Linke: program for the 2024 Saxony state election

The Left wants to tackle the shortage of skilled workers with better working conditions rather than by forcing people to work more. The state's economic development funding should strengthen automation where employees support it, making shorter working hours possible.

Saxony does not have enough workers. The Left does not want to force anyone to work more. It wants better pay and conditions. Machines and computers should take over dull tasks. Then people can work fewer hours.

The Left calls for price caps on raw materials and equipment that businesses depend on. In addition, jointly managed stockpiles would be set up and speculation in these materials would be banned.

Materials have become more expensive for craft businesses. The Left wants a maximum price for important raw materials. There should be shared stockpiles. Nobody should be allowed to bet on rising prices for these materials.

The Left wants to raise the Meisterbonus (a state bonus for new master craftspeople) to 2,500 euros, and to 3,500 euros for women. In the future it would also go to certified specialists and business managers, and master training backed by BAföG (student aid) would be possible without being employed at a firm.

People who become master craftspeople in Saxony get money from the state. The Left wants to raise this bonus to 2,500 euros. Women should get 3,500 euros. People should be able to become masters without a fixed employer.

The Left wants to reform Saxony's economic development funding and focus it on industries of the future. Funding would be available only where working conditions are good, wages are adequate and operations are environmentally sustainable, and small companies would get easier access to programs.

The state gives companies money so they can invest. The Left wants to attach conditions to it. Companies should pay well and protect the environment. Small companies should get the money more easily. There should be limits for large companies.

The Left calls for an industry foundation financed by the federal government through which the state would buy targeted stakes in companies. The aim is to put the transformation of industry under public control and to protect key energy infrastructure.

The Left wants a new foundation for industry. The federal government should pay for it. The foundation buys shares in companies. This way the state can have a say in how industry changes.

The Left calls for a fresh start to the economic transition in Saxony's coal regions. It should be geared more toward sustainability, involve local people in a binding way and concentrate funding on the regions most affected.

Coal mining is ending in Lusatia and near Leipzig. The regions get money for new projects. The Left wants local people to have a say first. Children and young people should help plan too. The money should go mainly to small companies.

The Left wants to strengthen tourism in Saxony and make vacations possible for people with little money. Businesses would get funding if they set aside places for people in need or operate more sustainably. Day tourism is to be expanded.

The Left wants to strengthen tourism in Saxony. People with little money should be able to take a vacation too. Hotels get public money if they offer places for poor people. Those that save energy and water get money as well. Buses and trains should get better.

The Left rejects further privatization and the sale of municipal property. Essential public services should be provided by municipally run enterprises that pay collectively agreed wages and are overseen by elected local representatives.

Water, housing and health matter to everyone. The Left wants such tasks to stay with the state and the towns. Towns should not sell their property. The town's own enterprises should do the work.

The Left wants the state to fund consumer protection permanently and adequately. Advice should also be available in rural areas and smaller towns. Consumer organizations would get state money for collective lawsuits.

The Left wants to protect consumers better. Consumers are people who buy things. The state should reliably pay for advice services. Advice should also be available in the countryside. The state should give money for lawsuits on behalf of many consumers.

The Left wants to introduce a levy on companies to finance dual vocational training. Companies able to train would pay into a fund, and those that actually train would receive money from it.

Companies should pay money into a shared fund. Those that train apprentices get money from the fund. The Left says this makes paying for training fairer. The money should also help young people without a training place.

The Left demands a statutory minimum wage of 15 euros and justifies this with higher prices. In the platform's view, this would prevent old-age poverty and comply with the EU minimum wage directive.

The Left wants to raise the minimum wage to 15 euros an hour. The reason is that prices have gone up. The party says this keeps people from being poor when they are old. It says an EU rule also supports this.

The Left wants a new procurement law under which the state only hires firms that pay collectively agreed wages and meet social and ecological standards. More collective agreements are also to be declared generally binding. The aim is higher collective bargaining coverage in Saxony, whose weakness the platform cites as a reason for low pay.

The state should only give contracts to companies that pay union-agreed wages. These are wages that unions and employers have negotiated. More wage agreements should apply to all companies in a sector. Companies owned by the state should also pay these wages.

The Left wants to end fixed-term contracts without objective reason and turn mini-jobs into regular positions with social insurance. It adds a maximum working week of 40 hours, five days of educational leave a year and home office where feasible. The party sets this against calls for longer working hours.

The Left wants to ban temporary contracts that have no reason. Mini-jobs should become normal jobs with social insurance. Nobody should have to work more than 40 hours a week. Workers should get 5 days off a year for education.

The Left wants to abolish Bürgergeld (citizen's income) and replace it with a minimum income without sanctions, set according to the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. Nobody should have to live on less than 1,200 euros a month. The party argues that fear of social decline weakens employees' bargaining position.

The Left wants to replace Bürgergeld, the basic welfare payment. There should be a minimum income without penalties. Every person should have at least 1,200 euros a month. Poor retirees should also be allowed to keep 15,000 euros in savings.

The Left wants to open the way into the regular labor market for people with disabilities. Sheltered workshops are to be reformed and pay at least the statutory minimum wage; through the Bundesrat, Saxony is to push for full employee status for workshop workers. Public contracts are to be linked to inclusion.

People with disabilities should find regular work more easily. In sheltered workshops they should get at least the minimum wage. They should have the same rights as other workers. A new office and a job board should help with the search.

The Left wants to give workers in sheltered workshops for people with disabilities more say and to check more strictly whether the workshops place people in the regular labor market. Companies that do not hire people with disabilities would pay a higher Ausgleichsabgabe (compensation levy).

Some people with disabilities work in special workshops. The Left wants to give them more say there. Companies with no disabled workers should pay more money. This payment is called the compensation levy.

The Left wants to ease the labor shortage by giving more people access to work: immigrants, women, people with disabilities and the unemployed. To that end, job centers would employ trained social workers.

The Left wants to bring more people into work. Immigrants should be allowed to work in their own profession sooner. Women should be able to work as much as they want. Unemployed people should get more help with training and returning to work.

The Left supports nationwide sector-level collective agreements in the skilled trades and wants more agreements to be declared generally binding. This is meant to align working and living conditions across Germany and keep the trades attractive.

A collective agreement sets pay and hours for many businesses. In the skilled trades it often applies only to guild members. The Left wants agreements that apply to every business in a sector. This should raise pay in the trades.

The Left calls for amending the Works Constitution Act so that workforces have a vote on their company's major investments. In its view, the transformation of industry should serve employees' interests, and employees should also become co-owners of their companies.

Today companies decide alone how to spend their money. The Left wants to change that. Workers should have a vote on large spending decisions. They should also be able to own part of their company.

The Left expects economic change to alter the demand for skilled workers and to require rapid retraining of large parts of the workforce. It wants scholarships for shortage occupations and for training that employees choose themselves, plus financial help from the Federal Employment Agency for small and medium-sized businesses.

The economy is changing. Many workers need to learn new things. The Left wants to award scholarships for this. A scholarship is money for training. Small businesses should get money from the employment agency for training their staff.

The Left wants to strengthen municipal social policy with higher state subsidies, a network of social counseling centers and permanently guaranteed budgets for defined social areas. In rural areas, shops and other facilities should be subsidized if they take on tasks for the common good.

The Left wants advice centers for social benefits everywhere. People get help with applications there. Towns and districts should get fixed money for social tasks. Village shops should also get money from the state.

The Left wants to modernize Saxony's Landesblindengeldgesetz (state blindness allowance act) and raise benefits for blind, visually impaired, deafblind and deaf people as well as severely disabled children. The amounts are to rise each year with inflation plus one percentage point.

Blind and deaf people get money from the state. The Left wants to raise these amounts. Blind people should get 600 euros a month. The money should rise every year with prices. More people with severe hearing loss should qualify.

The Left wants to establish a statutory right to free debt counseling, with the length of counseling based on need. It also wants to expand consumer protection, including food inspections, access to cash and independent advice services.

