SPD: program for the 2026 Berlin state election

The SPD wants to build a joint economic and labor market region with Brandenburg. The two states are to coordinate on the local business tax, on collective wage compliance and on location policy so that fair conditions apply across the metropolitan region.

Berlin and Brandenburg should work together more closely on the economy. Both states should agree on taxes for companies. They should also use the same rules for fair pay. They want to plan new sites for businesses together.

The SPD wants to give targeted support to future industries and cutting-edge technologies and bring Berlin to the top of Europe's innovation locations. To do so, technology sites such as Tegel and Siemensstadt are to be expanded and science and business linked more closely.

The SPD wants many new ideas and products to come from Berlin. It wants to support modern industries. These include health, AI and climate protection. Places like Tegel and Siemensstadt should grow. Universities and companies should work together more closely.

The SPD wants to give more support to new businesses, especially those founded by women, by people with a migration background and in future industries. Women are to get easier access to funding and venture capital. The party wants startups to create jobs covered by collective agreements.

The SPD wants more people in Berlin to start a company. Women should get money for this more easily. People with roots abroad should also get more help. Advice should be offered in several languages. Self-employed people should get low-cost workspaces.

The SPD wants to give more support to Berlin's creative industries, from fashion and design to games. Clubs are to get their own venue funding for the first time, and esports funding is to be added to the existing games funding.

Berlin has many creative companies. The SPD wants to support them. Clubs are to get their own funding for the first time. Esports should also get money. Esports means competing in video games. Fashion week should stay important.

The SPD commits to industry in Berlin and wants to actively guide its shift to reliable, affordable and carbon-neutral production. Industry, skilled trades, the digital economy and research are to be linked more closely so that production in the region can scale up.

More than 100,000 people work in Berlin's industry. The SPD wants to keep these jobs. Factories should become climate-friendly and still work at affordable cost. Companies, trades and research should work together more closely. On some business sites, homes for skilled workers should also be built.

The SPD wants to make it easier for small and midsize companies to win public contracts and to better equip business development offices in the districts. The agency Berlin Partner is to be strengthened and is to simplify the recruitment of skilled workers from abroad.

The SPD wants to help small and midsize companies. Public contracts should be easier to get. The districts should have more staff to advise companies. Berlin should be able to bring in skilled workers from abroad more easily. There should be less red tape for this.

The SPD wants to preserve retail, restaurants and culture in all parts of the city and make shopping streets more attractive. Business improvement districts are to be possible in every borough, and retailers are to get bridging aid when construction sites cut into their sales.

The SPD wants to keep shops, restaurants and culture in the neighborhoods. Shopping streets should become nicer. Shop owners and residents should be able to form groups. Shops often lose customers near construction sites. Then they should get money as help.

The SPD wants to protect businesses in neighborhoods from being pushed out. It is pressing at the federal level for laws that allow affordable commercial rents and wants to build three more city-owned commercial centers by the end of the next term.

Many businesses can hardly afford the rent for their space. The SPD wants to protect them. The federal government should make rules for affordable business rents. Berlin should build three new city-owned commercial centers. Businesses can rent space there at low cost.

The SPD wants to build up Berlin as a fair trade capital and align public purchasing more closely with fair criteria. It also wants to promote business models oriented toward the common good and a circular economy in which products are used for a long time.

The SPD wants to strengthen fair trade in Berlin. The state itself should buy more fair products. Products should last a long time. People should repair or recycle them. The SPD wants to help companies do this.

The SPD wants to expand the existing internationalization concept into a comprehensive strategy. Small and medium-sized businesses in particular are to get support for activities abroad, and trade ties with emerging markets are to be deepened.

The SPD wants Berlin companies to do more business abroad. There will be a big plan for this. Small and medium-sized companies will get the most help. Berlin will have more offices in other countries.

The SPD wants to bring more major events to Berlin because they generate revenue and jobs. To that end, the trade fair grounds are to be modernized and the ICC converted, together with private partners, into a center for culture, creative industries, and major events.

The SPD wants more big events in Berlin. They bring money and jobs. The trade fair grounds will be modernized. The ICC is a large congress building. It will be used again.

The SPD sees tourism as a key pillar of the economy and wants to make it more sustainable and more evenly spread across the city. More of the City Tax revenue is to go toward tourism that is compatible with city life.

The SPD wants to support tourism in Berlin. Visitors should spread out across the whole city. Tourism should harm the environment less. Money from the overnight-stay tax will be used for this.

The SPD wants water, the power grid and district heating to stay in state hands and plans to write a privatization brake into Berlin's constitution. State-owned companies are to be economically strong and serve the common good.

Water, the power grid and district heating belong to the state of Berlin. It should stay that way. The SPD wants to write this into the constitution. Then they cannot simply be sold.

The SPD wants to respond to job cuts, digitalization, demographic change and the climate-friendly restructuring of the economy with more further training. Training alliances are to grow, and every district is to have commissioners for good work and vocational training.

The world of work is changing a lot. So the SPD wants more further training. People should be able to learn new things on the job. Every district should have a person who looks after good working conditions. Workers should also learn how to use AI.

