Grüne on democracy and the state

The Greens want to lower the thresholds for referendums and citizens' petitions at the state level. Citizens' initiatives and residents' motions are also to be made easier, and municipalities would have to support referendums neutrally.

The Greens want to make citizens' votes easier. Today you need many signatures and votes for that. These numbers should go down. Towns should have to give fair information about such votes.

Lower thresholds are meant to ensure that concerns raised by the public actually reach a vote. Municipalities would be required to support referendums neutrally, for example with clear information, a factual presentation and explanations of the procedure. The requirements for citizens' initiatives and residents' motions are also to be reduced.

The Greens want to introduce citizens' assemblies across the state and make public participation a fixed task of municipalities. Participation is to be accessible and reach groups that are rarely heard. A state lobby register is to disclose who influences politics.

The Greens want citizens' assemblies across the state. There, citizens discuss important questions and give advice. Everyone should be able to take part, even with little time or money. A lobby register should show who influences politics.

Citizens' assemblies are to draw up recommendations that political decision-makers must take into account. Early and understandable participation is to become a municipal mandate, for example through youth parliaments, participatory budgets and digital formats. For accessible participation the platform lists multilingual information, plain language, childcare at town meetings and hybrid formats. The party wants to reach out actively to underrepresented groups such as single parents, the unemployed or people with disabilities. A lobby register is to be created at the state level.

The Greens want to move lawmakers' retirement benefits into the regular statutory pension system. Transitional pay after leaving office is to be paid for one year at most and offset against other income.

The Greens want to change benefits for lawmakers. Lawmakers should pay into the normal public pension system. After leaving office they get transitional pay. That should last one year at most.

The party wants lawmakers and the state to contribute to financing the social insurance systems; this includes advocating a Bürgerversicherung (a single insurance covering everyone). The Greens reject drawing retirement benefits early without deductions. All types of taxable income are to be counted against transitional pay.

The Greens want to digitize the justice system and provide funding for it so that proceedings become faster. Courts and public prosecutors' offices are to get more staff. Specialized teams are to be set up against cybercrime.

The Greens want to modernize the courts. Files should be digital and hearings should also work by video. Courts and prosecutors should get more staff. Experts should pursue crimes on the internet more effectively.

Plans include uniform case-management software, secure electronic files, video hearings and accessible entry points; the electronic file is to have priority. Working from home and modern IT are meant to make justice careers more attractive, and judges and prosecutors are to be paid adequately. For cybercrime, the program foresees specialist staff, interdisciplinary teams, IT experts, training and coordination between the federal and state levels. Platforms are to remove illegal content faster; to this end the EU Digital Services Act is to be implemented and backed up locally. Victim support and specialized contact points are to be expanded.

The Greens want a comprehensive open data strategy for the state and digital freedom of information. Political decisions, motions and bylaws are to be freely accessible. According to the program, this should build trust and enable oversight by citizens as well as economic innovation.

The Greens want an open administration. Government offices should show their data and decisions online. Everyone should be able to read decisions and motions. This lets citizens check politics more easily.

The program sees transparency as an active stance: decisions should be explained, and data and processes should be visible. The administration is to use digital tools to communicate clearly with people. Openness is meant to make participation possible and to prevent rumors, mistrust and disenchantment with politics.

The Greens want to cut duplicate structures in state authorities and define responsibilities clearly. The administration is to move further toward a two-tier setup. The program names a target of 18.7 full-time positions per 1,000 residents.

The Greens want a simpler state administration. Offices should not do the same tasks twice. There should be fewer levels in the administration. There should be 18.7 full-time jobs for every 1,000 residents.

The program calls for a fundamental decision on how the state administration is structured. A statewide staff development plan is to run until 2035. Tasks and efficiency are to be reviewed on an ongoing basis. An open data budget is to make this review traceable for the public.

The Greens want the state constitution to guarantee children's rights to participation, not just protection. A monitoring office would check whether these rights are upheld.

The Greens want more rights for children in the state constitution. Children should also get the right to have a say. A new office should check whether the state respects these rights. Towns should have offices for children's rights.

All rights under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child would gain constitutional status in the state. The monitoring office would sit with the state children's commissioner. Children's rights offices in municipalities would receive support. The program argues that Saxony-Anhalt ranks near the bottom among German states in the children's rights index.

The Greens want volunteer work to be easier to combine with a job and call for a Bildungszeitgesetz (educational leave law) for Saxony-Anhalt. Voluntary service programs are to become better known and more attractive, including through higher pocket money.

The Greens want to make volunteering easier. Volunteering means helping without pay. A new law should give workers time for further training. People in voluntary service programs should get more pocket money.

The plan is to review rules on offsetting, cut red tape and fund childcare for volunteers. The educational leave law is meant to give employees a framework for volunteer-related, political and vocational training. Volunteer agencies and self-help groups are to receive support. For voluntary service programs, barriers to entry are to fall and conditions for the organizations running them are to improve.

The Greens want a democracy promotion law for Saxony-Anhalt that permanently funds projects against extremism, hate and violence and shields them from short-term budget decisions. State programs for democracy and civic education are to be funded over several years.

The Greens want a new law for democracy. Projects against hate and violence should get money for the long term. They should be able to plan for several years. The state agency for civic education should be independent.

The law is meant to give initiatives, counseling centers and prevention projects reliable backing so they can plan without fearing for their existence. State programs for democracy, participation and civic education are to be made permanent so projects can focus on content rather than short-term grant approvals. The state agency for civic education is to get its own state law and be attached directly to the state parliament.

The Greens want to develop protection plans for volunteers and initiatives that face far-right threats because of their work for democracy. The focus is on municipalities with elevated levels of far-right violence.

Some people stand up for democracy. Far-right groups threaten them for it. The Greens want to protect these people better. They should get advice and legal help.

The plans include security advice, legal support, state protection mechanisms and fixed contact points in public administration. The platform's reasoning is that people active in civil society are increasingly targeted by far-right threats. In the Greens' view, anyone working for the common good should be able to count on state protection.