The Left wants free advice for people in debt. Everyone should have a right to it. The advice should last as long as needed. Food should also be checked more closely. Savings banks should offer cash everywhere.

The Left wants to make vocational training more attractive, mainly through minimum pay of 80 percent of the collectively agreed wage. It also calls for ending school fees, a free Deutschlandticket and further relief for apprentices.

Apprentices should get more money. The Left wants at least 80 percent of the union wage. School fees should end. The Deutschlandticket should be free for apprentices. There should be enough dorm places.

The Left wants Saxony to join the federal hardship fund for unrecognized East German pension claims and wants the compensation at least doubled. The upward revaluation of eastern German wages in pension calculations is to stay until wages reach western levels.

Some pension claims from East Germany are not recognized today. The federal government has a hardship fund for this. Saxony should join it. Those affected should get at least twice as much money. Eastern wages should keep counting for more in pensions.

At the federal level, the Left wants to push for a pension level of 53 percent, an earlier retirement age and a minimum pension of 1,200 euros a month. This is to be financed by a pension insurance that civil servants, politicians and the self-employed also pay into.

The Left wants higher pensions across Germany. People should be able to retire at 65. After 40 years of paying in, they could retire at 60. Nobody should get less than 1,200 euros a month. Everyone should pay into the pension fund, including civil servants.

The Left wants to abolish or fundamentally reform the Schuldenbremse (debt brake) at the federal level and in Saxony so the state can borrow to invest in infrastructure and climate protection. Public investment companies are to be set up for this purpose.

The debt brake limits new government debt. The Left wants to scrap it or change it a lot. Then the state can borrow more money. It should use the money to build and repair schools, hospitals and networks.

The Left wants to ease the burden on low and middle incomes and tax corporations, top earners and the wealthy more heavily. It justifies this with what it sees as excessive inequality in income and wealth.

The Left wants to share money differently. People with low or middle incomes should pay less. Big companies and rich people should pay more taxes.

The Left wants to reorganize the financial relationship between the state and municipalities and base it on municipal needs. A self-government lump sum and participatory budgets are meant to allow more decisions to be made locally.

Towns and villages have too little money. The Left wants to give them as much as they need. Part of the money should be free to use. Local people should help decide how money is spent.

The Left wants energy retrofits to leave tenants' total rent including heating unchanged. Landlords would be allowed to pass on costs only up to the amount tenants save on energy. The same would apply when old oil and gas heating systems are replaced.

Homes should use less energy. For that, they need building work. The Left wants rent plus heating costs to stay the same after this work. Tenants should pay only as much extra as they save on energy.

For affordable housing in Dresden and Leipzig, the Left wants an effective rent brake, a ban on converting homes to other uses, and a state housing construction company for social housing. In rural areas, it wants to subsidize building and renovating age-appropriate and family-friendly homes.

Homes in Dresden and Leipzig are expensive. The Left wants to limit rents. Homes should not be used for other purposes. A state-owned company should get many affordable homes built.

The Left calls for more state money for social housing and changed funding rules. Social housing units should stay rent-controlled for as long as possible, ideally permanently. At the federal level, the party backs a new nonprofit housing status.

The Left wants more social housing to be built. The state should pay more for it. Social housing should stay cheap, if possible forever. Public housing companies should get support first.

The Left wants a socialization law for profit-oriented housing companies. In its view, this is the only way to secure affordable housing for everyone in the long run. A public-law institution would manage the housing.

The Left wants to bring large housing companies into public hands. This is called socialization. There should be a law for it. A public body would then manage the apartments. This is meant to keep rents affordable.

The Left wants to protect tenants from sharply rising rents. It plans an effective rent brake, stronger protection against eviction, a ban on converting rentals into condos and, for the interim, a rent freeze. Rental apartments would no longer be allowed to serve as vacation rentals or stand empty for speculation.

The Left wants to limit rents. Tenants should be better protected from losing their home. Rental apartments should not be turned into condos. Until then, rents should not rise. Apartments should not be used as vacation rentals.

The Left wants to ban forced evictions and set up a state program against homelessness. Under the Housing First approach, homeless people would get an apartment as the first step. Young people would receive money from the state when moving into their first own home.

The Left wants to ban forced evictions. Nobody should lose their home and end up on the street. Homeless people should get an apartment first. The state should pay the first deposit for young people. They should also get 500 euros to start out.

The Left wants to found a state-owned housing construction company that develops land and helps municipalities build. A fund would pay off legacy debts of Saxon housing companies dating from East German times. According to the party, these debts hold back investment and can lead to privatization.

The Left wants to found a state housing company. It should buy land and help towns build homes. It should also rescue municipal housing companies in trouble. A fund should pay off old debts of these companies.

The Left wants a state program for energy retrofits of residential buildings that keeps rents stable. The requirements of the federal heating law are to be cushioned socially for tenants. Measures to adapt to heat and heavy rain are added.

The Left wants buildings to be renovated. They should use less energy. Rents should stay stable. District heating should become climate-friendly. The Left wants to ban gravel gardens.

To address housing shortages and rising rents in big cities, the Left wants a rent cap, the socialization of real estate corporations and a state-owned housing construction company. That company would build social housing on a large scale.

Rents are high in big cities. The Left wants a firm limit on rents. Large housing companies should belong to the public. The state should set up its own housing company. It should build many low-cost homes.

The Left wants more support for single parents, who according to the platform are mostly women and often poor. A state action plan is to implement the results of a round table set up by the party's parliamentary group. A coordination office at state level would be added.

The Left wants to help single parents more. A state plan should make it easier for them to find work. There should be flexible child care and more advice services. A new state office should organize the help.

The Left wants to raise funding for child and youth welfare and youth work considerably and prevent cuts. These services are to be recognized as mandatory municipal tasks and secured everywhere. A new state youth welfare act is to enable inclusive youth services.

The Left wants more money for youth clubs and youth services. The state should not cut here. Towns should have to offer these services reliably. Staff should get permanent jobs with union-scale pay. Young people should have more places of their own to meet.

The Left wants children and young people in Saxony to get free lunches in daycare and school, free local public transit, and free access to cultural and sports facilities. It frames this as a matter of social justice. It also wants more public spaces for play, sports and youth culture.

The Left wants to help children and young people. Lunch in daycare and school should be free. Buses and trains should be free for them too. The same goes for music schools, libraries and sports facilities. There should be more playgrounds and sports areas.

The Left calls for a Kindergrundsicherung (basic child benefit) that lifts all children out of poverty. In the party's view, the version adopted by the federal government does not meet the original goal. In Saxony, the family pass and counseling for families are to be expanded.

The Left wants to fight child poverty. It calls for a basic child benefit. That is money from the state for children. No child should be poor anymore. The family pass should also help more people.

The Left wants to revise Saxony's state youth welfare law and bring it in line with changed federal law. Many groups are to take part in the reform, above all children and young people themselves.

The Left wants to renew the youth welfare law in Saxony. Many people should have a say. These include providers, associations and experts. Above all, children and young people should state their wishes.

The Left wants Saxony to push at the federal level for children's rights in the Basic Law and to write them into the Saxon constitution as well. This is meant to oblige politicians to consider the concerns of children and young people in all decisions.

The Left wants children's rights in Germany's constitution. They should also be in the constitution of Saxony. Then politicians must always think of children and young people. New laws should be checked first: What do they mean for young people?

The Left wants to strengthen child protection at all levels and fight every form of violence against children. Child and youth welfare services are to be equipped according to need. The party rejects placing children and young people in locked facilities.

The Left wants to protect children better from violence. There should be prevention and fixed protection plans. Youth welfare services should get enough money. Children and young people should not be locked up.

The Left wants to raise the allowance paid in the youth volunteer service and rejects cuts to volunteer services. Open and democratic youth work is to be supported, with better working conditions and higher pay for staff.

