FDP on democracy and the state

The FDP wants to substantially roll back the restrictions on so-called silent holidays. Leaving a church is to become possible digitally and free of charge.

On some holidays, dance events are banned. The FDP wants to loosen this ban a lot. People who leave the church should be able to do it online. Leaving should no longer cost money.

The handling of church entries and exits by public offices is to be digitized because, according to the program, rising exit numbers burden the authorities and cause waiting times. The fee for leaving is to be dropped. Five years after leaving, the burden of proof is to be reversed: the church, not the person who left, would then have to prove continued membership.

The FDP wants 16-year-olds to vote in state elections and to be able to run in local elections. It argues that young people already bear responsibility, work and pay taxes. Children and teenagers are also to get binding participation rights in municipalities and at state level.

The FDP wants to lower the voting age. At 16, people should be allowed to vote for the state parliament. At 16, they should also be able to run for the city council. Children and teenagers should have more say in their town.

In the short term, the municipal code is to be changed so that people aged 16 and up can serve on local committees as expert residents. Children's and youth parliaments should be able to send a member with the right to make proposals to the youth welfare committee. The FDP expects all municipalities and counties to set up permanent participation structures and wants to advise them. At state level it points to the directly elected state youth parliament already being prepared. Citizens' initiatives and local petitions should also be signable digitally.

The FDP wants a review of whether state structures meet today's demands and will propose a cross-party commission at the state parliament. The goal is a comprehensive modernization of public administration. This includes reallocating responsibilities among the state, district governments, counties and municipalities.

The FDP wants to review how the state works. A group from all parties should do this in the state parliament. It should check whether offices work well and in a modern way. After that, tasks should be divided up anew.

The platform bases the review on crises in which the state was not always able to act, citing the fax machine in the pandemic as a symbol. Topics include protecting critical infrastructure, the effects of climate change and digitalization. The FDP wants to launch a reform of the division of powers that also covers the regional associations (Landschaftsverbände).

The FDP wants to cut the number of districts in state elections from 127 to 90 or 91. This is meant to make overhang and compensatory seats less likely and keep parliament workable.

The FDP wants fewer election districts for state elections. Instead of 127, there should be only 90 or 91. That way the state parliament does not grow too large. The new parliament should deal with this soon.

The platform points to the ratio of 127 districts to 181 regular seats. According to the FDP, this easily produces additional seats. The newly elected parliament is to take up the reduction soon after the election.

The FDP wants a waiting period before members of parliament, state secretaries and ministers can become judges on the state constitutional court. This is meant to safeguard judicial independence and the separation of powers.

Politicians should not become constitutional judges right away. The FDP wants a waiting period for this. Judges should not rule on matters they were involved in themselves. This keeps courts independent.

The rule concerns the Constitutional Court of North Rhine-Westphalia. It is meant to prevent former politicians from ruling on matters they were involved in during their previous office. The FDP sees this as a clear separation between politics and the judiciary.

The FDP wants to give the justice system more staff, renovate its buildings, and continue the federal-state Pakt für den Rechtsstaat (pact for the rule of law) for this purpose. Jobs in the justice system are to become more attractive through better pay, and legal trainees are to be civil servants again.

The FDP wants more staff for courts and prosecutors. Justice buildings should be renovated. Pay should get better. That way more young people should want to work in the justice system.

The pact is to focus on staff, digitization, and building renovation. Pay is to be geared to the job market in order to attract new recruits. Justice staff are to get an e-learning library for training. An EU competence center at the justice ministry is to bundle applications for European funding and reduce administrative effort.

The FDP wants to cut the length of criminal and civil proceedings substantially by equipping the justice system better. For young offenders in particular, punishment is to follow quickly after the offense. In prisons, more treatment is meant to lower reoffending rates.

Court cases should go faster. The FDP finds this especially important for young people. They should see the link between crime and punishment. Prisons should offer more help to stop reoffending.

Legal standards and judicial independence are to be preserved. Short proceedings are meant to help juveniles and young adults lead a life without crime. Treatment-oriented imprisonment is to be expanded so that the personal situation of individual offenders can be addressed better.

English should become a second administrative language in the state's public agencies. The FDP wants this to make the state more attractive for founders and for internationally active companies.

The FDP wants government offices to use English as well. This should help people and companies from abroad. They should be able to deal with offices more easily. This way more companies should come to North Rhine-Westphalia.

Contact with the administration should be as easy as possible for international actors. The proposal is part of the goal of a citizen-centered administration that organizes its services by life situations rather than by internal responsibilities. The FDP wants more flexibility in state and municipal administrations for this.

The FDP wants to reform pay and service law in the public sector and tie advancement more closely to performance. Moving between public administration and the private sector should become easier in both directions.

The FDP wants to change the rules for government employees. People who do good work should move up faster and earn more. Switching between a government job and a company should be easier. Employees should also be able to do internships in companies.

A culture of advancement is meant to replace thinking in fixed career tracks; training and promotions should depend on performance. Entitlements already earned should not be lost when someone switches. Working conditions, training and pay that rewards individual effort, rather than civil servant status, should make the public sector attractive. Employees should also be able to spend eight weeks in a private company at least every ten years, starting with a pilot project.

The FDP wants to make volunteer work on city and county councils more flexible and digital. Digital meetings are to be possible in certain cases, but in-person meetings remain the norm.

Many people serve on city councils as volunteers. The FDP wants to make this work easier. Some meetings should be allowed online. Meetings should end on time and start at suitable hours.

Council groups are to keep the option of meeting digitally. In disasters, city and county councils are to be able to convene online with legal certainty, as are voluntary committees if the council wishes. In favor of in-person meetings as the rule, the platform cites the principle of public access and the culture of debate. To make volunteer office fit better with work and family, meetings should be predictable. Councils should focus on core local tasks and avoid long debates on resolutions outside their remit.

The FDP wants to introduce a two-vote system for local elections. Mayors and county executives are to be elected by ranked-choice voting with a built-in runoff in order to strengthen their legitimacy.

In elections for city and county councils, everyone should have two votes. That is already the case in federal elections. When electing mayors, voters should rank the candidates. Then no second election is needed.

The two-vote system is familiar from federal and state elections. Under ranked-choice voting, voters put candidates in their personal order of preference. The platform justifies this with low turnout in runoffs and narrow first-round results; it also says candidates from smaller parties would no longer be deterred from running for tactical reasons. In addition, an executive board is to be set up at the regional associations (Landschaftsverbände) and the Ruhr Regional Association.