The SPD wants to reduce long-term and youth unemployment through active labor market policy. Each year, 500 new jobs are to be created in the "Soziale Betriebe" (social enterprises) program, and existing counseling services are to continue.

More than 200,000 people in Berlin are out of work. The SPD wants to help them find jobs. Each year, 500 new subsidized jobs are to be created. Counseling centers are to stay. Women and single parents are to get special help.

The SPD wants four out of five workers in Berlin to be covered by a collective agreement. To get there, compliance with collective wage rules and the procurement minimum wage in public contracts is to be enforced more strictly, and state subsidies are to be tied to collective bargaining and co-determination.

A collective agreement sets pay and hours for many workers. The SPD wants 80 percent of workers in Berlin to have one. Companies with public contracts should pay fairly. The state should check this more strictly. Only companies with a collective agreement should get state funding.

The SPD wants tougher action against employers who obstruct works councils. Such acts are to be prosecuted automatically by the authorities in the future, and the responsible unit in the public prosecutor's office is to be strengthened.

Works councils speak for the workers in a company. Some employers get in the way of this work. The SPD wants to pursue that more strictly. Prosecutors should then investigate on their own. There should also be a new meeting for works councils and politicians.

The SPD wants to strengthen dual vocational training and found an Azubi-Werk (apprentice services agency) that advises apprentices and provides them with affordable housing. A training levy is also to come: companies without apprentices would then help pay the costs of companies that train.

The SPD wants to help apprentices. A new apprentice agency should advise them and create cheap housing. The apprentice transit ticket should stay. Companies without apprentices should pay money. This money goes to the companies that do train.

The SPD wants the state to be a model employer: all state-owned companies are to be bound by collective agreements and must not spin off units to avoid them. Earlier spin-offs made for that purpose are to be reversed. Workplace safety oversight is also to be strengthened.

The state of Berlin owns companies. These companies should pay according to collective agreements. They should not split off parts to push wages down. Where that has already happened, the SPD wants to undo it. The workplace safety authority should become stronger.

The SPD wants to foster cohesion in neighborhoods by expanding community centers and public services. New meeting places are to be created in every district. Social service providers are to be enabled to pay their staff at collectively agreed rates.

The SPD wants to strengthen neighborhoods. Every district should get new places to meet. Nobody has to spend money there. There should also be cheap canteens nearby. Schoolyards should be open on weekends.

The SPD wants to make old-age poverty the focus of its anti-poverty policy and expand social counseling for this purpose. Older people are to live independently and take part in all areas of life. The program bases this on respect for what they have achieved in life.

Some old people have very little money. The SPD wants to help them in particular. There should be more advice that is easy to reach. Help should arrive without hurdles. Culture, sports and education should be possible on a small pension too.

The SPD wants people with disabilities to be able to take part everywhere and wants to remove barriers. A new state-owned company is to operate as an inclusive business and improve access to the regular labor market. Public services and counseling are to be accessible as a rule.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. The SPD wants to remove barriers. Public offices should be easy for everyone to use. The state should set up its own company. This company should give jobs to people with disabilities.

The SPD wants to draw up an anti-poverty strategy that covers every stage of life and starts early. A central coordination office is to bundle the administration's work. Consumer protection is also to be strengthened, including with the help of AI.

Many people in Berlin are poor. The SPD wants to make a big plan against poverty. A new office should organize the work of the authorities. The SPD also wants to protect consumers better. This matters most with fraud on the internet.

The SPD wants to end homelessness in Berlin by 2030. It plans to found a "SozialWohnWerk" (social housing agency) that secures apartments for homeless people. The guiding principle is Housing First: an apartment of one's own comes at the start of support.

The SPD wants no one in Berlin to be homeless by 2030. It will set up a new housing agency. The agency finds apartments for homeless people. The apartment comes first, other help comes after.

The SPD wants to implement and speed up investment in Berlin's infrastructure during the next term. The money is to come from the state budget, Berlin's SIWA special fund and the federal infrastructure special fund. In the party's view, visible investment strengthens trust in the state and in democracy.

The SPD wants to invest a lot of money in Berlin. The money is for schools, roads, bridges and hospitals. New homes are also planned. This is to be a focus for ten years. The work should go faster than before.

The SPD wants to increase Berlin's revenue. The Grunderwerbsteuer (property transfer tax) is to go up by half a percentage point, with exceptions for buyers who live in the property. It also plans a packaging tax, higher fines and parking fees, and stronger tax investigation.

Berlin should take in more money. People who buy land or a house should pay a bit more tax. Buyers who live there themselves should be exempt. There should also be a tax on packaging.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for a fairer distribution of wealth. Large fortunes are to be taxed more heavily on inheritances and gifts, and a wealth tax is to be levied again. It also wants share deals banned.

Very rich people should pay more taxes. The SPD wants to achieve this at the federal level. There should again be a tax on large wealth. People who inherit a lot should also pay more.

The SPD calls on the federal government to abolish the Schuldenbremse (debt brake) and wants to use its leeway fully until then. Investment is to stay high while the structural deficit shrinks markedly. It wants to cut spending only cautiously.