The Left wants a higher allowance for young people in volunteer service. There should be no cuts there. Youth work should get more support. The staff there should earn more.

The Left does not want falling birth rates to be used for job cuts and spending reductions. The freed-up capacity is instead to improve care and education in daycare centers and schools. Children are to receive lunch there at no cost.

Fewer children are being born in Saxony. The Left does not want to cut jobs in daycare and schools because of this. Care should get better instead. Children should get a lunch that costs nothing.

The Left wants children to learn together for longer in Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive schools) to overcome social division. It also proposes vocational training combined with the Abitur (university entrance diploma) to better meet the demand for skilled workers.

Children should learn together in one school for longer. This should make society fairer. Young people should also be able to do job training and get their diploma at the same time.

The Left wants to first make lunch in daycare centers and schools free and then phase out parents' daycare fees within five years. In its view, education should not depend on parents' income.

The Left wants daycare to be free. First, lunch should no longer cost anything. Then daycare fees should end within five years. The state should pay for this. All children should have the same chances.

The Left wants to gradually increase the number of staff per child in nurseries, kindergartens and after-school care. To do so, training would be paid, access made easier and working conditions improved. Daycare centers should also work inclusively.

The Left wants more educators in daycare centers. In nurseries, one staff member should care for four children. Training should be paid. Pay should go up. Children with and without disabilities should be cared for together.

The Left wants to replace school grades with learning progress reports and make homework unnecessary through all-day schooling. Curricula would be slimmed down, students would get more say, and feminist education would become part of teaching.

The Left wants no more grades in school. Instead there should be reports on how a child is learning. Homework should no longer be needed. Students should help decide more. Classes should get smaller.

The Left wants to establish the Gemeinschaftsschule (community school with longer joint learning) everywhere in Saxony and make founding such schools easier. It sees this as the school type that supports all children equally and counters social division.

The Left wants more community schools. Children learn together there for longer. Founding such schools should become easier. Every child in Saxony should be able to attend one. No more schools in rural areas should close.

The Left demands that students receive all necessary learning materials, including digital devices, free of charge and that class trips cost nothing either. It also wants free lunch and a dedicated budget for each school.

The Left wants school to cost families nothing. Books and devices should be free. Class trips should also be free. There should be a healthy lunch at no charge. Each school should get its own money.

The Left wants to introduce a new school subject called Medienkunde (media studies) and anchor digital education in the curricula. Media educators in schools would support students, teachers and parents. The party favors building skills over shielding young people.

The Left wants a new school subject. It is called media studies. Children should learn to handle the internet and media well. Media experts should work in schools. Parents and teachers should get help too.

The Left wants to make school social work mandatory at all types of schools, with at least one professional per school. The school psychology service and the anti-bullying program would also be expanded.

The Left wants social workers at every school. Each school should have at least one. They help children with problems. There should also be more school psychologists. Teachers should get help from other professionals.

The Left wants to write a right to inclusive schooling into the school law and scale back the special-needs school system. Children with and without disabilities would learn together in mainstream schools; the party considers the current system incompatible with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The Left wants one school for all children. Children with and without disabilities should learn together. This should be written into law. There should be fewer special schools. School buildings should have no barriers.

The Left wants Germany's states to cooperate more closely on education and to set this down in an interstate treaty. It would mainly coordinate teacher training and balance its costs among the states.

The German states should work together more on education. The Left wants a treaty between the states for this. Each state should train enough teachers. The states should share the costs fairly.

The Left wants to replace school grades with reports on learning progress and to abolish homework. Subject lessons should also not start before 9 a.m., at least for older students. The platform cites pressure on students, the limited benefit of homework and young people's sleep rhythm.

The Left wants no more grades in school. Students should get reports about their learning instead. Homework should end too. For older students, lessons should start at 9 a.m. at the earliest.

The Left wants to reduce teachers' workload so they can focus on teaching. Falling student numbers should be used for smaller classes rather than for saving money. The party rules out school closures, especially in rural areas.

Teachers should have less strain. Other experts should take over some of their tasks. Classes should get smaller. No school should close. The Left wants to win more teachers with scholarships.

The Left wants to reorganize teacher training into university studies, career entry and continuing education. Teachers would be trained by school level rather than school type, with earlier practical phases and support for placements in rural areas.

The Left wants to change how teachers are trained. They should train for age levels, not for one type of school. Practice in schools should start earlier. Students who do practice in rural areas should get more money.

The Left wants statewide education vouchers for courses and further training. Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) and other recognized providers would get secure basic funding from the state so that everyone in Saxony can learn throughout life.

Everyone in Saxony should be able to learn all their life. The Left wants vouchers for courses. Adult education centers should get secure money from the state. Course teachers should get fair pay.

The Left wants to reduce apprenticeship dropouts through career counseling at all secondary schools, tighter checks on training conditions and more support. Vocational training is also to become inclusive and break down gender stereotypes.

Many young people quit their apprenticeship. So the Left wants more career advice in schools. Authorities should check companies more closely. People with disabilities should be able to do an apprenticeship.

The Left wants to sharply reduce fixed-term and insecure employment at universities. Permanent tasks should come with permanent positions, and at the federal level the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (law on fixed-term academic contracts) should be replaced by a new law.

Many university staff only have temporary contracts. The Left wants more permanent jobs. Student employees should get a union contract. A federal law on temporary contracts in science should be dropped.

The Left wants to ease access to university and give students financial security. Tuition fees and the numerus clausus (grade-based admission cap) would be abolished and basic income support for students introduced. Until then, BAföG (student aid) should become a grant that does not depend on parents' income.

Going to university should be easier. The Left wants to end all tuition fees. The numerus clausus should go too. That is admission based on grades. All students should get money to live on.

The Left wants a strategy for open access, meaning free access to scholarly publications. Research paid for with public money in Saxony should be available to everyone. Research should also not be judged only by its commercial usefulness.

Research often costs tax money. The Left wants everyone to be able to read the results. This should be written into the university law. Non-profit research should also get support. Universities should also become climate neutral.

The Left wants to turn physical education into a daily offering for movement and health and abolish grades in PE. Instead of competition, assessment is to be based on each child's starting point and progress. School sports should be possible everywhere.

The Left wants to change PE classes. Children should move every day at school. There should be no more grades in PE. What counts is each child's own progress.

The Left wants to keep every hospital site in Saxony, if necessary as a polyclinic with a round-the-clock emergency room. It rejects closures without replacement because it sees basic care at risk.

No hospital in Saxony should close completely. Some can become a polyclinic. Many doctors work there under one roof. Emergencies should be treated there day and night.

The Left wants to bring hospitals back into public ownership and ban profit distributions from hospital operations. The state should adequately fund investments, and the flat-rate per-case payments should be replaced by cost-covering budgets.

Hospitals should belong to towns and districts again. The state should provide at least 100 million euros for this. Hospitals should not be allowed to pay profits to owners. The state should give more money for modern hospitals.

The Left wants to bring everyone into the statutory health insurance system and abolish the contribution assessment ceiling. In the long term, it also calls for long-term care insurance that covers all costs; in the short term, out-of-pocket care costs should be capped.

Everyone should pay into the same health insurance. Today, people pay contributions only up to a certain income limit. This limit should go. Rich people would then pay more. Care insurance should later cover all costs.

The Left wants to tackle the shortage of family doctors with measures that work in the short term. These include state-funded digitalization of practices, less paperwork, regularly adjusted physician pay and an end to budget caps on treatment.

Saxony does not have enough family doctors. The Left wants to give doctors' offices more help. The state should pay for digital equipment. Doctors should fill out fewer forms. Health insurers should not limit treatment because of money.

The Left wants to implement the national health goal "Gesund rund um die Geburt" (healthy around birth). Maternity clinics, birth centers and freelance midwives should be available close to home everywhere in Saxony so that people can freely choose where to give birth.

The Left wants better care for pregnant women and mothers. There should be maternity clinics and midwives all over Saxony. Women should choose where they give birth. There should be more delivery rooms led by midwives.

