Linke: program for the 2024 Thuringia state election

The Left wants basic public services to be publicly owned and democratically run. In the party's view, no one should make a profit from areas such as health, care, housing, transportation and education.

The Left wants important services to belong to everyone. These include hospitals, buses, trains, homes and schools. Companies should not make a profit from them. Everyone should be able to afford them.

The Left wants a new industrial holdings strategy that lets the state take stakes in companies undergoing structural change. This is meant to secure jobs, ease the switch to climate-neutral production, and keep more value creation in Thuringia.

The state should be able to take shares in companies. This gives companies more money for change. They should be able to produce in a climate-friendly way. Jobs should stay safe. More profit should stay in Thuringia.

The Left wants to bundle support for small and medium-sized businesses in a dedicated law and cut red tape. Start-ups in the skilled trades and cooperatives in which workforces take over their company are to get more support.

The Left wants to support small and medium-sized companies. A new law should bundle the help. There should be less paperwork. Skilled trades and cooperatives should also get more help.

The Left wants a state program with incentives for Thuringian companies to switch from military to civilian production. It rejects new arms factories, and companies in which the state holds a stake are not to make military investments.

Some companies make weapons and military goods. The Left wants them to make civilian products instead. A state program should help with that. The party does not want new arms factories.

The Left wants to support municipalities near which large companies set up, and to create an infrastructure fund for this. At such sites, collective agreements, good wages and co-determination are to become the model.

Big companies are setting up in Thuringia. The towns then need more daycare, homes and buses. The Left wants a special fund for this. The new companies should pay union-agreed wages.

The Left wants to keep investing in research and technology policy, with small and medium-sized businesses at the center. A transformation and sustainability fund is to reorganize financing; military research is to receive no funding.

The Left wants to fund research and new technology. Small and medium-sized companies should benefit most. There should be a new fund for this. Research for the military gets no money.

The Left wants to keep strengthening tourism in Thuringia and give financial support to restaurants and lodging businesses. The platform points to the higher sales tax on meals and the shortage of skilled workers as reasons.

The Left wants to strengthen tourism in Thuringia. Restaurants and hotels should get money from the state. This is mainly for businesses in rural areas. The party also wants to support travel without barriers.

The Left wants to address the labor shortage with better pay, more attractive vocational training, good infrastructure and affordable living conditions. No one should have to move away, and young people should come to Thuringia. The party also relies on strong unions.

Thuringia lacks many workers. The Left wants better pay and better job training. Life in the state should be affordable. This way people stay and young people move here. Strong unions should help with this.

The Left wants to press the federal government and the Bundesrat on measures the state cannot adopt alone. These include a price cap on energy and food, a Kindergrundsicherung (basic child allowance), tax policy that eases burdens, and pensions without disadvantages for eastern Germans.

Some things only the federal government can decide. The Left wants to push for them there. It wants a price limit for energy and food. It wants a basic allowance for children against poverty. Pensions in the east should not be worse.

The Left wants working-time models that make it easier to combine a job with childcare and caring for relatives, and that share care work more fairly between women and men. It names the four-day week and other forms of shorter hours as options.

The Left wants new models for working hours. People should be able to combine work, children and care more easily. Women and men should share these tasks more fairly. The party also thinks about a four-day week.

The Left wants Thuringia's public procurement law, with its minimum pay rate, to apply to municipal contracts as well. State subsidies are to be tied to collectively agreed wages and good working conditions.

The state gives contracts to companies. A special minimum wage applies to them. The Left wants this rule for towns and cities too. Only companies with fair pay should get state money.

The Left wants to expand workers' co-determination in companies and promote economic democracy. A specialized public prosecutor's office is to act against the obstruction of works councils, and a chamber of labor is to represent employees' interests.

Workers should have more say in their companies. Some companies block works councils. A special prosecutor's office should act against that. The Left also wants a chamber of labor. That is a public body that speaks for workers.

The Left wants the minimum wage to apply in workshops for people with disabilities as well. It also wants workshop employees to be supported in moving to the regular labor market.

People with disabilities often work in special workshops. The minimum wage does not apply there today. The Left wants to change that. It also wants to help them move into regular companies.

The Left wants more staff for the state's occupational safety authority so that violations and exploitative employment can be punished. An anti-stress regulation is to oblige employers to take protective measures.

The Left wants more staff for workplace safety. The office should be able to punish violations better. There should also be a new rule against stress. Employers must then protect the health of their workers.

The Left wants to give people who have been out of work for years a lasting prospect through publicly funded employment. The state's labor market programs are to be adequately financed for this.

Some people have been looking for work for years. The Left wants to help them. The state should fund jobs for them. The state's programs should get enough money.

The Left wants to push in the Bundesrat for a 15-euro minimum wage, a minimum training allowance, and basic income support without sanctions. It rejects a longer working life and any weakening of employee rights.

The Left wants to fight for better rules in the Bundesrat. The minimum wage should rise to 15 euros. Bürgergeld should rise with prices every year. Later there should be basic support without penalties. People should not have to work more years.

The Left wants to create a fund that all businesses pay into and from which businesses that train apprentices get money back. This is meant to create incentives for more apprenticeship places and make non-training businesses share the costs.

The Left wants a fund for job training. A fund is a shared pot of money. All businesses pay in a little. Businesses with apprentices get money back. This should create more training places.

The Left wants better social protection for apprentices so they do not depend on parents or side jobs. At the federal level it calls for higher minimum pay and more BAföG (student aid), and it plans its own support in the state.

The Left wants more money for apprentices. Training pay should protect against poverty. School fees and exam fees should go away. There should be cheap housing for apprentices. There should again be money for travel costs.

The Left wants to make sure no one has their electricity or heating cut off anymore. Access to energy should not depend on income.

People who do not pay the bill sometimes lose their power. The Left wants to end this. No one should be allowed to turn off the heating either. Everyone should get energy, even with little money.

The Left wants to press at the federal level for a Bürgergeld (citizen's income) with higher rates and no sanctions, and for an effective basic child benefit. It also calls for price caps on food, energy and rents. The program argues that no one should be poor in a rich country and that wealth must be redistributed to achieve this.

The Left wants more money for people on Bürgergeld. That is the basic welfare payment. The job center should no longer be allowed to cut it. Children should get their own basic benefit. Food, energy and rents should get a price limit.

The Left wants to continue the state program "Solidarisches Zusammenleben der Generationen" (solidarity between generations) and fund it with at least 20 million euros a year. The money is meant to let municipalities secure their social infrastructure and give counseling services and family centers reliable funding.