The debt brake limits how much debt the government may take on. The SPD wants the federal government to abolish it. Berlin should keep putting a lot of money into the city's future. Cuts should only be made carefully.

The SPD demands that the federal government pay in full for tasks it assigns to the states. In addition, the capital city financing agreement is to be revised so that Berlin's special burdens as the capital are fully offset.

The federal government often gives the states new tasks. The SPD wants the federal government to pay for these tasks too. Berlin has special costs as the capital. The federal government should give more money for that as well.

The SPD wants to create a total of 100,000 new homes between 2026 and 2031 and at least 230,000 by 2040. A public housing construction program is meant to ensure that more than half of new homes are built by state-owned, cooperative, and other public-interest companies.

The SPD wants 100,000 new homes in Berlin by 2031. More than half should be built by companies that serve the public good. These include the state's own housing companies. The state will give these companies more money.

The SPD wants to further develop funding for housing cooperatives and make it the second pillar of the public housing construction program. State-owned land is to be made available to cooperatives and other public-interest developers, mainly through long-term ground leases.

The SPD wants to give more support to housing cooperatives. The state will give them land to build on. Usually the state keeps the land. The cooperative may use it for a long time. This is called a ground lease.

The SPD wants to raise the social housing quota under the cooperative building land model from 30 to 50 percent. In the future, the model is also to apply to projects without a development plan when developers need exemptions from building law.

Today, 30 percent of homes in large new building projects must be social housing. The SPD wants 50 percent. The rule should apply to more building projects. The districts should check that the homes are really rented out this way.

The SPD wants to speed up and lower the cost of construction and permitting in order to reduce the shortage of affordable housing. Simpler building standards, modular construction, and digitalized building authorities are meant to contribute to this.

The SPD wants building to be faster and cheaper. Development plans should be finished in two years. Building offices should work more with computers and AI. There should be simpler building rules.

The SPD wants to make greater use of vacant lots, brownfields, empty offices, and low-rise properties for housing. Owners who do not build on ready-to-build land are to be pushed to build or sell through a Grundsteuer C (a property tax on undeveloped building land) and building orders.

Some plots are empty even though building is allowed there. The SPD wants to introduce a special tax for them. It also wants to require owners to build. Empty offices should become homes. Homes could be built on top of low supermarkets.

The SPD wants to create up to 12,000 homes at the former Tegel airport with state-owned companies and cooperatives. Tempelhofer Feld is to keep its current function; the party rejects building along its edges as long as other land in Berlin remains unused.

Tegel used to be an airport. The SPD wants to build up to 12,000 homes there. Tempelhofer Feld should stay open. No homes should be built on the edge of the field for now. But there will be building next to the old airport building.

The SPD wants to expand the existing rent review office into a rent supervisory authority that advises, investigates, and imposes penalties. Rent gouging is also to be pursued by a specialized department at the public prosecutor's office.

The SPD wants a new authority for rents. It will check and punish rents that are too high. Tenants can report high rents with an app. Prosecutors should also do more against rent gouging. Rent gouging means the rent is far too high.

The SPD wants to commit the state-owned housing companies more firmly to exemplary rental practices and to limit rent increases there. The cap of 27 percent of household income is in the future to be based on gross rent excluding heating rather than on net rent.

The state of Berlin owns housing companies. Rents there should rise less. Tenants should pay at most 27 percent of their income for rent. In the future, running costs should count too. Homes should be given out without discrimination.

The SPD wants to make better use of existing housing by making home swaps and moves to smaller apartments easier. A matching program is to bring together older people with spare rooms and young people who pay less rent in return for help with daily life.

Some older people have a spare room. Young people should be able to move in. They help with daily life and pay less rent. People who move to a smaller home should not pay more per square meter. Single parents should be entitled to more rooms.

The SPD wants to tighten the ban on misusing residential space and thereby return vacation rentals to the rental market. A new housing protection task force at the Senate is to support the districts with enforcement; construction of micro-apartments is also to be more tightly managed.

Many homes are used as vacation rentals. The SPD wants to restrict this more. A new unit at the Senate will help the districts with checks. Very small apartments should also be built less often.

The SPD wants to prioritize preserving housing over demolition and act faster against neglected buildings. It also plans a rent and housing register, a duty to report vacancies, and a progressive vacancy tax.

The SPD wants fewer buildings to be torn down. Landlords should keep their buildings in good condition. Otherwise the district steps in, and the owner pays. Owners who leave homes empty for a long time should pay a tax. A register will show who owns homes.

The SPD wants to create a new social housing framework that substantially expands the public-interest housing market. One goal is a legally sound rent cap, either through an opening clause in federal law or based on Article 15 of the Basic Law.

The SPD wants a rent cap for Berlin. That is a fixed upper limit for rents. Berlin needs permission in federal law for this. Or Berlin uses Article 15 of the constitution. This article allows property to be turned into public ownership.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for stricter tenancy law. This includes a permanent rent brake without exceptions, a ban on index-linked rents, and a lower cap on rent increases.

The SPD wants stricter rent rules across Germany. The rent brake should apply forever. Rents should rise by no more than six percent in three years. Index-linked rents should be banned. These are rents that rise along with prices.