The Left wants to rebuild the public health service, which it says was neglected for decades. A state health office is to coordinate the work of local health departments.

The Left wants stronger public health offices. They advise people and protect against infections. Saxony should get its own state health office. It should help local offices work together.

The Left wants to expand care for people with mental illness, arguing that cases have risen while therapy places have not. Care should be non-violent and community-based, and crisis intervention should work reliably.

More and more people have mental illnesses. Many wait a long time for therapy. The Left wants to improve help. Help should be close to home. People in a crisis should get help fast.

The Left wants to go beyond federal decriminalization and allow tested cannabis to be sold in licensed shops. The party says this would protect health and push back the black market. Addiction services and prevention are to be expanded at the same time.

Cannabis is partly allowed in Germany. The Left wants more. Adults should be able to buy tested cannabis in licensed shops. This should shrink illegal dealing. There should also be more help for addiction.

The Left wants pregnant people everywhere in Saxony to find ideologically neutral pregnancy conflict counseling near them. An abortion should also be available close to home and without obstacles. The state is to fund the counseling in full.

Pregnant people should find neutral counseling near their home. Anyone who wants to end a pregnancy should be able to do so nearby. There should be no obstacles. The state should pay for all of the counseling.

The Left wants to ease the burden on care workers and bring their wages up to western German levels, with at least 3,000 euros gross per month. To attract more skilled staff, training places are to be expanded and the state is to pay trainee wages.

Care workers in Saxony earn less than in western Germany. The Left wants to change that. Care workers should get at least 3,000 euros a month before taxes. There should be more training places. The state should pay trainees' wages.

The Left wants to support people who care for relatives at home with job leave, wage replacement and pension credits. Home and outpatient care are to take priority over nursing homes. Regional needs planning and a state care commissioner are to steer care in the state.

Many people care for relatives at home. The Left wants to help them. They should be able to pause their job and return later. They should get money during this time. Care time should count toward their pension.

In the long run, the Left wants long-term care insurance that covers all care services and that all groups of earners pay into. Until then, the federal government is to cap residents' out-of-pocket shares. As a stopgap, the state is to subsidize care homes' investment costs and pay a state care allowance.

Care costs more and more for those who need it. The Left wants insurance that pays all care costs. Everyone should pay in, including civil servants and the self-employed. Until then, people's own share should be capped. Saxony should also pay a state care allowance.

The Left wants drug policy to put health protection in place of criminal prosecution. Possession of illegal substances would no longer be a crime, in the long run for all drugs. Addiction services, prevention and offerings such as drug checking and supervised consumption rooms would be expanded.

The Left wants to help people with addiction instead of punishing them. Having drugs should no longer be a crime. There should be more counseling and help. Towns should be allowed to open consumption rooms. There, people take drugs under supervision.

The Left wants to give immigrants quicker access to the labor market, above all through easier recognition of qualifications and work experience. It defends the right to asylum as a humanitarian duty and sees immigration as an opportunity for Saxony. In its view, public concerns can only be reduced through faster integration.

The Left wants to protect the right to asylum. Immigrants should be allowed to work sooner. Degrees from other countries should count more quickly. The immigration offices should help people with this.

The Left wants permanent support for German as a second language at every school. In its view, language support ends too early when children move from preparatory classes into regular classes.

Immigrant children should get help learning German at every school. The help should not stop after one or two years. This needs well-trained teachers. Schools should get lasting funding and materials.

The Left wants to support young people with a migration background before and during their apprenticeship, including on residency questions. It rejects deportations on principle. The platform sees this as a matter of fairness and a way to counter the labor shortage.

Young immigrants should get help with their apprenticeship. They should also get help with residency law. The Left is against deportations on principle. Foreign qualifications should be accepted faster.

The Left wants refugees to live in their own apartments as a rule, rather than in shared accommodation, and to choose freely where they live. It seeks a fundamental shift in Saxony's asylum policy and wants to support family reunification through state admission programs.

The Left wants refugees to live in their own apartments. No one should have to live in a shared shelter. Refugees should choose where they live. Families should be able to join them more easily.

The Left calls for a right-to-stay drive: authorities should use their discretion so that people with only a tolerated status can remain, and refugees should receive a residence permit after three years in Saxony. Detention pending deportation is to be abolished because, in the party's view, fleeing is not a crime.

The Left wants more refugees to be allowed to stay. Anyone who has lived in Saxony for three years should get a residence permit. No one should be locked up before a deportation. Immigration offices should be friendlier and simpler.

The Left wants to give refugees a health insurance card with full coverage from day one and end their less favorable treatment under the Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act. It considers Saxony's existing integration law inadequate and calls for an integration and participation law.

The Left wants refugees to get a health card right away. They should get the same benefits as other people on welfare. Saxony should get a new law on participation. The state should pay for integration.

The Left wants to dissolve the EU border agency Frontex because, according to the platform, it violates refugees' human rights. Saxony is to push for the EU to guarantee the right to asylum, and the party opposes border checks within the Schengen area.

The Left wants to dissolve Frontex. Frontex is the border agency of the European Union. The party says Frontex violates the rights of refugees. The EU should secure the right to asylum. There should be no border checks between EU countries.

The Left wants to secure health care for trans and intersex people. A competence center for gender medicine is to make training, teaching and research gender-sensitive.

The Left wants good medical care for trans and intersex people. A new center should be set up for this. It should do research and train experts. Doctors and nurses should learn more about it.

The Left wants to implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at every political level and end separate structures for people with disabilities in work, housing and education. Saxony's Inklusionsgesetz (inclusion act) is to be revised and extended to municipalities.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. The Left wants to end separate facilities. This applies to work, housing and school. Saxony's inclusion law should also apply to cities and towns.

The Left wants full accessibility for buildings, transport, devices and digital services. The DIN 18040 standard is to be written into Saxony's building law, and an independent state accessibility office is to provide advice.

Everyone should be able to use buildings, buses and websites. The Left wants to make this a duty. New buildings should be planned without barriers from the start. There should be more homes without barriers. A new state office should give advice.

The Left wants to roll out the pilot project “Schule der Vielfalt” (School of Diversity) across Saxony and include diversity-aware sex education in all curricula. It also plans complaint offices and shelter options for queer young people.

A project for diversity in schools should run in all of Saxony. All curricula should include diverse sex education. Schools and universities should get offices for complaints. Queer young people should be able to find a safe place.

The Left wants to achieve real gender equality. It calls for 50 percent quotas for women in leadership positions and bodies, an end to the pay gap and broader protection against discrimination in the Basic Law.

Women and men should be truly equal. The Left wants half of all top jobs to go to women. Women should earn the same for the same work. The constitution should also protect people from unfair treatment because of sexual orientation.

The Left wants a law requiring that candidate lists for elections include equal numbers of women and men. The goal is equal representation of the sexes in Saxony's parliaments.

The Left wants a parity law. Parity means as many women as men. Parties would have to build their candidate lists that way. This should bring more women into parliaments.

The Left wants a state law against discrimination by public authorities that gives affected people rights they can enforce in court. It also calls for more counseling offices, services for queer people, and a ban on sexist advertising in public spaces.

The Left wants a law against unfair treatment by public offices. People affected should be able to sue. There should be more advice centers, especially in rural areas. Queer people should be better protected. Sexist ads in streets and squares should be banned.

The Left wants full implementation of the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty against violence toward women. Shelters are to be expanded and paid for entirely by the state, and the number of shelter places is to at least double.

The Left wants to protect women better from violence. There should be at least twice as many shelter places. The state of Saxony should pay for shelters in full. People affected should no longer pay anything themselves.

The Left wants to fundamentally change Saxony's law implementing the Prostitute Protection Act and end controls and stigma. Sex workers are to be supported. Victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution are to receive comprehensive protection rights.

The Left wants a new law on sex work in Saxony. Sex workers should no longer be looked down on and strictly controlled. They should get help and advice. Victims of human trafficking should get better protection.

