaner state with clear responsibilities.

The FDP wants to check who does what in the state. Many offices do similar tasks today. After that, the federal government and the states should divide their tasks anew. The state should become smaller and work better.

The FDP wants a new commission to sort out the financial relations between the federal government and the states. The platform argues that strong federalism needs clear responsibilities and accountability.

The federal government and the states share tasks and money. The FDP wants a new commission for this. A commission is a group of experts and politicians. It should make clear who pays and who decides.

The FDP wants fewer federal ministries, agencies, commissioners and state secretaries, and significantly fewer positions in the federal administration. In its view this saves taxpayer money and makes government more efficient.

The FDP wants a smaller government. There should be fewer ministries and agencies. The number of federal jobs should go down too. The FDP says this saves taxpayers' money.

The FDP wants more flexible civil service rules and wants performance in public administration to be measured and rewarded more. According to the platform, administration should serve citizens and enable rather than refuse.

The FDP wants to change how public offices work. Good performance should count more. Citizens' satisfaction should be part of staff reviews. Experts should be able to move up more easily.

The FDP wants EU directives transposed one-to-one only and wants several Green Deal rule sets abolished entirely. In its view these rules add no climate protection but overburden small and medium-sized firms in particular.

The FDP says too many rules come from the EU. Germany should not make EU rules even stricter. Several EU rules on environmental reports should go away completely. This should ease the load on companies.

The FDP wants to make the EU more capable and independent through institutional reform. This includes a smaller Commission, a right of initiative for the European Parliament and qualified majority voting in foreign and security policy.

The FDP wants to change the EU. In foreign policy, a large majority should be enough. Today all countries must agree. The EU Parliament should be allowed to propose laws itself. The EU Commission should get smaller.

The FDP supports EU accession for the Western Balkan states, Moldova and Ukraine if they meet the Copenhagen criteria. It wants to end accession talks with Turkey in their current form because, in its view, the country does not meet the requirements.

The FDP wants new countries to join the EU. These include Ukraine, Moldova and Balkan countries. They must meet fixed rules. The FDP no longer wants to hold talks with Turkey the way it is done now.

The FDP wants to abolish civil clauses, under which universities commit to purely civilian research. It regards them as a disproportionate interference with academic freedom. A European defense research agency would also be created.

Some universities do no research for the military. So-called civil clauses set this rule. The FDP wants to remove these clauses. Europe should also get a new agency for military research.

The FDP wants to support Ukraine with money and weapons so it can defend itself against Russia at any time. It calls for immediate delivery of the Taurus cruise missile. The goal is to restore Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The FDP wants to help Ukraine more. Germany should give money and weapons. This includes the Taurus missile. It can fly very far. Ukraine should later join the EU and NATO.

The FDP commits to NATO and the alliance with the United States. Germany is to spend at least two percent of economic output on defense and also meet higher targets if NATO agrees on them.

The FDP stands by NATO. NATO is a defense alliance. Germany should spend enough money on defense. That means at least 2 percent of its economic output. If NATO asks for more, Germany should pay more.

The FDP wants to fund and equip the Bundeswehr better and make it the strongest conventional force in Europe. It relies on a volunteer army with a strong reserve and rejects a return to general conscription. In the long run, it aims for a European Army.

The FDP wants to make the Bundeswehr stronger. It should get more money and better equipment. Nobody should be forced to serve. Later there should be a shared army in Europe.

The FDP wants to raise pressure on Russia with economic sanctions, a far-reaching trade embargo and visa revocations. Russian war crimes are to be prosecuted. The EU is to phase out Russian energy purchases according to a plan.

The FDP wants tough penalties against Russia. There should be almost no trade with Russia. The EU should stop buying energy from Russia. Courts should punish crimes committed in the war.

The FDP wants to keep economic ties with China in principle but reduce dependencies in security-relevant and key economic sectors. It also wants to support Taiwan more, without recognizing it as a state.

Germany buys a lot from China. The FDP wants Germany to depend on China less. This applies to important areas such as security. The FDP wants to work more with Taiwan.

The FDP wants to restructure development cooperation and its institutions. Funds are to follow the economic and security interests of Germany and the EU. Foreign policy is to balance values and interests.

Germany gives money to poorer countries. The FDP wants to spread this money differently. It should also benefit Germany and Europe. Countries that cut the rights of women or minorities should get less money for their government.

The FDP calls Israel's existence and security a German reason of state. Israel is to receive everything it needs for self-defense and be put on par with NATO states for arms exports. The FDP seeks a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict.

The FDP wants to protect Israel. Germany should send Israel weapons as it does to NATO countries. Israel and Palestine should become two separate states. Both sides should negotiate this.

The FDP wants to add culture to the constitution as a state goal and establish a broader definition of culture that includes pop culture. Abroad, the Goethe-Institut network would continue to be funded, and an EU-wide fund for heritage conservation would be set up.

The FDP wants the constitution to name culture as a goal of the state. Comics, games and design should count as culture too. The Goethe-Institut centers abroad should keep getting money. The EU should start a fund for old buildings.

The FDP wants a smaller public broadcasting system limited to news, education and information. Fewer channels and less duplication would significantly lower the broadcasting fee. Young people in training or education would pay nothing.

The FDP wants smaller public broadcasters. They should mainly offer news, education and information. There should be fewer channels. The broadcasting fee should drop a lot. Young people in training should pay nothing.