Freie Wähler on the environment and animal welfare

The Free Voters reject privatizing the drinking water supply and want essential public services to stay in public hands as far as possible. The platform calls the privatization of energy supply a mistake to be corrected carefully. Water is also to be protected through better wastewater treatment and water retention.

The Free Voters do not want to sell drinking water to companies. The supply should stay with the state and the towns. Wastewater should also be cleaned better. Towns should get help to hold back water.

The water supply should not pass into private hands, and the party wants to reverse energy privatization with a sense of proportion. All Bavarian sewage plants are to get further treatment stages, for example against microplastics and hormones. The EU directive on urban wastewater treatment is to apply in municipalities with more than 10,000 residents. Municipalities are to receive support for decentralized water retention, which serves groundwater and flood protection. Separate water systems in households are to be promoted so that rainwater flushes toilets. Flood zones should have no unsecured heating oil tanks.

The Free Voters want to limit land consumption in Bavaria to five hectares per day and give priority to development within existing built-up areas over designating new land. The party continues to reject a third runway at Munich Airport. Cities are to get more greenery instead of strict densification.

The Free Voters want less land to be built on. It should be at most 5 hectares per day. Empty buildings and old business sites should be used again. Munich Airport should not get a third runway. Cities should have more green spaces.

Besides the cap of five hectares a day, the platform names building upward, combined use of building land and reviving vacant buildings and disused commercial sites. Former farmsteads are to be easier to convert, including outside built-up areas, to avoid new commercial zones. The third runway in Munich is to be dropped completely. In cities, fresh-air corridors are to stay and planted gardens are to replace gravel gardens. Soils are to be better protected from pollutants and erosion, and recovering phosphorus from sewage sludge is to receive state funding.

The Free Voters want to avoid long animal transports and end transports to countries outside the EU, both in Germany and EU-wide. They also call for more money for animal shelters, a state animal welfare commissioner, and easier removal of problem wolves.

The Free Voters want to protect animals better. Animals should no longer be driven to countries outside the EU. Animal shelters should get more money. Bavaria should get an official for animal welfare. Wolves that cause problems should be easier to kill.

Animal transports would be allowed only within the EU because, according to the platform, animal welfare rules can only be enforced there. The platform wants to promote slaughter close to the farm, reward animal welfare programs in agriculture, and rule out patents on animals. Shelters and rescue stations would get higher state subsidies, alternatives to animal testing would be strengthened, and the illegal puppy trade stopped. Investor-run veterinary practices and clinics would be limited, and veterinary care, including for large animals, secured. On wolves, the platform calls for more effective herd protection and easier removal of problem wolves.