The Left wants the state of Saxony to use gender-inclusive language in its texts in order to point to gender diversity. The education minister's instruction banning such spellings in schools is to be withdrawn.

The Left wants language that names all genders. The state of Saxony should write this way. Schools are not allowed to use this spelling today. The Left wants to end that ban.

The Left wants to end violence and discrimination against queer people through prevention and intervention. It plans an independent reporting and counseling center, places of refuge, more awareness work in schools and better access to counseling and health care.

Queer people often face violence and exclusion. The Left wants a center where people can report such cases. There should be safe places for those affected. Schools should also teach more about this. Counseling and medical help should be easier to reach.

The Left demands that Saxony work in the Bundesrat for the protection of queer people, including by adding to Article 3 of the Basic Law. Rainbow families are to be put on an equal footing and the "Landesaktionsplan Vielfalt" (state action plan on diversity) renewed.

The Left wants more rights for queer people. The constitution should clearly protect them from unfair treatment. Families with two mothers or two fathers should have equal rights. Saxony should push for this at the federal level.

The Left calls for financial aid for energy-intensive companies so that industry becomes carbon neutral as quickly as possible and in a socially acceptable way. This is to be accompanied by green electricity, hydrogen infrastructure and state-backed markets for climate-neutral basic materials.

Factories emit a lot of CO2. The Left wants them to become climate neutral quickly. Companies that use a lot of energy should get state money for this. This should keep jobs safe.

The Left wants to create the conditions for Saxony to phase out coal well before 2038 and cites the climate crisis as the reason. The costs of restoring the open-pit mines would be disclosed and borne by the operators alone.

Germany plans to stop burning coal by 2038. The Left wants to do this much earlier in Saxony. It wants to do it together with local people. The coal companies should pay for the damage to the landscape themselves.

The Left wants Saxony's energy needs to be met as fully as possible from renewable sources and wants wind and solar installations built faster. State planning would steer the expansion, and a participation law would let municipalities and residents benefit financially.

The Left wants more electricity from wind and sun. The plants should be built faster. The state should plan where they go. Wind turbines in forests should be rare. Towns and residents should get money when plants are built near them.

The Left wants to require rooftop solar installations on all new buildings in Saxony. Existing buildings would gradually be required to have solar installations or green roofs, while ground-mounted installations would face stricter nature protection rules.

The Left wants a rule that new buildings must have solar panels. Older buildings should follow step by step. They can also get a green roof with plants. There should be no solar plants in forests. On farmland they should be limited in size.

The Left wants to switch heating to renewable energy and develop solutions that reach beyond individual neighborhoods and municipalities. Municipalities would receive money for the switch so that heating stays affordable.

Heating should work without oil, gas and coal in the future. The Left wants shared heating networks for whole towns. Towns should get money for the changeover. Heating should stay affordable for everyone. Every town should have an advice office.

The Left wants to abolish electricity and gas shutoffs and set up a hardship fund for energy debts. The state would also control electricity prices again, and suppliers would have to offer green social tariffs. The aim is lower electricity prices.

Some people cannot pay their power or gas bill. The Left wants this: Nobody may have their power or gas cut off for that reason. A fund should help with energy debts. The state should control power prices again. Power should get cheaper.

The Left wants hydrogen used only where it makes economic and environmental sense, which it says is usually not the case for cars and heating. The related infrastructure should be publicly owned. In the long term, only green hydrogen should be used.

Hydrogen is a gas that can supply energy. The Left wants to use it only where it makes sense. For cars and heating, that is mostly not the case. The pipes and plants should belong to the public. The hydrogen should come from wind and solar power.

The Left wants to found a Saxon energy company and socialize corporations such as MIBRAG, LEAG and RWE by law. Energy should be generated mainly in a decentralized, renewable way within Saxony, with the infrastructure kept in public hands. This is meant to let society control prices and sustainability.

The Left wants to found an energy company for Saxony. Big energy corporations should belong to the public. A law should arrange that. Saxony should make its own energy, mostly from wind and sun. The grids should stay public.

The Left wants a climate protection law for Saxony that sets binding CO2 reduction targets for all sectors and socially fair measures. If targets are missed, immediate action programs would be mandatory. The party stands by the Paris Agreement's 1.5-degree goal.

The Left wants a climate protection law for Saxony. It sets fixed goals for less CO2. The goals apply to all areas, such as transport and industry. If an area misses its goal, it must act right away. Climate protection should be socially fair.

The Left wants a Saxon climate adaptation law that requires adaptation strategies for all sectors and cushions social effects. Its guiding idea is a "Vision Zero": nobody should die anymore from climate effects such as heat or cold. Municipalities would receive money and climate managers for this.

The climate is changing. There is more heat, drought and heavy rain. The Left wants a law that prepares Saxony for this. No one should die from heat or cold. Cities should get more trees and green spaces. Towns should get money for this.

The Left wants every municipality in Saxony to be climate-neutral by 2030. To get there, it plans mandatory energy-saving concepts, environmentally oriented budgeting and climate councils for citizen participation.

All towns and villages in Saxony should be climate-neutral by 2030. That means they no longer harm the climate. They must make plans to save energy. People should have a say in climate councils.

The Left wants Europe to move away from fossil fuels and rely on renewable energy in order to confront the climate crisis. Saxony is to lead by example and push harder for this in the Bundesrat and in the EU.

The Left wants a Europe that runs on renewable energy. Europe should do without coal, oil and gas. Saxony should set an example. The EU should buy energy together.

The Left supports raw material extraction in Saxony if it is compatible with nature and local communities. Mining law would be changed so that the environment and residents carry more weight than business interests and municipalities get a say and a share of profits.

Raw materials are dug out of the ground in Saxony. The Left supports this, but with stricter rules. Nature and people should count more than company profits. Towns should help decide and get a share of the profit.

The Left wants to expand the recovery of raw materials from waste to reduce import dependence and to benefit the climate and energy efficiency. Public contracts and subsidies would be tied more closely to recycled material, alongside a larger repair bonus and more reusable packaging.

New raw materials can be made from waste. The Left wants to support this more. The state itself should buy more recycled material. People who get things repaired should receive a bigger subsidy. There should be more reusable packaging.

The Left wants to overhaul livestock farming: state funding for humane housing systems would cover all animal species and types of husbandry. Live animal transport would be restricted, inspections stepped up and decentralized slaughter made possible. Farmers and consumers should not bear the costs alone.

Many animals live in cramped barns. The Left wants to change that. The state should fund good barns for all kinds of animals. Animals should be moved alive less often. There should be more checks. Farmers and shoppers should not pay for this alone.

The Left wants to reintegrate the state enterprise Sachsenforst into the state administration as a directly run agency. Forests should be converted quickly into near-natural mixed woodland. The party calls for more staff and the agency's own machinery.

Sachsenforst looks after the state's forests. The Left wants to put it back directly under the state administration. There should be more forest workers. The forest should have many kinds of trees. That way it should cope better with heat and drought.

The Left wants to raise the share of wilderness areas in Saxony from 0.7 to 2.0 percent of the state's territory. The environmental administration, environmental groups and conservation associations are to be strengthened. The party points to the poor condition of many protected species and habitats.

Many animal and plant species in Saxony are doing badly. The Left wants more wilderness. There, nature can develop freely. Conservation groups should get more money. Towns and villages should get more green spaces too.

The Left wants a state program for sustainable structures in allotment gardening. Allotment gardeners and their associations should not have to pay municipal charges and contributions. The party points to the gardens' social, ecological and urban planning value.

Saxony has many allotment garden clubs. The Left wants a state program to support them. The clubs should pay no charges to the town. In rural areas many gardens stand empty. There should be money for that too.

The Left wants to give priority to the population's drinking water supply, especially with large industrial projects and in crises. Wastewater disposal should stay public and become more decentralized. Sewage plants would get a fourth treatment stage, with industry sharing the costs.