The SPD wants to press the federal government for a social tenancy law for commercial premises, the return of the municipal right of first refusal in protected neighborhoods, and a stricter ban on excessive rents. Owner-occupied housing is to receive targeted support, while Berlin is to remain a city of renters.

The SPD wants to protect renters better. Districts should again be able to buy buildings first in protected neighborhoods. Very high rents should be easier to ban. Shops and small businesses should also get better rent protection. Families with little money get help to buy their own home.

The SPD wants to give Berlin's districts more money for Hilfen zur Erziehung (support services for families raising children) and to change how the funds are distributed. It regards these services as a key part of child protection.

Some families need help with raising their children. The districts pay for this help. The SPD wants to give the districts more money for it. The money should be shared more fairly.

The SPD wants families to receive the Kita-Gutschein (daycare voucher) on their child's first birthday without having to apply. This is meant to ease the burden on families and daycare managers.

Parents in Berlin need a voucher for a daycare place. Today they have to apply for it. The SPD wants the voucher to arrive automatically on the child's first birthday.

The SPD wants to expand recreational facilities for children and teenagers and create free meeting places in public spaces. Young people should have places that belong to them and where they have a say. A yearly culture credit for young adults is to return.

Young people should get more places to meet. They do not have to pay there. The SPD also wants more leisure programs and better playgrounds. Young adults should get 50 euros a year for culture.

The SPD wants targeted support for single parents, including a state program for household help and discounted tickets. The Familienpass (family pass) is to be expanded. The program sees family as diverse and names single-parent, blended, rainbow and traditional families.

The SPD wants to help single parents more. They should be able to get help at home. The state pays part of the cost. There should also be cheaper entry tickets. The family pass should include more offers.

The SPD wants more staff per child in Berlin's Kitas (daycare centers). This is meant to free up time for individual support, talks with parents and documentation. The state-owned daycare operators are also to be put on a secure financial footing.

Daycare centers should have more staff for the children. Then staff have more time for each child. The SPD also wants to give more money to the daycare centers owned by the state of Berlin.

The SPD wants mandatory language assessments for all children and targeted help before school for those who need it. The compulsory final year of daycare is to be enforced across Berlin. Every child should be able to follow lessons when starting school.

All children should take a language test before school. Children with problems then get help with speaking. The last year of daycare should be required for all children. This way all children can keep up at school.

The SPD wants twice as many Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive schools where students learn together through all grades) and wants every secondary school to offer all diplomas up to the Abitur. Its reasoning is that family background still too often decides a child's path. It opposes more Gymnasien that start in grade 5.

In a Gemeinschaftsschule all children learn together for a long time. The SPD wants twice as many of these schools. Every school should offer all diplomas, including the Abitur. The SPD does not want more Gymnasien that start in grade 5.

The SPD wants children with and without special needs to learn together in mainstream schools. The number of special-needs centers is not to grow; instead they are to be converted into inclusive options under a binding ten-year plan.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. The SPD does not want new special schools. The existing ones should change over ten years. Regular schools get more specialists for this.

The SPD wants to give schools more decisions of their own on teaching, staff and budgets. At the same time, schools are to work more with collected data. The school supervisory authority is to become an independent oversight and complaints body.

Schools should decide more on their own. This covers teaching, staff and money. They should measure more often how well children learn. School oversight should become independent and take complaints.

The SPD wants to trim the framework curricula, make timetables more flexible and expand all-day programs at elementary schools. Lessons and activities outside class are to be linked more closely. Learning materials are to stay free for every child.

The curricula should get shorter. Schools should plan their hours more freely. Afternoon care should grow up to grade 6. School materials stay free for all children.

The SPD wants to keep the subjects politics and ethics unchanged and rejects letting students choose between ethics and religion. Students are to have more say starting in first grade. The platform argues that young people now meet opponents of democracy earlier, often through social media.

The subjects politics and ethics should stay as they are. Students should not choose between ethics and religion. Children should have more say from grade 1 on. This way they learn democracy.

The SPD wants to ban cell phones at all elementary schools, citing health and child protection. At the same time, a new framework curriculum is to anchor digital education in all subjects and grades.

Cell phones should be banned at elementary schools. This is meant to protect children. At the same time children should learn more about digital topics. These include social media and safety on the internet.

The SPD wants to record teachers' working hours, reduce their workload and hire more non-teaching staff. Every school is to have at least one school social worker position. This is meant to let educators focus on their core tasks.

Teachers should be able to record their working hours. Schools get more staff for office work, IT and building care. Every school should have a social worker position. Teachers then have more time for teaching.

The SPD wants to keep school construction at its current pace and focus more on renovating existing buildings. Funding is to stay public; it rejects partnerships with private investors in school construction.

Berlin should keep building and repairing many schools. Old school buildings should now be renovated more. The money should come from the state. Private companies should not finance schools for the state.

The SPD wants to strengthen vocational schools with their own development plan, better equipment and a state institute. All young people should reach a qualification and a next step. Career guidance is to begin as early as elementary school.

Vocational schools should get better. They get a plan, modern technology and enough teachers. A new institute should watch over quality. Children should learn about jobs as early as elementary school.