Thuringia has a program for young and old people living together. The Left wants to grow this program. It should get at least 20 million euros every year. Towns and villages use the money for advice services and meeting places.

The Left wants to make it easier for people with disabilities to enter the job market and to expand their say in politics and society. This includes a higher compensatory levy, a more attractive Budget für Arbeit (budget for work), and removing barriers in all areas of life.

People with disabilities often have a hard time finding work. The Left wants to change that. Companies without disabled workers should pay more. Barriers should be removed everywhere. People with very poor eyesight should also get money from the state.

The Left wants to attract more skilled workers from abroad and to recognize their professional qualifications faster and with less red tape. Workers who immigrate are to receive support from day one so that they stay in Thuringia long term.

The Left wants more skilled workers from other countries. Their job qualifications should be accepted faster. These workers should get help from the start. That way they should stay in Thuringia for a long time.

The Left wants to use the Bundesrat to push for a fundamentally different pension policy: a minimum pension of 1,200 euros, a pension level of 53 percent and no increase in the retirement age. Everyone in work would pay into one common system. According to the program, the goal is that no one is poor in old age.

The Left wants big changes to pensions at the national level. Everyone should get a pension of at least 1,200 euros. The retirement age should not go up. Civil servants, self-employed people and politicians should also pay into the pension fund.

The Left wants to end pension disadvantages that stem from the Unification Treaty and the transfer of East German pensions into the federal system. It considers the federal hardship fund insufficient because it gives only a few people a one-time payment. It plans to back Bundesrat initiatives to compensate everyone affected.

Many people in eastern Germany get less from their pension. This goes back to German reunification. The Left wants to end these disadvantages. Everyone affected should get compensation.

The Left wants to give municipalities better funding and further develop the municipal fiscal equalization system. At federal level, it calls for a separate chamber for municipalities, a higher share of tax revenue and a reform of the local business tax.

The Left wants to give towns and cities more money. They should get a bigger share of taxes. There should be a separate body for municipalities at federal level. Municipalities should decide more for themselves.

The Left wants projects to be funded as a rule for three to five years instead of one. This is meant to give project organizers planning certainty and reduce the state's administrative burden. The state budget is also to be passed on time each year.

Many projects now get state money for only one year. The Left wants to change that. Projects should mostly get money for three to five years. That way the organizers can plan better. Organizers are the clubs and groups behind a project.

The Left wants to replace the debt brake, which it regards as an obstacle to investment. Investment in public facilities should also be financeable through borrowing. In the party's view, postponing such investment burdens future generations more than new debt does.

The debt brake limits new government debt. The Left wants to replace it with other rules. The state should be allowed to borrow for investments. Examples are schools, hospitals, and buses and trains. The party says later generations suffer without this money.

The Left wants to convert vacant buildings into housing and link housing policy with urban development funding. The platform justifies this with climate protection, lower land use, and reviving town centers. It also calls for more greenery in city centers, serial construction, and building with timber.

Many buildings stand empty. The Left wants to turn them into homes. This saves land and is good for the climate. City centers should get more trees and drinking fountains. The state should also support fast building with ready-made parts and building with wood.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for a new Wohngemeinnützigkeit (nonprofit housing status), meaning housing construction that is not profit-driven. Land is to stay in municipal hands or return to them, and land and planning law is to curb price speculation.

The Left wants to strengthen housing that is not built for profit. It wants a new federal law for this. Land should belong to the municipalities. Municipalities should be able to buy building land more easily. The state wants to spend more money on social housing.

The Left wants to set up a state-owned housing company that mainly builds new social housing. The platform argues that subsidies alone are no longer enough and that the market does not secure affordable housing. For large real estate corporations, the party wants to examine expropriation and socialization.

The state of Thuringia should build homes itself. The Left wants to found a state-owned company for this. By 2040 it should have 10,000 low-cost homes. The Left wants to examine expropriation of big housing companies. That means: the state takes over their homes and pays compensation.

The Left wants a state law that lets municipalities ban the conversion of housing to other uses. According to the platform, Airbnb and vacation rentals in large cities and tourist regions drive up rents and shrink the supply of homes.

In some cities, many homes are rented out to tourists. The Left says this makes rents more expensive. Municipalities should be able to ban this. A state law is supposed to make that possible.

The Left wants to make Thuringia the first German state without homelessness. Building on the existing state strategy, it wants to test models that prevent homelessness altogether.

Some people have no home. The Left wants to end this completely in Thuringia. It wants to try out new ways of doing so. In the cities, street workers should be there to help.

The Left wants to abolish parental fees for kindergarten in Thuringia entirely. First a third year is to become free, then the whole kindergarten period.

The Left wants parents to pay nothing for kindergarten. Today two years are free. By 2025 a third year should be added. Later the whole time should be free.

The Left wants to put the state's family support on a permanent footing and provide free, easily accessible leisure activities for families. The Thuringian family card would continue as an app. Foster and adoptive families would be covered by uniform professional standards at youth welfare offices across the state.

The Left wants to help families more. There should be leisure activities that cost nothing. The family card should be available as an app. Foster families should get equally good help from the youth office everywhere in Thuringia.

The Left wants to further raise funding for local youth services and youth social work and secure both for the long term in towns and rural areas. Youth centers and clubs are to become accessible when they are converted or newly built. The aim is to give young people support and spaces for their own initiatives.

The Left wants to give more money to youth work. Young people should have meeting places and leisure activities close to home. Youth centers should be built without barriers. Then young people with disabilities can take part too.

The Left wants to enshrine the office of the state commissioner for child protection in law to secure it permanently. Institutions that work with children and young people are to get help with their own protection plans. The party wants to combat violence in families through better cooperation among authorities.

The Left wants to protect children better from violence. Thuringia has a commissioner for child protection. This office should be written into a law. Schools, kindergartens and clubs should get help with protection plans.

The Left announces a push for education without fees, ranging from nursery to adult education. According to the platform, the goal is for everyone to be able to have a say.

The Left wants education to cost nothing. That should start in nursery. It should also apply to courses for adults. This way everyone can take part in discussions.

The Left wants to extend educational leave to small businesses and apprentices and launch a comprehensive strategy for continuing education. Employees are to be able to gain new qualifications with time and financial security as the world of work changes.

Workers should be able to learn new skills more easily. Small companies should also give five days off for this. This should apply to apprentices too. People who study longer should keep getting paid.

The Left wants to amend the Basic Law so that the federal government permanently co-finances education. The party considers temporary programs that can be cut to be insufficient.