Everyone needs clean drinking water. The Left says this matters more than water for big factories. Towns should keep handling wastewater, not private firms. Sewage plants should clean the water better. Industry should help pay for that.

The Left wants considerably more state money for animal welfare and a funding guarantee for animal shelters. In its view, volunteer associations carry out public duties without enough support. Emergency veterinary care is also to be improved.

The Left wants to spend more money on animal welfare. Animal shelters should be sure to get funding. The state should repay towns the costs for stray animals. There should be more vets. There should be an emergency phone number for vets.

The Left wants to ban wild animals in circuses and fur production and to cut animal testing considerably. Animal welfare organizations would get the right to sue on behalf of animals. The list of restricted dog breeds would be dropped, and municipalities could order mandatory neutering of cats.

The Left wants to ban wild animals in circuses. Fur should no longer be produced. There should be far fewer animal tests. Animal welfare groups should be allowed to sue in court. The list of dangerous dog breeds should go.

The Left wants diverse agriculture built on regional economic cycles. The market power of large retail chains, dairies and slaughterhouses should be reduced so farmers can negotiate better. The party backs minimum producer prices, for example for milk and meat.

The Left wants to help farmers in Saxony. They should sell more in their own region. Big supermarket chains should have less power. Milk and meat should have minimum prices. That way farmers should earn more.

The Left wants a law that bans retailers in Saxony from throwing away food. Following the French model, unsold goods would instead have to be donated, used in agriculture or processed into animal feed.

Stores often throw food away. The Left wants to ban that in Saxony. Stores should donate the food. Or farms can use it. Or it becomes feed for animals.

The Left wants to ban glyphosate on all land throughout Saxony, even though the EU has extended its approval. Mineral fertilizer and pesticide use on fields should also go down. The party also wants to promote climate-friendly forms of land use.

Glyphosate is a weed killer. The Left considers it very toxic. It wants to ban it in all of Saxony. Farmers should also use less artificial fertilizer and fewer sprays. New ways of farming should help the climate.

The Left rejects new genetic engineering methods such as CRISPR/Cas as well as patents on seeds, plants and animals. It wants to prevent the EU from largely dropping labeling for genetically modified organisms. Saxony should commit to staying free of genetic engineering.

Genetic engineering changes the genes of plants and animals. The Left rejects this in farming. It is also against patents on plants and animals. Such products should still carry a label. Saxony should have no genetic engineering in its fields.

The Left calls for an agricultural structure law that slows rising lease and purchase prices for farmland and limits the concentration of land in individual farms. In addition, new soil sealing is to fall step by step to net zero.

Farmland keeps getting more expensive. The Left wants a law that slows the prices. Single farms should not own too much land. Investors from outside farming should buy less land. Also, less ground should be built over.

The Left wants equal living conditions in urban and rural areas. Every village and town is to be served regularly by public transport. The state is to give municipalities enough money for this and for administration, health care and education.

The Left wants towns and the countryside to be served equally well. Buses and trains should run regularly to every village. Offices, doctors and schools should also work well in rural areas. The state should give local governments enough money for this.

The Left wants to expand local public transit and introduce minimum service standards to make smaller towns and villages more attractive. The Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass) should cost no more than 29 euros in the medium term, and transit should be free for certain groups.

Buses and trains should run more often, also in the countryside. The nationwide transit pass should cost 29 euros at most. People with little money pay half. Schoolchildren, students and trainees should ride for free.

The Left wants to expand buses and trains in Saxony and create a state-backed mobility guarantee. Municipalities would get fixed minimum service intervals depending on their size, and closed rail lines would reopen. People without a car should be able to get around everywhere.

The Left wants more buses and trains in Saxony. In every larger village a bus should run regularly. Old rail lines should be used again. All buses and trains should be barrier-free. That means people with disabilities can use them too.

The Left wants to freeze the price of the Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass) for five years and offer it in Saxony as a half-price social ticket. Transit would be free for several groups. The long-term goal is free public transit for everyone.

The Left wants to keep the price of the Deutschlandticket the same for five years. People with little money should pay only half. Students, pupils and apprentices should ride for free. Later, everyone should ride buses and trains for free.

The Left wants to make public transit a mandatory task of municipalities and give them the money for it. Saxony's transit associations are to be merged. First class on regional trains would be abolished.

The Left wants to require towns to offer good public transit. They should get money for this. The transit associations in Saxony should become one. Then prices are the same and timetables fit together. First class on regional trains should go.

The Left wants a statewide network of bike paths, bike highways and more space for walking and cycling. The state road construction office would become an office for sustainable mobility. Everyone in Saxony should be able to do without a car.

The Left wants bike paths everywhere, including in the countryside. Train stations should have bike parking. Families should get 250 euros per child for a bicycle. People on foot and on bikes should get more space. Nobody should die in traffic.

The Left rejects any further expansion of Leipzig/Halle Airport, pointing to the burden on residents, the climate and the environment. Freight companies would pay considerably higher fees. Saxon airports should serve neither military transports nor deportations.

The Left does not want Leipzig/Halle Airport to grow further. The airport is a burden on neighbors and the climate. Freight companies should pay more to use it. At night, only urgent flights should be allowed. There should be no military flights and no deportation flights.

The Left wants minimum standards for how often buses and trains run, plus supplementary services such as on-demand buses. Children, young people and people with low incomes would get a right to ride for free. The 49-euro ticket should not become more expensive.

The Left wants more buses and trains in rural areas. There should be fixed rules on how often they run. Children and young people should ride for free. So should people with little money. The 49-euro ticket should not cost more.

The Left wants AI systems to be audited regularly by an independent body and wants existing data protection laws to continue to apply to them. Employees' personal rights are to be protected in digital workplaces as well.

AI is software that learns on its own. The Left wants such systems checked regularly. An independent body should do this. Data protection rules should apply to AI too. Companies should not monitor their workers unlawfully.

The Left wants to expand the state's IT service providers and introduce uniform hardware, software and security standards in all ministries and agencies. Open-source software is to take priority in order to make the public sector less dependent on private companies.

Saxony's offices use different computer programs. The Left wants the same technology for all. It prefers open source. These are programs whose code is open to everyone. This makes the state less dependent on companies.

The Left wants to speed up broadband expansion and close coverage gaps. Because it believes the market fails in some places, a state-owned company would ensure coverage everywhere.

The Left wants fast internet everywhere. It is often missing in rural areas. Companies do not always build there. So the state should set up its own company. This company should bring internet to every place.

The Left rejects censorship, website blocking, surveillance and the storage of data without specific cause. It regards the internet as an essential public service and wants, in the long run, to give everyone free access.

The Left wants a free internet. Agencies and companies should not watch people online. They should not store data without a reason. Everyone should have internet access. Later, this access should be free of charge.

The Left wants to set up a dedicated state ministry and a parliamentary study commission on digitalization to assess the effects of new technology on fundamental rights. Public agencies would have to disclose where and why they use AI systems, and public administration is to go digital faster.

The Left wants a separate ministry for digital matters. Agencies should say where they use artificial intelligence. Offices should put their services online faster. There should be more help against hate on the internet.

The Left wants to make fire protection a mandatory task under state direction, paid for by the state. In rural areas, full-time local fire brigades would supplement volunteer fire departments. Volunteers would receive more recognition.

The Left wants fire departments to be equally well equipped everywhere. The state should pay for this. In rural areas there should also be fire brigades with paid staff. Volunteers should get educational leave and pension credits.

The Left rejects the planned revision of Saxony's assembly law because it sees it as hollowing out freedom of assembly. It also demands that anti-fascist and civil society protest not be criminalized and that the police task force "Soko LinX" be dissolved.

The Left wants to strengthen the right to protest. It is against the planned new assembly law. Police should protect journalists at protests. The special unit "Soko LinX" should be closed.

