Freie Wähler on the economy

The Free Voters want to make a principle of proximity a guiding idea for the economy. Municipalities should be allowed to award more contracts to local providers, and regional products should be marketed more within the region.

The Free Voters want to strengthen the local economy. Towns should be allowed to give more contracts to nearby companies. Products from the region should also be sold there. This should turn makers and buyers into partners.

Each region is to highlight and use its particular strengths as a locational advantage. The platform treats local contracting and regional marketing as economic development at the municipal level. Local supply is meant to create a partnership between producers and consumers that goes beyond a pure trading relationship.

The Free Voters want to relieve businesses of financial and bureaucratic burdens, especially small and mid-sized firms. For every new regulation, two existing ones are to be scrapped. The platform frames this as a social market economy built on competition and merit.

The Free Voters want fewer rules for companies. For every new rule, two old rules should go. Government offices should work faster and digitally. This should help small companies most of all.

The party contrasts a social market economy with a planned economy and wants competition without what it sees as unnecessary rules and without quotas. Property and entrepreneurial freedom of decision rank highest for it. Public procurement is to become simpler, proof requirements fewer, and new rules are to be checked in advance for practicality. Public administration should work digitally, be business-friendly and decide faster. In the platform's view, many regulations, a larger public sector and lagging digitalization tie up workers who are needed elsewhere. The party also wants to secure skilled workers, support technology and help with business succession.

The Free Voters want to reduce the regulatory burden on skilled-trade businesses as far as possible. A vocational preparation year and more appreciation are meant to make trade careers more attractive.

The Free Voters want to help the skilled trades. Businesses should have to follow fewer rules. There should be a year to prepare for a trade job. This should bring more people into the trades.

According to the platform, almost 300,000 people work in Saxony's skilled trades, which it says stand for the state's identity and worldwide reputation. As burdens, the party lists documentation, record-keeping and disclosure duties, the early due date for social insurance contributions, and additional insurance. It wants to minimize these burdens. The trades are meant to play a role in the state's future again.

The Free Voters stand for open markets and free trade because Saxony's economy depends on exports. Sanctions should be used only as a last resort, while the platform also warns against one-sided dependence.

Saxony sells many goods abroad. That is why the Free Voters want free trade. Sanctions are trade penalties against other countries. The party wants them only in an emergency. But Saxony should not depend on just one country.

The platform puts Saxony's exports in 2022 at 53 billion euros, about 60 percent of them within Europe, and imports at around 35 billion euros a year. Saxony thus exports more than it imports. The party wants to use the advantages of the cross-border area with the Czech Republic and Poland to make Saxony more attractive to investors.

The Free Voters want to focus funding on future technologies such as artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and aerospace. Products from Saxony would also carry a "Made in Saxony" label.

The Free Voters want more support for new technology. This includes artificial intelligence and self-driving cars. It also includes aircraft and space technology. Products from Saxony should get their own label. It is called "Made in Saxony."

The platform sets funding priorities on artificial intelligence, autonomous driving, and aerospace technology. Innovation is also to be supported specifically in construction, tourism, and agriculture. Goods from Saxony would get their own label of origin called "Made in Saxony."

The Free Voters want to attract founders to Saxony and keep them there. They plan help with grants, equity capital, and loans, along with lower business taxes in the early years. An international advertising campaign is meant to improve Saxony's image.

The Free Voters want more new companies in Saxony. Founders should get help finding money. They should pay less tax in the first years. An ad campaign should make Saxony better known abroad.

Founders would get structured guidance when seeking grants, equity capital, or loans. For the early years, the platform calls for more flexible and lower business tax rates. Special economic zones in Saxony should also be up for discussion. An international image and advertising campaign would present the state as a place of quality, progress, and high quality of life. The goal is well-paid jobs through attractive conditions for business.