Grüne on democracy and the state

The Greens want to build joint state and regional planning with the neighboring states. The aim is to coordinate housing policy as well as economic and land development and make them sparing of resources and the climate.

Hamburg works closely with its neighbors. The Greens want to plan together with the neighboring states. This is about housing, the economy, and land. The planning should protect the climate and nature.

The bodies of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region are to be strengthened and joint agreements made more binding. The Greens want to examine whether a dedicated legal entity for the metropolitan region can be founded with the counties and the states of Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, and Schleswig-Holstein. It would have its own planning and decision-making powers. The platform justifies this with the shared labor and housing market, retail, leisure, culture, and transport.

The Greens want to pay district office employees better and give the districts more reliable funding. District heads and district assemblies are also to get a stronger role.

The districts take care of life in the neighborhoods. The Greens want to pay the staff there better. The districts should get reliable funding. The heads of the districts should have more weight.

The platform justifies higher pay with growing tasks, lower salaries than in other parts of the administration, and competition from surrounding municipalities. The district assemblies' grants for social and cultural projects should no longer depend solely on the number of approved housing units. The term of the district heads is to be tied to the district assemblies' electoral term to strengthen them as district mayors. The neighborhood funds are to grow, and money for energy retrofits of district-owned buildings is to be provided step by step. The lower road traffic authority is to be merged into the transport ministry, and registering neighborhood street festivals is to become easier.

The Greens want to expand public participation in the districts and reach people who rarely use existing formats. In the coming term, a citizens' assembly on education is to be tested and evaluated.

The Greens want more people to have a say. For this, there should be a citizens' assembly. In such an assembly, randomly chosen people discuss a topic. The first one should talk about education.

Outreach-based participation and random selection of participants in consultation processes are planned. In the education assembly, learners of all ages are to be heard. A comprehensive participation strategy is to be developed for children and young people. District staff are to keep being trained in running participation processes, and districts are to be able to get extra funds for new formats. Community centers (Bürgerhäuser) are to be funded uniformly through a block grant from a Senate ministry, and civil society groups are to receive resources.

The Greens advocate letting young people vote in Bundestag elections from age 16. In the party's view, young people know best what is good for them and should be able to take on responsibility early.

The Greens want 16-year-olds to vote in federal elections. They can already vote in other elections. The party says young people should help decide their future.

The platform points out that 16-year-olds can already vote in district, state parliament and European elections. This rule is to be extended to the Bundestag election. The reasoning is that it lets young people take part in shaping society at an early stage.

The Greens want to establish an Enquete commission (a parliamentary commission of inquiry) on societal and social cohesion in the coming term. It is to develop proposals for strengthening cohesion, trust in democracy and social participation in Hamburg.

The Greens want an Enquete commission. That is a working group in parliament with experts. It should find ideas for more cohesion in Hamburg. People should trust democracy more.

The commission is to work across party groups and include academics and civil society. The platform justifies the plan by saying that poverty and inequality endanger cohesion and democracy, and that trust in institutions falls especially among people with low incomes. In the party's assessment, Hamburg has so far been less divided than other regions, which is why it wants to act preventively.

The Greens want to anchor young people's say in law. This would be accompanied by a participation strategy, a central coordination office, youth parliaments and a state commissioner for children and youth.

Children and young people should have more say in Hamburg. The Greens want a law for this. There should also be youth parliaments. A commissioner should speak up for young people.

A comprehensive strategy and a citywide guiding framework are to be developed together with children and young people. A central coordination office would bring together the districts' participation options and support young people with know-how and contacts. Youth parliaments would represent the younger generation as democratic bodies. A state commissioner would serve as a point of contact and represent young people's concerns at the state level.

The Greens want to keep putting money into programs and civil society initiatives against extremism, especially for young people. The party sees right-wing extremism as the greatest danger to democracy and freedom.

The Greens want to protect democracy. They want to keep paying for projects against extremism. These projects should mainly make young people strong. Projects for respect and diversity also get money. The party sees the biggest danger in right-wing extremists.

The programs are meant to inform young people and strengthen them in resisting extremist ideologies. Civil society initiatives are to keep receiving support, as are projects for diversity, tolerance and respect that reduce prejudice and advance exchange between cultures and groups. The party also wants to strengthen the rule of law with an independent and capable judiciary. According to the program, Hamburg is to become a "safe space," meaning a place without discrimination where minorities are protected.

The Greens want protest against fascism to be possible safely and without being criminalized. This is explicitly meant to include forms of civil disobedience.

People should be able to protest against fascism. This should be safe. The Greens do not want such protest treated as a crime. This also covers civil disobedience. That is protest that breaks rules on purpose.

The platform places this demand in the context of fighting right-wing extremism. Protest against fascism should be able to take place in safety. Civil disobedience should not be criminalized either.

The Greens want to ensure that extremists do not work in public service. To that end, the federal law on judges is to be amended, and opponents of the constitution should not be admitted to legal traineeships.