The Left wants to respond to offenses by children and young people mainly with social-pedagogical and psychological support rather than repression. To that end, more facilities like Leipzig's "Haus des Jugendrechts" (House of Juvenile Justice) are to be created and more social workers are to do prevention work.

Some children and young people commit crimes. The Left wants to help them mainly with social work and psychology. It does not see harsh punishment as the answer. There should be more social workers who prevent crime.

The Left wants to revise Saxony's police law so that fundamental rights and the presumption of innocence come first. An independent ombuds and complaints office under the state parliament and separate investigators for cases of police misconduct are meant to strengthen trust in the police.

The Left wants to change the police law in Saxony. Basic rights should matter more. An independent office should look into complaints about the police. Police officers can complain there too. Separate investigators should look into claims against police officers.

The Left rejects police video surveillance in public spaces as well as automated facial recognition and tracking. It also opposes checks and random dragnet stops at the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. In its view, these technologies interfere disproportionately with fundamental rights.

Police in Saxony often film protests and soccer fans. The Left does not want that. It also does not want software that recognizes faces. There should be no checks at the borders with Poland and the Czech Republic. Everyone should be able to move freely.

The Left wants a well-trained state police force that is reachable locally and has more investigative capacity rather than new powers or equipment. Training is to include mandatory courses against racism and discrimination, and the police are to become more diverse.

The Left wants police who are close to the people. Officers should get better training. They should take courses against racism. The police should not get more powers or more gear. Security should stay a job for the state.

The Left wants to ban racial profiling and require all police officers to wear an individual ID number on their uniform. Identity checks without cause, "dangerous places," prohibition zones and control areas are to be scrapped because the party believes they are misused for discriminatory checks.

The Left wants every police officer to wear a number on the uniform. Then people can find the officer after a crime. Police should not check people without a reason. Checks based on skin color should be banned. Anyone who is checked should get a receipt.

The Left wants to abolish Saxony's Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz (state office for the protection of the constitution). In the party's view, the intelligence service does not protect democracy but acts mainly politically. Until it is dissolved, parliament is to oversee it effectively.

The Verfassungsschutz is a state intelligence service. The Left wants to close it down in Saxony. The party says it does not protect democracy well. Until then, the state parliament should watch it closely.

The Left wants to strengthen victim protection and support and develop criminal law toward restorative justice. Courts are to work faster with more staff, prison is to be a last resort, and a rehabilitation law is to help convicted people return to society.

The Left wants to help crime victims better. Courts should get more staff and work faster. Prison should only be the last resort. Offenders should make up for the harm. A new law should help convicted people not to commit crimes again.

The Left wants more therapy and addiction services in prisons and easier contact between inmates and their families. According to the platform, family and children provide stability and motivate people to change.

The Left wants more help for people in prison. There should be more therapy for addiction. Inmates should see their families more easily. The party says family gives people support.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for ending jail time in place of unpaid fines, except in rare cases. Riding without a ticket would become a mere administrative offense, and taking discarded food would no longer be prosecuted. The platform sees these penalties as discrimination against poor people.

Today, people who cannot pay a fine often go to jail. The Left wants to end this almost completely. Riding without a ticket should no longer be a crime. Taking food from store dumpsters should not be punished either.

The Left wants to reduce bureaucracy to relieve public administration and craft businesses. Authorities would carry out only spot checks, and in return penalties and fines for violations would rise.

The Left wants less paperwork for offices and businesses. Authorities should no longer check everything, only some cases. Anyone who breaks the rules should pay a higher fine. Funding requests should count as approved after six weeks.

The Left calls for a state commission to critically examine the work of the Treuhandanstalt (the agency that privatized East German state enterprises) after 1990. In the party's view, the Treuhand sold off public assets and contributed to deindustrialization and mass unemployment in the East.

After 1990, the Treuhand sold or closed the companies of East Germany. Many people in the East lost their jobs. The Left calls this an injustice. It wants a state commission to examine it closely.

The Left wants East Germans to be adequately represented in leadership roles wherever the state decides on appointments. It also wants Saxony and eastern Germany to get a fair share of new federal agencies and research institutions.

East Germans rarely hold top jobs. The Left wants to change that. The state should put more East Germans in leading roles. More federal offices should also move to the East.

The Left wants better working conditions, more co-determination and more new recruits in Saxony's public service. The background, according to the platform, is that more than 40,000 employees will leave by 2030.

Many state employees will retire soon. The Left wants to win new people. They should be paid well and have more say. Trainees working for the state should also get better support.

The Left wants a law on senior citizens' participation and senior councils in every municipality and county. Older people are also to get more meeting places, digital training and accessible public spaces.

Older people should have a say in politics. The Left wants a special law for this. Every town should have a council for older people. There should be more places to meet to fight loneliness. Older people should get courses for phones and computers.

The Left wants to give students and staff more say at universities. Academic bodies would have four-way parity, meaning equal voting weight for the four member groups, and elected bodies would gain more powers.

Students and staff should have more say at universities. All four groups should have equal votes in the committees. Students should also sit in the leadership. The university council should only give advice.

The Left wants to sharply reduce the number of signatures required for citizens' motions and referendum petitions in Saxony. Thresholds for local motions, petitions and referendums in counties, cities and towns are to fall as well. The platform argues that Saxony has the highest hurdle for citizen-initiated legislation in Germany.

The Left wants more direct democracy in Saxony. Citizens should find it easier to vote on laws themselves. Fewer signatures should be needed for that. This should also apply in cities and towns.

The Left wants to replace the current Petitions Committee Act with a new petitions law that allows online petitions and public hearings. It also wants the state's Transparency Act reviewed quickly and extended to municipalities and publicly owned companies. In the platform's view, current petition law does not make citizens' influence visible enough.

A petition is a request or complaint sent to the state parliament. The Left wants a new law for this. People should be able to file petitions online too. The government should have to answer quickly. Public offices should also be more open about their decisions.

The Left wants to add an anti-fascism clause to Saxony's constitution that obliges all state bodies to push back the far right. It also calls for permanent funding of anti-racism initiatives, tougher prosecution of far-right violence, and a documentation center on the NSU terror group.

The Left wants to write anti-fascism into Saxony's constitution. Then all public offices would have to work against the far right. Projects against racism should get lasting funding. Far-right violent offenders should be pursued more strictly. The far-right scene should have no weapons.

The Left wants to require accessible polling places by law and have the state help pay for them. Municipalities are to have full-time inclusion officers and volunteer inclusion councils. The platform points out that many barriers make political participation harder for people with disabilities.

People with disabilities should be able to vote more easily. Polling places should be free of barriers. A law should require this. Political information should be available in easy language. Towns should have officers for inclusion.

The Left wants young people aged 16 and over to be able to vote in local and state elections and in referendums. This is meant to give young people's interests more weight in politics. In the long run, the party aims for a right to vote with no age limit.

The Left wants people in Saxony to vote from age 16. This should apply to local and state elections. It should also apply to referendums. Later there should be no age limit at all.

The Left wants to set up youth participation forums in municipalities and at the state level that carry out their own projects and have a say in political bodies. Involving children and young people is to become mandatory under the municipal code.

The Left wants youth forums in towns and at the state level. Young people meet there and plan their own projects. They should be allowed to speak and make proposals in politics. Towns should have to involve children and young people.

The Left wants to refocus the training of lawyers and prison staff and create more positions at the courts. A selection committee would decide on hiring judges. More staff is meant to speed up proceedings.

The Left wants to change training in the justice system. A committee should choose new judges. Courts should get more staff. Then trials go faster.

The Left wants foreign nationals living in Saxony to be able to vote in local and state elections. The condition would be two years of residence in Germany.

The Left wants foreigners in Saxony to have the right to vote. They should be able to vote in their town and in state elections. To do so, they must have lived in Germany for two years.

The Left commits to European integration and wants a "Europe of the regions." The European Committee of the Regions is to get more say, Saxony is to be better represented there, and citizens' assemblies are to involve people in European policy.