The Left wants to change the constitution. The federal government should pay for education permanently. Today there are often only short-term programs. The party thinks this is too uncertain.

The Left wants to improve the staff-to-child ratio in kindergartens and recruit more staff to do so. The platform sees better pay and working conditions as key.

The Left wants to make kindergartens better. There should be more staff per child. For this, childcare workers should get better pay. Kindergarten heads should also get more time.

The Left wants to gradually make meals in kindergartens and schools free of charge. The food should be regional and healthy and come more often from municipal kitchens.

The Left wants free meals in kindergartens and schools. This should come step by step. The food should be healthy and come from the region. Towns should run more kitchens of their own.

The Left wants to tackle the teacher shortage with many measures and, in the medium term, plan for more staff than is mathematically required. The benchmark should be the needs of schools, not a comparison with other states.

Thuringia does not have enough teachers. The Left wants to hire more of them. There should even be a bit more staff than needed. Then schools can replace teachers who are sick. The jobs should be permanent.

The Left wants to scrap the special performance assessment at Gymnasium (academic high school) and instead award the intermediate school certificate automatically upon promotion to grade 11. It also wants to advance alternatives to numerical grades.

At academic high schools there is a special exam after grade 10. The Left wants to end this exam. Students who move on to grade 11 should get the intermediate certificate automatically. The party also wants fewer number grades. Sports, music and art should have no grades at all.

The Left wants to develop an overall plan for language support for children whose first language is not German. The support is to take place within regular classes and help with integration into society.

Some children do not speak German at home. The Left wants a plan to help them learn German. The children should learn in regular classes. Special teachers for German should help them.

The Left wants every school to have a media plan and critical use of social media to be taught from the start of schooling. Learning materials, both print and digital, are to be freely accessible.

The Left wants every school to have a plan for media. Children should learn early how to deal with social media. Textbooks and digital learning materials should cost nothing. The state should help with the technology.

The Left wants to train teachers by grade level in the future rather than by school type. This is meant to strengthen longer shared learning and the Gemeinschaftsschule (comprehensive community school).

Today teachers train for one type of school. The Left wants to change that. Teachers should train for certain grade levels instead. The training should also include more practice.

The Left wants to strengthen the Gemeinschaftsschule (comprehensive community school) and sees it as Thuringia's main school type in the long run. The party regards longer shared learning as key to educational success and equal opportunity.

In community schools, children learn together for a long time. The Left wants to strengthen this type of school. Later it should be the most important school type in Thuringia. The party says this gives all children better chances.

The Left wants to abolish parental fees for after-school care and extend all-day offerings to grades 5 and 6. The party sees all-day schools everywhere as the path to equal opportunity.

The Left wants parents to pay nothing for after-school care. Children in grades 5 and 6 should get all-day programs too. Every school should have school social work if possible. This should give all children equal chances.

The Left wants to further expand joint teaching of children with and without disabilities. To do so, it relies on good equipment, further training and more special education staff.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. This is called inclusion. The Left wants to expand it further. For this there should be more special education experts. Special needs centers should stay.

The Left wants to conclude a new framework agreement with the universities under which their funding rises by at least four percent every year. This is meant to secure core funding beyond 2025.

The Left wants to give universities more money. Each year it should be at least 4 percent more. For this there should be a new agreement with the universities. It should apply from 2025.

The Left wants to scrap the fees charged to long-term students as well as other study-related fees. The state would make up the lost revenue for the universities. The goal is study in Thuringia that is as free and fee-free as possible.

People who study for a very long time must pay fees in Thuringia. The Left wants to end these fees. Other fees for studying should also go. The state should give the universities the missing money.

The Left wants the federal government to contribute permanently to the basic funding of universities. University construction should again be listed in the Basic Law as a joint task of the federal and state governments. An additional social pact for higher education would bring money for student services.

The Left wants more federal money for universities. The federal government should pay permanently, and the amount should rise regularly. It should also help build university buildings. And it should give money for dorms and cafeterias.

The Left wants to continue and expand the "StudiumThüringenPlus" funding program. It pays first-year students who qualify for BAföG (federal student aid) 500 euros for equipment. Social work at universities and a service app for students are to be added.

In Thuringia some students get 500 euros when they start. The money is for computers, books or language classes. The Left wants to keep this program and make it bigger. Applying should become easier. There should also be more counseling and an app for students.

The Left wants to make the move from school to university easier and more flexible. The numerus clausus (grade-based admission limit) is to be debated again for individual subjects, and qualifications other than grades should count more. Barriers for people with vocational qualifications, people with disabilities and refugees are to come down.

Some subjects need very good grades to get in. The Left wants to talk about this rule again. Other skills should count too. People with job training should find it easier to study. The same goes for people with disabilities and for refugees.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for a fundamental overhaul of BAföG (federal student aid). The aid should reach all students and protect them from poverty.

BAföG is money from the state for students. The Left wants to change BAföG a lot. All students should get support. The money should be enough to live on.

The Left rejects tying universities even more closely to third-party grants if that weakens their basic funding. In its view, competing for research money costs time and leads to insecure jobs. It wants to keep the transparency register, the civil clause and open access.

Researchers often have to apply for outside money. That takes a lot of time. The Left does not want more of this. Universities should get enough fixed money. Research should be open and free to read.

The Left wants a collective bargaining agreement for student employees and more permanent positions at universities. Adjunct teaching contracts should be used only to bring practical knowledge into teaching. In the program's view, staff need job security for teaching and research to succeed.

Many people at universities only have short contracts. The Left wants more permanent jobs. Students who work at the university should get a union contract. A union contract sets pay and contract length for everyone. Teachers without a permanent job should also have more say.

The Left wants to set up a professorship in pluralist economics along with a research institute. Another chair would deal with colonialism, migration, racism and antisemitism. Universities of applied sciences are to get the right to award doctorates.

The Left wants new professorships in Thuringia. One should teach other views of the economy. Another should do research on racism, refugees and hatred of Jews. Applied universities should be allowed to award doctorates themselves.

The Left wants to reform the adult education law and strengthen the basic funding of providers. One percent of the education budget would be set aside for adult education. A training bonus for low earners and mobile offerings in rural areas would be added.

Adults should also be able to keep learning. The Left wants to give more fixed money for this. People with low incomes should get money for further training. In rural areas there should be online classes and an education bus. Reading and writing classes should be expanded.

The Left wants the public sector to invest heavily in health and medical care. This includes hospital planning by the state. In the party's view, hospitals should serve people rather than corporate profits.