The SPD wants adult education options such as Volkshochschulen (adult education centers), libraries and second-chance schools to be low-cost or free. Literacy and basic education are to be strengthened. Better working conditions are to apply to people who work in adult education.

Adults should also be able to learn well. Courses should cost little or nothing. People should be able to learn to read and write better. Those who teach these courses should have good working conditions.

The SPD wants to keep the existing university places in Berlin and fund higher education on a stable basis. Science buildings are to be renovated and newly built through a construction company financed by the state. The platform sees science as a driver of innovation and economic success.

Berlin should not cut university places. Universities should get money reliably. A new state company should build and repair university buildings. Berlin should attract good researchers from around the world.

The SPD wants research results to reach companies and society more often. Uniform rules on intellectual property are meant to make spin-offs from universities simpler. Exchange between researchers and the public is also to grow.

The SPD wants ideas from research to be used. Researchers should be able to start a company more easily. Berlin should have the same rules for all universities. Scientists should also talk more with citizens.

The SPD wants to keep study at state universities free of tuition and to double the share of student housing. At the federal level it is pushing for BAföG (student aid) that does not depend on parents' income. The program argues that BAföG is too low for living in Berlin.

Studying at state universities should stay free. The SPD wants twice as much housing for students. BAföG is state money for students. It should no longer depend on the parents' income. The semester ticket should also stay cheap.

The SPD wants to adapt degree programs more closely to students who work and to improve supervision. Academic continuing education is to become a public task of universities as well. The program cites demographic change and the upheavals caused by AI as reasons.

Many students work while they study. The SPD wants more study programs that fit this. Universities should also offer more further training. This is to become a task of the state. People with low pay should be able to learn more easily.

The SPD wants to create more permanent positions for academic staff. People with a doctorate are to be employed on permanent contracts as a rule. Through the Bundesrat it wants to reform the law on fixed-term contracts in academia.

Many researchers only have short-term contracts. The SPD wants more permanent jobs at universities. People with a doctorate should usually get a permanent job. The SPD also wants to change a federal law for this.

The SPD wants to act against antisemitism, Islamism, racism and discrimination at universities and to strengthen prevention. At the same time, equality and diversity are to receive more support. The program stresses that academic freedom applies and democratic protest remains possible.

Jewish people should feel safe at universities. The SPD wants to act against hatred of Jews and against racism. Protest should still be possible at universities. There should be more places to file complaints. Disadvantaged students should get more help.

The SPD wants to fund Berlin's hospitals adequately and carry out the hospital reform. A new children's hospital would be built together with the Charité. The Charité and Vivantes would be strengthened and cooperate more closely.

Many hospitals in Berlin have too little money. The SPD wants to give them more. A new children's hospital should be built with the Charité. Nurses in hospitals should have a lighter workload.

The SPD wants more general and specialist practices and therapy slots, especially in outer districts, and shorter waits for appointments. To that end, planning of physician licenses would be reformed together with the Kassenärztliche Vereinigung (association of statutory health insurance physicians). Health centers and after-hours practices would be expanded.

Some parts of Berlin have too few doctors. The SPD wants to change that. People should get a specialist appointment faster. There should be more health centers close to home.

The SPD wants to develop a mental health master plan that reorganizes support and shortens waiting times. More therapy slots would be created and more specialists trained.

Many people with mental illness wait a long time for help. The SPD wants a big plan to fix this. There should be more therapy places. Berlin should train more specialists.

The SPD wants a new law making support services for older people a mandatory public task and wants to strengthen home care. Nursing homes would be inspected more closely. At the federal level the party calls for a cap on what people pay out of pocket for care.

More and more people in Berlin need care. The SPD wants to strengthen care at home. A new law should make help for older people a duty. Nursing homes should be checked more often.

The SPD wants to expand health services for people with special needs and close gaps in care. This includes gender-sensitive and queer-sensitive medicine, better maternity care and care for homeless people and refugees.

The SPD wants good medical care for everyone. Doctors should pay more attention to differences between the sexes. Queer people should also get good care. Homeless people and refugees should get medical help.

In drug policy, the SPD favors help over punishment. Counseling, drug checking, therapy, and supervised consumption rooms are to be expanded. At the same time, drugs are to be removed from public spaces, especially parks and playgrounds.

The SPD wants to help people with addiction instead of punishing them. There will be more counseling and therapy. There will be more rooms where people can use drugs safely. Parks and playgrounds should be free of drugs.

The SPD stands by the individual right to asylum and wants to implement the EU asylum system (CEAS) in line with human rights. Berlin should be able to admit especially vulnerable people through its own state admission programs. People without a claim to protection are also to get paths to integration; for returns, the party relies on voluntary departure.

The SPD wants to keep the right to asylum. Berlin should be allowed to take in people at special risk. People without a right to protection should also get a chance to stay. People who must leave should get help to return by choice. Serious offenders with no right to stay should be deported first.

Citing the skilled-labor shortage and an aging society, the SPD wants to keep enabling labor migration. Foreign qualifications are to be recognized more simply and quickly. Refugees should be able to support themselves soon after arriving.