Extremists should not work for the state. This matters most in the courts. Judges who are barred from office should temporarily lose part of their pay. Enemies of the constitution should not train as lawyers with the state. The Greens want to review and change laws for this.

According to the platform, Hamburg has reformed its disciplinary law along federal lines, so that all disciplinary measures are imposed by administrative order and reviewed by courts only afterward. At the federal level, the Deutsches Richtergesetz (German Judiciary Act) is to be changed so that pay can be provisionally withheld when a judge is provisionally barred from office. Applicants who actively fight the free democratic basic order should not enter the legal traineeship; whether federal law must change for this will be examined. Better information sharing between security agencies and the justice system on the suitability of expert witnesses is also to be reviewed.

The Greens want to convert Hamburg's state parliament, the Bürgerschaft, from a part-time into a full-time parliament. Parliamentary groups and the parliament itself are to be better resourced, and cooperation with neighboring parliaments is to grow.

Hamburg's lawmakers only work part-time today. The Greens want a full-time parliament. Party groups should get more money for staff. The parliament should get a research service. Hamburg should also consult more with the parliaments of neighboring states.

According to the platform, Hamburg is among the last German states with part-time lawmakers. With the move to a full-time parliament, parliamentary groups are to receive a budget for professional staff and the parliament facilities such as a research service. The joint committee with the Schleswig-Holstein state parliament is to continue. The state parliaments of Lower Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are also to be invited to deliberate on issues of the metropolitan region.

The Greens want to keep developing Hamburg's Transparency Act. The transparency portal is to be kept up to date, and publicly owned companies should also provide transparency.

Hamburg has a law on open government information. The Greens want to keep improving this law. The online portal for it should be well maintained. City-owned companies should also disclose information. The freedom-of-information commissioner should get clearer rights.

The platform points to the lobby register with a legislative footprint that has already been introduced. The transparency portal is to be maintained continuously and kept technically current, for example machine-readable and accessible. The city's public companies should also be bound to transparency. Because the commissioner for freedom of information encounters resistance, the Greens seek a clarification in the law.

The Greens want to set up a Hamburg program to digitalize the justice system by 2030, supplementing the federal initiative. They say additional funding is needed. The goal is an efficient, legally sound justice system that is close to citizens.

Hamburg's courts should work more digitally. The Greens want a Hamburg program for this until 2030. This needs extra money. The courts should become faster and closer to the people.

The plan follows the guiding idea that people in Hamburg should be able to obtain justice. The platform announces investment in modern buildings, digitalization, training and rehabilitation. The Hamburg initiative would run in addition to federal funding.

The Greens want to make permanent the more than 100 new positions at courts and the public prosecutor's office if the number of criminal cases stays high. Local courts are to receive additional resources and better-paid clerical staff. The platform cites the heavy load on criminal justice, including from drug and arms trafficking.

Hamburg's courts have a lot of work. The Greens want to keep new jobs there for good. Court office staff should earn more money. Mobile teams should help when there is extra work.

Keeping the positions depends on case numbers continuing to rise or remaining high. Considerably higher pay in court offices is meant to make the job more appealing to trainees and career changers. Mobile teams are to absorb peak workloads at local courts, with additional resources set aside for this.

The Greens want to push at the federal level for minor offenses to no longer be prosecuted as crimes. This is meant to ease the burden on criminal courts.

Some small offenses count as crimes today. The Greens want to change that. They will push for this at the federal level. Courts should then have less work.

The proposal is aimed at federal lawmakers because criminal law is federal law. The platform presents it as one element in relieving Hamburg's heavily burdened criminal courts. It sits alongside the plan to strengthen staffing at courts and prosecutors' offices.

The Greens want to push at the federal level for a constitutional amendment so that states can extend local voting rights to people from non-EU countries. According to the platform, anyone who lives, works, and pays taxes in Hamburg should be able to vote and stand for election.

The Greens want to change the constitution. Then people from countries outside the EU could vote locally too. They live here and pay taxes. So they should have a say.

The change would affect Article 28, paragraph 1 of the Basic Law (Germany's constitution). The platform argues that people who are subject to German law should also take part in decisions. In this view, responsibility and participation belong together.

The Greens want to make the city a more attractive employer so it can compete for skilled workers. To that end, the states' collective agreement (TV-L) is to become more flexible, career tracks more permeable and the administration more diverse.

The Greens want more people to enjoy working for the city. Moving up at work should become easier. Some employees should get a bonus. More women should work in leadership. More people with a migration background should work there too.

A bonus for city employees with municipal duties is to be negotiated with the unions; further city-state bonuses will be examined depending on the budget situation. Employees are to get the Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass) at a reduced price through their employer. Training, working from home, digitalization and easier moves within the administration are meant to retain staff. More women in senior leadership, more employees with a migration background and leadership roles in part-time are to increase diversity. Rules are to be reviewed regularly and scrapped when no longer needed.