The Left wants to spend a lot of money on health. The money should come from the state. The state should plan well where hospitals are. Hospitals should be there for people, not for profit.

The Left wants statutory health insurers to cover the full cost of contraceptives so that contraception does not depend on income. A menstrual leave law is to be added. Research and care are to pay more attention to differences between the sexes.

The Left wants health insurance to pay fully for contraceptives. Contraception should not fail because of money. There should be a law on time off during menstruation. Medicine should treat women and men equally well.

The Left wants to secure medical care close to home across Thuringia, including in places where practices struggle to find successors. It relies on the rural doctor quota, additional scholarships, start-up grants for practices, and easier access to medical and dental degree programs.

The Left wants enough doctors in every part of Thuringia. Rural areas in particular lack doctors. Students should get money if they plan to work in the countryside later. People who open a practice should get money too.

The Left wants to preserve pharmacies close to where people live, especially in rural areas. It backs pharmacies run by their owners and opposes mail-order and chain pharmacies, arguing that only this model ensures good advice and short distances.

The Left wants to keep pharmacies nearby. This matters most in the countryside. The pharmacist should own the pharmacy. The party is against mail-order pharmacies and pharmacy chains.

The Left wants to substantially strengthen the public health service, citing the experience of the pandemic. Municipalities are to get support in setting up their own medical care centers as a public counterweight to private providers.

The Left wants stronger public health offices. They were very important in the pandemic. Towns should be able to set up their own medical centers. The party wants a public option next to private companies.

The Left wants to strengthen local maternity care, especially in rural areas, and commits to free choice of where to give birth. Its stated goal is for every woman in labor to be cared for by one midwife of her own.

The Left wants better help for births. This matters most in the countryside. Pregnant women should choose where to have their baby. Every woman should have her own midwife during birth.

The Left wants to keep every hospital site in Thuringia and considers clinic closures unacceptable. It calls on the federal government for adequate funding without per-case flat rates and wants to bring hospitals more into public ownership.

The Left wants to keep all hospitals in Thuringia. No clinic should close. The federal government should pay hospitals differently and better. More hospitals should belong to the state or to towns.

The Left wants to push in the Bundesrat for a statutory health and long-term care insurance that all working groups must pay into. The party sees this citizens' insurance as necessary to fund long-term care better.

The Left wants one insurance for everyone. Everyone should pay into the same health and care insurance. This includes civil servants, self-employed people, and lawmakers. That should bring more money for care.

The Left wants to introduce a Thuringian state care allowance to ease the burden on people who need care and their relatives. Care costs are also to be limited, and family caregivers are to get better advice.

The Left wants a new care allowance from the state. People with care level 2 or higher get up to 600 euros a year. Care should not become too expensive. Relatives who give care should get more advice.

The Left supports binding staffing requirements in long-term care and in hospitals, backed by sector-wide collective agreements. Care workers are to get higher pay and better working conditions so that more people work in these jobs.

The Left wants fixed rules for the number of care workers. The rules should apply to all care homes and hospitals. Care workers should earn more money. That way more people should work in care.

The Left wants a drug policy built on health and self-determination that does not criminalize use. Addiction prevention, counseling, and drug checking are to be expanded.

The Left does not want to punish people for using drugs. Health and protecting young people matter more. There should be more counseling against addiction. People should be able to have drugs tested for dangerous substances.

The Left wants refugees to have a right to a work permit and work bans to be dropped. Those already in work are to get a secure prospect of staying. The platform also justifies this with the labor shortage following emigration from Thuringia.

Some refugees are not allowed to work. The Left wants to end these bans. Refugees should be able to earn their own money. People who already have a job should be allowed to stay. Thuringia is short of many workers.

The Left wants to create a state office for migration and integration that combines legal and technical oversight and sets uniform procedures for immigration authorities. The aim is easier access to education, work, and participation for all immigrants, backed by more language courses and individual integration plans.

The Left wants a new office for migration and integration. It should make sure all authorities follow the same rules. Immigrants should find work and education more easily. There should be good German courses everywhere. Forms should be available in several languages.

The Left rejects Ankerzentren (large centralized reception and processing centers) and instead wants to improve conditions in initial reception and keep enough places available. Refugees are to live in apartments spread across communities and be free to choose where they live in Thuringia.

The Left does not want Anker centers. These are large shared centers for asylum seekers. The first shelter should get better. It should offer privacy, doctors, and advice. Refugees should live in apartments and choose where they live.

The Left wants to defend the right to asylum and advocates admission programs and deportation halts for particularly vulnerable groups such as Yazidis. Children and young people living in youth welfare facilities are to be protected from deportation by decree.

The Left wants to protect people who have fled. Groups in special danger should not be deported. Yazidis are one example. Programs for people from Syria and Afghanistan should continue. Children in youth welfare homes should not be deported.

The Left wants to work in the Bundesrat to abolish the Asylbewerberleistungsgesetz (Asylum Seekers' Benefits Act), which it considers discriminatory. It is to be replaced by an immigration law, combined with easier access to language courses, integration courses, and work.

Asylum seekers get social benefits under a separate law. The Left thinks this law is unfair. It wants to abolish it. A new immigration law should take its place. Immigrants should be able to learn German and work more easily.

The Left wants to achieve at the federal level that the restrictions on family reunification are dropped. Parents should be able to join their children even if those children have since come of age. A state fund is to cover financial burdens arising from declarations of commitment.

Refugees can often bring their families over only within limits. The Left wants to remove these limits. Parents should also be allowed to join children who have become adults. The state should help with its own fund.

The Left wants to keep the health card and the anonymous treatment voucher so that refugees continue to receive medical care without restrictions. Psychosocial and therapeutic care is also to be expanded.

Refugees should still be able to see a doctor. There is a health card and an anonymous treatment voucher for this. With the voucher, people do not have to give their name. The Left wants to keep both. There should also be more mental health support.

The Left wants Thuringia to remain an open-minded state where people of every religion, origin, identity and skin color feel safe. To that end, places for people to meet are to be created, on a small and a large scale.

The Left wants an open Thuringia. All people should feel safe here. That applies to every religion, origin and skin color. The party wants to create places where people can meet.

The Left wants to promote a teaching and learning culture that is guided by human rights and takes a critical stance on racism and discrimination. To that end, materials are to be reviewed, data collected and contact points created.

The Left wants less discrimination in schools. Discrimination means someone is treated worse, for example because of where they come from. Textbooks should be checked for this. People affected should have places to get help.