Berlin lacks skilled workers. So the SPD wants to bring in workers from abroad. Degrees from other countries should count faster. Refugees should be allowed to work sooner.

The SPD wants to naturalize more Berlin residents with a migration background so they can take part in democratic decisions. The naturalization center is to continue, and a campaign is to address everyone who is eligible to apply.

Many people in Berlin have no German passport. Many of them could apply for one. The SPD wants to reach these people. More people should become German citizens and be able to vote.

The SPD wants to stop housing refugees in emergency shelters and move to decentralized housing. All districts are to contribute a fair share. The party rejects secondary migration centers and curfews for refugees.

Refugees should no longer live in large emergency shelters. They should live in homes all over the city. Every district should help. The SPD does not want curfews for refugees.

The SPD wants to broaden services for immigrants and refugees. The Welcome Center is to become the central multilingual point of contact, and language mediation is to be available at all public offices. German courses and the integration guides program are to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to make arriving easier for people from abroad. There will be one central place for help in many languages. Public offices will offer translation. There will be more German courses.

The SPD rejects a Bezahlkarte (payment card) for refugees because, in its view, it severely limits participation in public life. Instead, it wants to push at the federal level for the conditions needed for a Berlin city ID. The ID is meant to give undocumented people access to basic services.

The SPD does not want a payment card for refugees. It says the card shuts people out of city life. The SPD wants a city ID for Berlin instead. With it, people without papers could also see a doctor or go to school.

The SPD wants women and men in Berlin to be paid equally. To that end, the EU Pay Transparency Directive is to be written into German law.

Women often earn less than men. The SPD wants to change that. The EU has a rule on this. This rule should become law in Germany too.

The SPD wants urban development to reflect different life situations and to make gender mainstreaming a fixed standard in planning and contract awards. A dedicated coordination office modeled on Vienna is to anchor this permanently in the administration.

The SPD wants to plan the city for everyone. The city should always look at the needs of women and men equally. Streets and squares should be safe and free of barriers. A new office in the administration will take care of this. The model is the city of Vienna.

The SPD wants stronger protection for women and children against violence. Police would use standardized analyses to spot high-risk cases early, and women's shelters, safe apartments and violence protection clinics would be expanded across the city.

The SPD wants to protect women and children better from violence. Police should spot dangerous cases earlier. There should be more women's shelters and safe apartments. Money for these places should be secure for longer.

The SPD wants Berlin to push in the Bundesrat for new abortion legislation that no longer makes it a criminal matter. It also wants to restart the funding program for fertility treatment and open it to all family models.

Abortion is covered by criminal law today. The SPD wants to change that. Berlin should push for this in the Bundesrat. Couples who want a child should again get money for treatment.

The SPD wants an anti-bullying team at every school and a revision of curricula and learning materials with regard to queerness, racism and colonialism. Refugee children are to attend regular schools. An independent complaints office for schools and daycare is to be set up at the parliament.

Every school should get a team against bullying. Curricula and school books should be revised. They should not put anyone at a disadvantage. Refugee children should go to regular schools. There should be an independent office for complaints.

The SPD wants a parity law for Berlin so that the state parliament has as many women as men. People with a "diverse" or deleted gender entry are also to be taken into account. In the Bundesrat it wants to push for electoral law based on parity.

The SPD wants a new law for Berlin. The Berlin parliament should have as many women as men. The law should also consider non-binary people. The SPD wants this for all of Germany too.

The SPD wants to revise the Landesgleichstellungsgesetz (state equality act) and extend it to trans, inter and non-binary people. Women's and equality officers are to get more rights. Facilities and projects for women are to be secured and funded according to need.

Berlin has a law for the equality of women. The SPD wants to update this law. It should also cover trans, inter and non-binary people. Women's officers should get more rights. Projects for women should get enough money.

The SPD wants to strengthen the ombuds office under the Landesantidiskriminierungsgesetz (state anti-discrimination act) and bundle all anti-discrimination measures in one state plan. An independent commissioner is to coordinate this. In the program's view, the administration should lead in protecting diversity.

Berlin has a law against discrimination by public offices. One office helps people affected. The SPD wants to give this office more rights. One shared plan should link all measures. Public staff should get training.

The SPD wants to implement, develop and financially secure the 2023 LGBTIQ+ action plan. The Basic Law is to explicitly ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. At the federal level it wants to defend the Selbstbestimmungsgesetz (Self-Determination Act) and achieve equality for rainbow families.

The SPD wants to protect queer people better. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. Every district should get a queer officer. There should be more safe places and shelters. The constitution should ban discrimination because of who people love.

The SPD wants Berlin to become climate neutral before 2045 if possible and stands by the Berlin Energy Transition Act. It plans to focus on transport, heating and power plants. Low-income households should not face extra burdens as a result.

The SPD wants to make Berlin climate neutral. That means the city no longer harms the climate. This should happen before 2045 if possible. People with little money should not have to pay more for it.

The SPD wants to expand district heating through the state-owned provider BEW and switch its plants to renewable energy. Other providers and new decentralized heating networks are also to get room. Free advice and transparent prices are meant to make the shift manageable for consumers.