The Left supports the European Union. Regions like Saxony should have more say there. Citizens should discuss European topics in citizens' assemblies. Young people should get to know Europe by train.

The Left wants to keep the Zivilklausel (civil clause), which ties university research to civilian purposes. The Bundeswehr (German armed forces) should not be allowed to fund research at Saxon universities through third-party grants.

Universities should only do research for civilian purposes. That means no research for the military. The German armed forces should not be allowed to pay for research at Saxon universities. The Left wants to keep this rule.

The Left opposes war, military buildup, arms exports and militarism and relies on diplomacy. In Saxony it wants no weapons development or production, no new Bundeswehr bases, and no military recruiting at schools and universities.

The Left is against war and military buildup. No new weapons should be built in Saxony. The army should get no new bases. It should not recruit in schools. Conflicts should be solved by talking.

The Left condemns Russia's attack on Ukraine and demands the withdrawal of Russian troops, but wants the war ended through negotiations. It opposes rearmament and arms exports because, in its view, weapons kill people and destroy livelihoods.

The Left is against Russia's war in Ukraine. Russia should pull out its soldiers. The war should end through talks. The Left is against more weapons and against selling weapons abroad.

The Left wants no public research money in Saxony for weapons development, far fewer military exercises and no Bundeswehr recruiting in schools. Instead, disaster protection, humanitarian aid and civilian international exchange are to be strengthened.

The Left wants no public money for research on weapons. There should be far fewer military exercises. The armed forces should not advertise in schools. Saxony should promote exchange with other countries.

The Left wants more money for the Kulturräume (regional cultural funding districts) to secure cultural institutions in rural areas. Village meeting places, fire departments, sports clubs and youth work should also get more support.

The Left wants more money for culture in rural areas. Theaters and museums should stay there. Villages should get meeting places, such as a shop with a café. Young people should have their own spaces. Fire departments and sports clubs should also get more help.

The Left wants to protect Sorbian identity. Sorbian is to be expanded as a second official language and be learnable everywhere in Saxony, and Sorbian history is to be taught in schools.

The Sorbs are a minority in Saxony. The Left wants to protect their language and culture. People should be able to learn Sorbian everywhere in Saxony. Schools should teach Sorbian history.

The Left regards culture as an essential public service and wants to fund municipalities and the Kulturräume (regional culture funding districts) so they can maintain and develop the cultural landscape. Funding is to rise automatically with wages and prices. Culture should be within reach for everyone, regardless of money or where they live.

The Left wants more money for culture in cities and villages. The money should rise each year with prices. Everyone should be able to enjoy culture. Clubs should also get protection and funding.

The Left wants to introduce binding minimum fees for freelance artists and pay permanent staff at cultural institutions according to collective agreements. The platform argues that many people working in arts and culture can barely live on their work.

Many artists earn very little. The Left wants fixed minimum fees for freelance artists. Staff at theaters and museums should get union-scale pay. Everyone should be able to live on their work.

The Left wants to make cultural offerings easier to access, for example through free admission, and to keep and fund music schools and youth art schools. Parents are to get financial relief for their children's cultural education. Music teachers are to be paid better.

The Left wants everyone to be able to enjoy culture. For example, admission could be free. Music schools and art schools for young people should stay. Parents should pay less for them. Music teachers should earn more.

The Left wants to hand unused buildings and land owned by the state and municipalities to cultural initiatives. Important industrial monuments are to be preserved and, where possible, used as social and cultural spaces. The platform argues that projects often simply lack a suitable space.

Some buildings owned by the state and towns stand empty. The Left wants to give them to culture groups. Old factory buildings should be kept. They should become places for culture and meeting people.

The Left wants to fund the Foundation for the Sorbian People and other Sorbian organizations according to need. The financing agreement between Saxony, Brandenburg and the federal government is to run without a time limit and compensate for inflation.

The Sorbs are a minority in Saxony. The Left wants to fund their foundation permanently. The contract for this should have no end date. The money should rise with prices.

The Left wants to reorient Saxony's remembrance policy and make the uniqueness of Nazi crimes and the Shoah its guiding principle. It considers it unhistorical that the memorials law equates remembrance of Nazi crimes with remembrance of the victims of Stalinism. Memorial sites are to get more money and specialist staff.

The Left wants to change how Saxony remembers the Nazi era. The Nazi crimes should be treated as unique. Memorial sites should get more money. They should be able to hire more education experts.

The Left wants to research and address Saxony's involvement in colonialism and create a dedicated place of remembrance. Checking the origin of collection items from colonial contexts is to become easier. People affected by racism are to be involved.

Saxony was also involved in colonialism. The Left wants to research this history. There should be a place of remembrance. Museums should find it easier to check where their items come from.

The Left wants to preserve a diverse media landscape in Saxony and prevent further concentration. Local reporting is to be secured and media subsidies awarded more transparently. In the party's view, media policy should deal with all media, including private companies.

The Left wants many different media outlets in Saxony. A few big companies should not control everything. There should still be news from each region. It should be clear who gets funding for media.

The Left wants to preserve non-commercial community radio and local and regional radio and TV stations, which it sees as important for media diversity. Saxony's state media authority is also to review media providers' output regularly, and its assembly is to gain more rights.

The Left wants to keep small local radio and TV stations. This includes community radio without ads. Every county should have such stations. A public agency should check how well the stations work.

The Left wants the state of Saxony to put more money into Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, the regional film and media fund. It also wants cinema to become a cultural venue again in every region.

The Left wants to give more money to support films. People in smaller towns should also be able to see movies regularly. This should happen within five years.

The Left wants public broadcasting to keep a comprehensive mandate that also covers entertainment, feature films and sports. At the same time, broadcasters are to become more transparent and the MDR broadcasting council more diverse, which the platform says is needed to regain public acceptance.

The Left wants strong public broadcasting. The broadcaster MDR should not only show news. It should also show films, sports and programs for children. Broadcasters should work more openly. More different groups should sit on the broadcasting council.

The Left wants to keep the broadcasting fee as a solidarity-based way of funding public broadcasting. People who receive welfare benefits are to be exempt as a rule, and the state is to cover the cost of those exemptions.

The Left wants to keep the broadcasting fee. People who get welfare benefits should not have to pay it. The state should cover the cost. Then the fee can go down a little for everyone.

The Left wants to make insurance against natural hazard damage mandatory for all property owners while also creating a right to obtain it. It justifies this with more frequent extreme weather caused by the climate crisis.

The Left wants insurance against damage from severe weather. All property owners should have to take it out. They should also have a right to get it. The insurance should be affordable.

The Left wants to create several additional public holidays in Saxony: March 8 as Women's Day, May 8 as the Day of Liberation from Fascism, and a Children's and Family Friday in June. The state's culture of remembrance is to be given an anti-fascist orientation.

The Left wants new public holidays in Saxony. March 8 should be Women's Day. May 8 should mark the end of Nazi rule. In June there should be a holiday for children and families.

The Left wants to drop the Buß- und Bettag (Protestant Day of Repentance and Prayer) as a public holiday and introduce a family holiday around World Children's Day instead. International Women's Day on March 8 is also to become a holiday. May 8 is to be a day of remembrance.

The Left wants to change the public holidays in Saxony. The Day of Repentance and Prayer should go. A family holiday should replace it. Women's Day on March 8 should become a holiday too.

The Left puts club and grassroots sports at the center of its sports policy and wants children and teenagers to use sports facilities for free. The state is to fund municipalities so they can build and maintain facilities. Sports offerings in small towns are to take priority over more money for elite sports.

The Left wants more support for sports clubs. Children and teenagers should use fields and gyms for free. Towns should get more money for sports facilities. Volunteers in sports should get more support too.

The Left wants to keep outdoor and indoor pools, fund them adequately and give all children free admission. The platform points out that drowning is among the most common fatal accidents for children. Every child should therefore learn to swim.

The Left wants every child to learn to swim. Indoor and outdoor pools should stay open. Children should not pay admission. The state should build new swimming halls.