The Left wants to raise the share of women among doctoral candidates, professors and leadership roles at Thuringia's universities. To do so, the cascade model is to be put into practice.

There are few women professors at the universities. The Left wants more women in high positions. A fixed rule should apply for this. As many women should work at the top as on the level below.

The Left wants to press at the federal level for broader adoption rights and a family law free of discriminatory provisions. It calls for a clear ban on medically unnecessary surgery on intersex children. In Thuringia, the state program for acceptance and diversity is to be implemented consistently.

The Left wants more rights for queer people. These are, for example, lesbian, gay and trans people. They should be able to adopt children more easily. Unneeded surgery on intersex children should be banned.

The Left wants to revise the state equality act so that women have better chances of promotion in the public sector. A fresh attempt at a parity law is meant to secure women's representation in Thuringia's parliaments. The state parliament would again get a committee on gender equality.

The Left wants a new law on equality. Women should move up more easily in public service jobs. A parity law should come. That means women should be equally represented in the parliaments.

The Left wants a law to better equip women's shelters and counseling services so that more women affected by violence are reached. The Istanbul Convention, a European treaty against violence toward women, is to be implemented further. Shelters are also planned for affected men and trans people.

The Left wants to protect women better from violence. Women's shelters and advice centers should get more money. Violent partners should have to leave the shared home more often. Men and trans people should get safe places too.

The Left wants to replace the principle of care for people with disabilities in the state constitution with the principle of self-determination. Their rights are to be developed further based on a review of the state inclusion act. Decisions are to be made with those affected, not over their heads.

People with disabilities should decide about their own lives. The Left wants to write this into Thuringia's constitution. Their rights should grow in the laws. Towns should involve their representatives more.

The Left wants to set up a police contact person for anti-queer crimes. The statistics on politically motivated crime would list racist and anti-queer offenses separately. Victim protection officers would be trained in dealing with LGBTIQ* people.

The police should get a contact person for anti-queer crimes. Anti-queer means aimed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and inter people. The police should count such crimes separately. The same goes for racist crimes. Victim protection officers should get training on this.

The Left considers moving away from fossil fuels and the combustion engine necessary. It wants to pair that shift with social protection so that no one is disadvantaged, such as people in villages or with little money.

The Left wants to move away from oil, gas and coal. It also wants to move away from the combustion engine. Nobody should lose out because of this. That includes people in villages who need a car. It also includes people with little money.

The Left wants to end the use of fossil fuels and relies on a state-owned energy company. Together with municipal utilities, it is to combine affordable local and district heating with renewable energy.

The Left wants to move away from coal, oil and gas. For this, the state should have its own energy company. It should work together with local utilities. Heat and power should be affordable and come from clean energy.

The Left wants to open up roofs, railway embankments, parking lots and highway shoulders for solar installations. Agrivoltaics, meaning solar panels above farmed land, is to become standard after a pilot phase. The state would also subsidize balcony solar units.

The Left wants more power from the sun. Solar panels should go on big roofs and parking lots. Good farmland should stay farmland. Solar panels above fields should become normal. The state should support small solar units for balconies.

The Left wants to create a transformation fund for the energy and heating transition. It would be financed through borrowing by state-owned entities. According to the program, a state contribution of 50 million euros could mobilize up to 700 million euros for climate-friendly infrastructure.

The Left wants a new pot of money for climate protection. The state should be able to take out loans for it. 50 million euros should turn into up to 700 million euros. The money is for rebuilding villages and towns. For example, there should be more district heating.

The Left wants a law that gives residents and municipalities a share of the earnings from wind turbines. The money is to stay in the region and raise support for expansion. The party rejects a blanket ban on wind turbines in forests.

Wind turbines make profits. The Left wants towns and residents to get part of them. Towns can use the money for daycare, schools or roads. This should make more people accept wind turbines. Wind turbines in forests should not be banned completely.

The Left wants to carry out the heating transition through local and district heating networks that municipalities or counties run for the common good. The networks would run on renewable energy and bill only the actual costs. Where networks make no sense, municipal utilities would install heat pumps and sell the heat.

Many homes need a new heating system. The Left does not want to leave people alone with this. Cities and towns should build heat networks. These networks deliver heat to many homes. The heat should come from renewable energy and be affordable.

The Left wants Thuringia to be supplied entirely with renewable energy in the foreseeable future. Power should be generated where it is needed whenever possible. Storage, citizen energy cooperatives and the conversion of energy-intensive companies would be supported for this.

Thuringia should use only renewable energy. That is energy from sun, wind, water, the earth's heat and biomass. The energy should be made nearby. The Left wants to support storage for power and heat. Citizens should be able to start their own energy projects together.

The Left wants to bring the grids for electricity, district heating and possibly gas back into public ownership across the board. In the medium term, generation and storage would also be in the hands of the federal government, states, municipalities and publicly controlled companies. A state-owned energy company would support the return to municipal ownership.

The Left wants the energy grids to belong to the state or the towns. This applies to electricity, district heating and maybe gas. Later, making energy should also be public. The state should set up its own energy company for this.

The Left wants to use green hydrogen as one building block for cutting CO2 emissions in electricity, heating, transport, industry and agriculture. Battery trains are to run on rail lines without overhead wires, and buses and municipal vehicles are to switch to batteries or fuel cells.

The Left wants to use green hydrogen. This is a gas made with clean electricity. It should help cut CO2. Trains should run on batteries on some lines. Buses should get new engines too.

The Left wants to campaign at the federal level for a windfall profits tax so that crisis and speculative profits of energy companies go to the public purse. It also calls for a new grid fee structure so that electricity in the east and north no longer costs more than in the west and south.

Some companies earn a lot of money from high energy prices. The Left wants to tax these extra profits. The money should help towns and smaller companies. Electricity should also cost the same everywhere in Germany.

The Left wants to treat environmental, social and health policy together because, according to the program, people on low incomes suffer more from noise and heat. Municipalities and social institutions are to get support, and heat protection plans are to be drawn up.

Poor people often suffer more from heat and noise. The Left wants to change that. Everyone should be able to live in healthy surroundings. Towns should get help with this. There should be plans to protect people from heat.

The Left wants to strengthen humane livestock farming and fund a socially fair shift toward better animal welfare. Sow crates and fully slatted floors are to be phased out, and decentralized slaughter sites are to replace large slaughterhouses.

Animals should be kept better. Narrow crates for pigs should go step by step. Farmers get money for better barns. There should be small slaughterhouses in the region.

The Left wants to make Thuringia's forests more resistant to drought, storms and pests through near-natural conversion to mixed forest. 500 million euros are to be available for this by 2030, and the state forestry agency is to get more staff and money.