The SPD wants more district heating in Berlin. District heating comes through pipes from a plant into the home. The plants should run without oil and gas. A free advice service should help with questions about heating and costs.

The SPD wants a quarter of the electricity generated in Berlin to come from solar power by 2035. To get there, photovoltaics and battery storage are to be subsidized, especially on company rooftops.

The SPD wants more power from the sun. By 2035, a quarter of Berlin's electricity should come from the sun. There will be money and advice for this. Companies in particular should put solar panels on their roofs.

In the long term, the SPD aims to bring the gas utility GASAG fully into state ownership. The grids for heat, electricity and gas are to be planned together, with the goals of climate neutrality and a hydrogen economy.

Berlin should buy the gas company GASAG. The SPD wants this in the long run. The grids for power, gas and heat should be planned together. One central office should steer the energy transition.

The SPD wants better upkeep of green spaces, a new large public park in eastern Berlin, and a sharp increase in the number of street trees. Small parks, fountains and unsealed squares are to provide cooling in neighborhoods. The climate adaptation law is to be implemented without creating a new state agency.

The SPD wants more green in Berlin. A new large park is planned in the east of the city. There should be many more trees along the streets. Small parks and fountains should cool the city in summer. The city cleaning service should clean parks and playgrounds. Swimming in the Spree river should become possible.

The SPD wants to protect allotment gardens and open them to neighborhoods, implement the biodiversity strategy, and convert Berlin's forest into a climate-resilient mixed forest. Voluntary environmental work is to be recognized through the volunteer card and vouchers.

The SPD wants to protect nature in Berlin. Allotment gardens should stay and be open to neighbors. The forest should cope better with the climate. It should mainly be a place to relax. People who collect litter as volunteers get vouchers for museums or pools.

The SPD wants to strengthen the veterinary offices so they can police illegal animal trade and harmful breeding, and to secure funding for the animal shelter. The list of restricted dog breeds is to be replaced by a dog owner's license. Animals are not to be used on state-run stages.

The SPD wants to protect animals better. Offices should check illegal animal trade more closely. The animal shelter should get secure funding. Instead of a list of dangerous dog breeds, there should be a dog owner's license. Circuses with wild animals may not perform on land owned by the state.

The SPD wants to develop Berlin into a sponge city where more rainwater seeps into the ground on site instead of flowing into the sewers. At the same time, the drinking water supply is to be secured, water saved, and water bodies brought into good condition.

The SPD wants to use rainwater better. It should seep into the ground and not flow into the sewer. That helps plants and rivers. Berlin and Brandenburg should protect groundwater together. People should save water.

The SPD stands by the zero waste concept and wants a packaging tax to cut waste from food packaging. Against illegal dumping it relies on more neighborhood collection days, doorstep pickup of bulky waste, longer opening hours at recycling centers, and stronger enforcement.

The SPD wants less trash in Berlin. A tax on food packaging should help. The city cleaning service picks up bulky waste at your door twice a year. Every neighborhood gets a bulky waste day four times a year. People who dump trash on the street should be caught faster.

The SPD wants public transit to run at least every ten minutes everywhere in Berlin and to extend the tram and subway networks. Halted tram projects are to be resumed. The aim is to let more people switch from cars.

The SPD wants more buses and trains. Everywhere in Berlin, something should run at least every 10 minutes. There should be new tram and subway lines. Buses should get their own lanes and green lights. Small driverless buses should run on the edge of the city.

The SPD calls on the federal and state governments to offer the Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass) for 49 euros again. The BVG transit company is first to stabilize its operations and receive the funds needed. The taxi trade is to be protected by a minimum fare for app-based ride-hailing cars.

The SPD wants to make the Deutschlandticket cheaper again. It should cost 49 euros. More staff should make buses and trains safer and cleaner. The BVG transit company should first run reliably again. Ride services booked by app should have a minimum price. This is meant to protect taxis.

The SPD wants sidewalks to be wider, safer and accessible, and the cycling plan to be fully implemented. E-scooters and rental bikes are to be parked only in designated areas. It also plans a state-owned car-sharing service with electric cars.

The SPD wants better paths for people walking and cycling. Sidewalks should be wide, well lit and free of barriers. There should be more safe bike lanes and bike parking. E-scooters may only be parked in fixed spots. The state should offer its own shared electric cars.

The SPD rejects further construction of the A100 city highway and wants to repair existing roads and bridges instead. Federal funds are to go more toward repairs and public transit. The eastern tangential link (Tangentialverbindung Ost) is to be built as a road.

The SPD does not want to extend the A100 highway. The money should go to broken roads and bridges. Buses and trains should also get more federal money. A new road in the east should still be built. New neighborhoods should have few cars.

The SPD wants to extend paid parking management to more areas and raise the fees for resident parking permits. The revenue is to go to public transit, cycling, walking and neighborhood parking garages. More loading zones are to be created for commercial traffic.

The SPD wants more areas where parking costs money. The parking permit for residents should cost more. The money goes to buses, trains, bike lanes and neighborhood parking garages. Residents should be allowed to park at supermarket lots at night. Tradespeople and delivery services get more spaces of their own.