The forest in Thuringia suffers from heat and pests. The Left wants to change it. There should be more mixed forest with leafy trees. The state gives 500 million euros for this by 2030. Public forest should not be sold.

The Left rejects a final repository for nuclear waste in Thuringia. Its reason is that the state already carries an above-average burden of radioactive waste left over from uranium mining.

Germany is looking for a place for nuclear waste. The Left does not want this place to be in Thuringia. Uranium used to be mined in Thuringia. There is already a lot of radioactive waste from that.

The Left wants to keep animal shelters and animal welfare groups well funded and supports a right for animal welfare associations to sue. It backs mandatory tagging and registration of cats, wants to replace animal testing with other methods, and aims to end cruel breeding of dogs at the federal level.

The Left wants to help animals more. Animal shelters should get enough money. Cats should get a tag so owners can be found. There should be fewer tests on animals. Animal welfare groups should be allowed to go to court.

The Left wants to reduce land consumption more effectively in order to protect soils. The guiding principle is that, on balance, no additional land is sealed. Anyone who intervenes in nature and landscape should primarily compensate in kind rather than pay money.

More and more ground is being built over. The Left wants to stop that. In the end, no more ground should be covered than before. Anyone who builds should free up ground elsewhere. Just paying money should not be enough.

The Left wants waste prevention to come first in waste management and wants recyclable materials returned to the cycle wherever possible. The repair bonus is to become permanent and rise to 300 euros per person per year.

The Left wants less trash to be created. Useful materials in trash should be used again. People who get things repaired receive some money. This repair bonus should stay. It should go up to 300 euros a year.

The Left wants the federal government to share the cost of cleaning up major contaminated sites in Thuringia. Industrial and mining companies are to be required to set aside money for aftercare so that no new legacy pollution arises.

Old factories and mines have polluted the ground. Cleaning up is very expensive. The Left wants the federal government to help pay. In the future, companies should have to save money for later damage.

The Left wants to prepare Thuringia better for heavy rain, floods and drought. This includes sponge city concepts, implementing the low-water strategy, well-equipped counties and disaster relief depots, and a nationwide relief fund plus insurance for damage.

Heavy rain and dry spells are happening more often. The Left wants to prepare the state for this. Towns should store rainwater better. Helpers should have good equipment. After damage, a relief fund should give money quickly.

The Left wants to secure Thuringia's water supply and connect more households to central sewage treatment plants. Funding for wastewater disposal is to rise substantially so that costs do not fall on private households alone and fees stay affordable.

The Left wants to secure clean drinking water for everyone. More homes should be connected to sewage plants. This matters most in villages. The state should give more money for this. Fees should stay affordable.

The Left backs production, processing and marketing within the region and short supply chains. Direct sales are to be promoted and farmers' position in dealing with retail chains strengthened.

Food should come from the region. Farmers should be able to sell their goods directly. Then they depend less on big retail chains. Schools and canteens should use food from the region.

The Left wants agri-environmental and climate measures as well as organic farming established on one third of Thuringia's farmland. The use of pesticides such as glyphosate and harmful fertilizing practices is to decline.

A third of the fields should be farmed in an eco-friendly way. That includes organic farming. The Left wants fewer pesticides such as glyphosate. The soil should stay fertile.

The Left wants EU farm subsidies linked to new criteria and sees the Gemeinwohlprämie (public-good premium) as one possible route. Farmers are to earn income from environmental services, and compensation payments for disadvantaged areas are to stay.

Farmers get money from the EU. The Left wants new rules for it. Those who do something for nature and society should get more. Farmers on difficult land should keep getting extra payments.

The Left wants to block purchases of farmland by investors from outside agriculture. An agricultural structure law, a stronger right of first refusal for farmers, capped prices and a public land fund are meant to achieve this.

Investors are buying more and more farmland. The Left wants to stop that. Farmers should get to buy first. Land prices should have a limit. The state should also own land and lease it out.

The Left favors a ban on growing genetically modified plants and wants to strengthen GMO-free regions. Plants made with new genetic engineering methods are also to remain regulated under existing genetic engineering law.

The Left does not want GM plants on the fields. The strict rules should stay for new gene methods too. The EU wants to loosen these rules. The party is against that.

In the long run, the Left aims for local public transport that everyone can use without a ticket and free of charge. As first steps it names discounted tickets for certain groups, offers for one euro a day and a statewide 28-euro ticket for young people. The Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass) is to stay and become cheaper.

Buses and trains should later be free for everyone. Until then, there should be cheap tickets. Young people up to age 28 should get a ticket for 28 euros. The Deutschlandticket should stay. It should become cheaper.

The Left wants to build a transit association for all of Thuringia that could later become a state-owned transport company. Fares and schedules are to be coordinated so that low-cost offers apply everywhere in the state.

The Left wants one transit association for all of Thuringia. Then the same prices apply everywhere. Buses and trains should fit together well. Later, the state might run transport itself.

The Left wants every village to be reachable by public transport. Flexible services such as on-call buses, community buses and sharing are to supplement regular lines, along with a statewide bus and rail network on a fixed schedule and more accessibility.

Small villages should also be reachable by bus and train. There should be new services for this. For example, buses you can call. Buses and trains should run on a fixed schedule. Stops should be free of barriers.

Building on the Masterplan Schiene 2030 (rail master plan), the Left wants to reopen, electrify and expand rail lines for passengers and freight. Stations are to be renovated and the vehicle fleet renewed and enlarged.

The Left wants more traffic on rails. Old rail lines should be used again. More lines should get electric wires. Old stations should be repaired. There should be more and newer trains.

The Left wants a comprehensive network of bike paths and a statewide bike path plan. Bicycles are to travel free on local trains, and municipalities are to get more advice and simpler funding when planning bike paths.

The Left wants more bike paths across Thuringia. Cycling should be safe, also between villages. Bikes should travel free on trains. There should be places to park and charge bikes. Towns get help with planning.

The Left wants to develop the Road Safety Program 2030 further and cut the number of road deaths by another 40 percent by 2030. To do so it relies on traffic education, better infrastructure, more speed limits and police checks.

Fewer people should die on the roads. By 2030 the number should drop a lot. There should be more speed limits. The police should check more. People should learn more about safe behavior in traffic.

The Left rejects the requirement to put rail routes out to competitive tender because, in its view, price competition harms staff, passengers and reliable service. The procurement law is to contain a binding collective-agreement clause for local transport. The party opposes further privatization of Deutsche Bahn.

Today, companies compete for rail routes. Often the cheapest offer wins. The Left rejects this rule. Transit companies should pay union-agreed wages. The railway should not be sold off any further.

The Left expects digitalization to keep changing work and everyday life. It wants new rules and protections for employees, customers and users of online services.

Computers and the internet change work and daily life. The Left wants new rules for this. The rules should protect workers. They should also protect customers and people who use online services.

The Left sees internet, telephone, and postal delivery as public infrastructure that must be affordable and accessible to everyone. It wants broadband and 5G coverage everywhere and, to that end, a publicly organized Telekom.

The Left wants fast internet for everyone, in every village too. Internet should be affordable. Telekom should be publicly organized. There should be no more dead zones for cell phones.

The Left proposes a subcommittee in the state parliament that would discuss the opportunities, risks, and necessary rules for artificial intelligence together with experts. Thuringia is to regulate AI-generated content and AI-controlled processes by law where needed.

The Left wants a new working group in the state parliament. It should talk about artificial intelligence, or AI. Experts should take part. The group should work out which laws AI needs.

The Left wants to strengthen rehabilitation, reintegration and alternatives to prison and to achieve the abolition of imprisonment for unpaid fines via the Bundesrat. Thuringia's prisons are to do without firearms and guarantee single cells.

People who do not pay a fine must go to prison today. The Left wants to end that. Prisoners should get more help for life after prison. There should be no more guns in prisons.

The Left wants to fight far-right structures with all official means, up to and including bans. Plans include a specialized prosecutor's office for hate crime, tougher action against far-right rock concerts and a plan against properties used by the scene.

The Left wants stronger action against neo-Nazis. Authorities should ban far-right groups where the law allows it. A special prosecutor's office should pursue hate crimes. Victims of far-right violence should get more protection.

The Left wants to abolish Thuringia's Office for the Protection of the Constitution. It considers the need for an agency organized as an intelligence service unproven and wants to fund research institutions on democracy and civil society more strongly instead.

The Left wants to abolish Thuringia's Verfassungsschutz. That is a domestic intelligence service. The party thinks it is not needed. It would rather fund research on democracy.

The Left wants to turn the existing police ombuds office into a stand-alone complaints and investigation authority outside the police. Police officers themselves should also be able to file complaints there. In addition, the requirement for officers to wear identification is to be enforced consistently.

Today there is an office for complaints about the police. The Left wants to turn it into its own agency. This agency should not be part of the police. It should be able to investigate on its own. Police officers should also be able to complain there.

The Left wants to secure reliable staffing for Thuringia's police with a ten-year concept. This is paired with better allowances, promotion and career prospects, modernized training and a lighter day-to-day workload.

The Left wants a staffing plan for the police. The plan should cover ten years. Open jobs should be filled faster. Police officers should get better allowances and better chances to move up. Training should become more modern.

The Left wants to align police law more closely with civil rights and allow new powers only where they are necessary and proportionate. A police committee in the state parliament would oversee covert police work. The use of pepper spray is to be restricted.

The Left wants to change police law. The rights of citizens should count for more. A new committee in the state parliament should oversee the police. This applies mostly to undercover work. Police should use pepper spray only when there is real danger.

The Left wants to end racial profiling, meaning police checks based on outward traits such as skin color. To that end, powers in the state's police law that the party sees as encouraging such checks would be removed. People who are stopped would receive a receipt in the future.

Sometimes police stop people only because of how they look. This is called racial profiling. The Left wants to end it. Police should no longer stop people without a reason. Anyone who is stopped should get a receipt.

The Left wants to secure the readiness of fire departments across the state, especially in small towns. To do so, it plans to revise the fire and disaster protection law, strengthen volunteering and modernize the state fire service school.

The Left wants to strengthen fire departments. Firefighters should be able to help quickly in small towns too. Towns should work together more on this. Volunteer firefighters should get more support. The fire service school in Bad Köstritz should be modernized.

The Left wants more direct democracy at the state and local level, including on questions that affect the budget. Employees are also to have a greater say in their workplaces. The party presents this as a response to declining trust in politics.

The Left wants citizens to vote directly more often. This should also apply to questions about money. It should apply in the state and in towns. Workers should also have more say in their companies.

The Left wants to prevent the AfD from gaining access to state power and parliamentary majorities in Thuringia. It calls the party and its state leader Höcke fascist and pledges to defend democracy, human rights and freedom of expression.

The Left does not want the AfD to govern in Thuringia. It calls the AfD and Mr. Höcke fascist. The Left wants to protect democracy. It also wants to protect human rights and free speech.

The Left wants to develop the existing law on older people's participation into a full senior co-determination act. Senior advisory councils would become mandatory in municipalities with 5,000 residents or more, instead of 10,000. In addition, the AGATHE program against loneliness in old age would be extended to all of Thuringia.

Older people should have more say in politics. Senior councils exist for this. The Left wants to make them required in towns with 5,000 people or more. A program against loneliness in old age should run everywhere in Thuringia.

The Left wants to write the UN children's rights into the Thuringian constitution and supports adding them to the federal Basic Law. Children and young people are to have a binding say, including through mandatory youth parliaments in the counties. In the party's view, early participation makes democracy more resilient.

The Left wants to write children's rights into Thuringia's constitution. Children and young people should have more say. Every county should have a children's and youth parliament. There should also be a children's commissioner.

The Left wants a law to strengthen volunteering that cuts red tape and lets volunteers get around regardless of income. The state volunteering foundation is to receive more money, and volunteer agencies are to be set up statewide. The party sees volunteering as what holds society together.

Many people help for free in clubs or the fire brigade. The Left wants to make a law for these people. There should be less paperwork. Volunteers should be able to get around even with little money.

The Left wants to push at the federal level for everyone living in Germany to be allowed to vote and stand for election. According to the platform, this would promote political participation by all groups in the population and strengthen democracy.

Today, mostly only Germans may vote. The Left wants to change that. Everyone who lives in Germany should be allowed to vote. They should also be able to run for office. The Left says this makes democracy stronger.

The Left wants to add a Thuringian lobby register to the existing record of who influences legislation. In addition, state parliament committees are to meet in public as a rule, and anti-corruption work is to be modernized.

The Left wants a lobby register for Thuringia. It shows who tries to influence politics. Committees in the state parliament should meet in public. The party also wants to do more against corruption.

The Left wants to expand direct democracy and drop the ban on popular initiatives that affect the budget. It also wants a residents' petition at state level that people without a German passport can file as well.

The Left wants more direct democracy. Citizens should also vote on topics that cost money. That is not allowed today. All residents should be able to send requests to the state parliament, even without a German passport.

The Left wants to modernize Thuringia's constitution and set up a constitutional committee again in the new parliament. Among other things, stronger children's rights and clauses against fascism, racism and antisemitism are to be added.

The Left wants to change Thuringia's constitution. Children should get more rights in it. The constitution should clearly oppose fascism, racism and hatred of Jews. A committee in the state parliament should work on this.

The Left wants to broaden voting rights: anyone who has lived in Thuringia for more than five years should be able to vote in local elections, whatever their passport. The party also pursues a voting age of 14 at local and state level.

The Left wants more people to be allowed to vote. People who have lived in Thuringia for over five years should vote in local elections. Their passport should not matter. Young people aged 14 and up should also be allowed to vote.

The Left stands for an institutional separation of church and state. It wants to end the state payments to the churches and rejects limited rights for employees of church-run institutions.

The Left wants a clear split between state and church. The state still pays the churches money regularly. These payments should end. Church employees should have the same rights as other workers.

With many retirements ahead, the Left wants to hire new judges and prosecutors step by step and digitize the justice system. It also wants to strengthen independence and co-determination within the judiciary.

Many judges and prosecutors will retire soon. So the Left wants to hire new young people. Courts should work with computers instead of paper. Judges should have more say in their own affairs.

The Left wants to push in the Bundesrat for fee rules that are socially fair for people seeking justice and viable for lawyers. Legal aid and out-of-court dispute resolution are to be strengthened.

The Left wants everyone to be able to get justice. People with little money should get more help with court costs. Disputes should be settled without a court more often. The state should give money for this.

The Left wants a state law to secure funding for democracy initiatives over several years. The state program for democracy, tolerance and openness is to be developed further, and memorial sites are to be secured.

The Left wants a law to promote democracy. Democracy projects should get money for several years. Then they do not have to worry about funding every year. Memorial sites should also get secure funding.

The Left wants to develop the EU into a social union with equal social rights and comparable living conditions. A European financial transaction tax would give the EU more revenue of its own so that climate policy does not overburden people on low and middle incomes. The party also calls for a humanitarian refugee policy.

The Left wants a social EU. The same social rights should apply all over Europe. The EU should tax financial trades. It should use the money to ease the cost of climate action for people. The EU should treat refugees humanely.

The Left rejects arms exports and calls for more diplomatic initiatives and mutual disarmament. It condemns Russia's attack on Ukraine and recognizes the right of attacked states to defend themselves. Instead of money for rearmament, it demands a federal multibillion package for education, the environment and social programs.

The Left is against selling weapons abroad. It wants more talks to end wars. Countries should reduce their weapons together. The party condemns Russia's war against Ukraine. Money should go to education and social needs instead of weapons.

The Left wants to ban visits by Bundeswehr youth officers to educational institutions in Thuringia entirely. Peaceful conflict resolution is to get more room in schools.

The German army sometimes sends officers into schools. The Left wants to ban this. Schools should talk more about peaceful ways to solve conflicts.

The Left stands by public broadcasting and wants to secure its independence, while also reviewing the structures and costs of the regional broadcaster MDR. Local media, community media, and nonprofit journalism are to be supported.

The Left wants to keep public broadcasting. The broadcasters should stay independent. MDR should spend its money carefully. Small local media should get help too.

The Left wants to keep giving state money to private local radio and TV stations and to community media in Thuringia. The platform justifies this with preserving diversity of opinion and the costs of technological change.

The Left wants to keep supporting small radio and TV stations. Community media should get more money too. Community media are stations where citizens make the shows themselves. The goal is many different voices in the media.

The Left wants to bundle support for the media industry and create a media location agency. Film and media funding is to be expanded so that trained professionals can carry out their projects in Thuringia.

The Left wants to support the media industry in Thuringia more. A new agency should take care of this. There should be more money for films. Media professionals should be able to work in Thuringia.

The Left wants to increase funding for and investment in socio-cultural venues and the independent arts scene. Funding would in the future also cover adequate staff positions. The party sees these places, especially in rural areas, as important spaces for encounter, participation and democracy.

The Left wants more funding for small and independent culture venues. These include community arts centers and independent theaters. The state should also pay for staff. The party says these places matter most in rural areas. Choirs and clubs should keep getting money too.

The Left wants sector-wide collective agreements or the public-sector pay agreement (TVöD) to apply at all theaters and orchestras in Thuringia. In-house pay agreements would be done away with. The party links this to fair pay and secure locations.

The Left wants the same union pay rules at all theaters in Thuringia. Single theaters should no longer have their own pay deals. An in-house deal applies to only one theater. The party wants to secure fair pay this way. Theater buildings should also be renovated.

The Left wants museum and archive holdings checked more thoroughly for looted art. Collections would be stored in modern depots, for which a dedicated program is planned. Small local history museums are to be preserved as well, and heritage protection is to be brought up to date.

Museums and archives should check their collections. They should look for stolen art. This covers the Nazi era, East Germany and colonial times. The Left wants to fund new storage space for collections. Small local museums should stay open too.

The Left wants public institutions to pay freelance artists at least the fees that cultural associations set as a floor. The party also rejects any curtailment of the Künstlersozialkasse (artists' social insurance fund).

Freelance artists should be paid fairly. Public institutions should pay them a minimum fee. Cultural associations set the amount. The artists' social insurance fund should stay as it is. This fund helps artists with their social insurance.

The Left wants to preserve, expand and digitally modernize libraries across the state. The state and municipalities would each pay half the cost of digitizing public libraries.

The Left wants to keep libraries everywhere in Thuringia. There should be more services too. Libraries should become more digital. The state and the towns should pay for this together. Each pays half.

The Left wants to support both recreational and elite sports and clear the repair backlog at sports facilities through a larger construction program. A future plan for sports is to be drawn up with clubs and associations. Sports offerings should become more inclusive, including for people with disabilities, older people and LGBTIQ* people.

The Left wants to strengthen sports in Thuringia. Old gyms and sports fields should be repaired. Clubs should be able to use sports facilities for free. People with disabilities and older people should also be able to do sports. Coaches should be paid better.

The Left wants to keep supporting basic supply in the countryside, for example through village shops and stores open around the clock. It also plans a new state development program Thuringia 2040 and stronger use of funding programs for rural development.

The Left wants to improve life in the countryside. Village shops should get money from the state. Shops that are open day and night should get help too. A new plan should show how Thuringia develops until 2040.