The SPD commits to the goal that no one is killed or seriously injured in traffic. To get there, it relies on traffic calming in neighborhoods, 30 km/h limits near sensitive facilities, temporarily closed school streets, and more enforcement.

The SPD wants no one to die in traffic anymore. A 30 km/h limit should apply near schools, daycare centers and homes for older people. Streets in front of schools can be closed to cars for certain times. There should be more speed cameras. The police get more bicycle patrols.

The SPD wants to speed up the fiber-optic rollout across Berlin and increase subsidies where companies do not build at their own expense. Berlin businesses are also to get more free advice on digitalization and more digital government services.

The SPD wants fast internet all over Berlin. For this, fiber-optic lines should be everywhere. Where companies do not build on their own, the state should help with money. Businesses should also get free advice on digital topics.

The SPD wants to make digital government services easy to use, for example with a Berlin app, while keeping in-person advice. The administration is to act on its own initiative rather than wait for applications. The state's IT is to be steered centrally and rely more on open software.

The SPD wants people to handle official matters easily online. There should be a Berlin app for this. People who need help can still get advice in person. Offices should reach out on their own, for example when an ID expires.

The SPD wants to create a state security council that coordinates security strategies across departments. A comprehensive strategy is to protect critical infrastructure and keep Berlin able to act in crises. Investment in disaster and civil protection is also planned.

The SPD wants a new body for security in Berlin. It is called the state security council. All responsible offices work together there. Berlin should protect power, water and heating better. The city should be able to spot dangers early.

The SPD wants to improve Berlin's disaster response and create a single crisis management system for the whole state. A law would define who is in charge during a crisis. Civil defense and protection against cyberattacks would also be strengthened.

The SPD wants Berlin to be better prepared for crises. All agencies should work with the same system. A law should say who decides in a crisis. Berlin should also be better protected against attacks from the internet.

The SPD wants to strengthen police and prosecutors in tackling white-collar and organized crime. Assets gained through crime would be confiscated. Hate crime and violence against women would also be pursued more vigorously.

The SPD wants to do more against crime. Police and prosecutors should act more strongly against money laundering and corruption. The state should take away money made from crime. The SPD also wants to fight gangs and hate crimes more.

The SPD wants state interventions to remain proportionate. Checks without specific suspicion would be restricted, and weapon and knife ban zones should stay the exception. The party rejects software from vendors such as Palantir for Berlin.

The SPD wants to protect people's civil liberties. Police should check people without suspicion less often. Zones that ban knives and weapons should stay rare. Berlin should not use software from the company Palantir.

The SPD wants to renovate police and fire stations through a dedicated investment program and update equipment. Police would work more closely with neighborhoods and civil society and be more visible on patrol.

The SPD wants to repair police and fire service buildings. There should be a special funding program for this. Police should patrol more often on foot and by bike. They should work more closely with people in the neighborhood.

The SPD wants a violence prevention law that makes prevention binding and funds it permanently. Programs for nonviolent conflict resolution in neighborhoods would be supported.

The SPD wants to stop violence before it happens. There should be a special law for this. The law should secure the money for this work for the long term. Projects in neighborhoods should get support.

The SPD wants to gradually replace jail terms for unpaid fines with community work, arguing that such detention often hits poorer people. At the federal level it is pushing for riding without a ticket to no longer be a crime. Prisons should combine security with rehabilitation.

People who do not pay a fine often have to go to jail today. The SPD wants to change that. These people should do community work instead. Riding without a ticket should no longer be a crime.

The SPD wants the Federal Constitutional Court to declare the AfD unconstitutional. It supports a motion to that effect and intends to advance it through an initiative in the Bundesrat. The platform sees the far right as the greatest danger to democracy.

The SPD wants a ban of the AfD party. Germany's highest court decides on that. Berlin should push a motion for this in the Bundesrat. The Bundesrat is the chamber of the German states. The SPD says the far right is the greatest danger to democracy.

The SPD wants to secure and fund civil society's democracy work and democracy education permanently through a law. A competence center is to pool exit and deradicalization work. Citizen participation and civic education are to be strengthened.

The SPD wants a law to promote democracy. Groups that work for democracy should get long-term funding. A new center should help people leave extremist groups. Berlin should act against hate on the internet. People should have more say.

The SPD wants to change disciplinary law so that convicted extremists can be removed from public service more easily and quickly. It also seeks a dedicated unit to investigate criminal allegations against state employees.

Some people who work for the state are extremists. The SPD wants to dismiss them faster once a court has convicted them. It wants to change the rules for that. A special office should look into accusations against state employees.

The SPD wants court proceedings to finish faster, arguing that long proceedings weaken trust in the rule of law. Processes would be improved, digitalization advanced and more positions created. Everyone should have access to legal protection regardless of income.

Court cases often take a long time. The SPD wants to make them shorter. There should be more staff and more digital tools. Everyone should be able to get legal advice, even with little money.

The SPD wants to set up a children's and youth parliament for all of Berlin and create an independent children's commissioner. Young people are to get binding participation rights at the state and district level.

Children and young people should have more say in Berlin. There should be a parliament just for them. A children's commissioner should speak up for their interests. She checks how new political plans affect young people.

The SPD wants to give volunteer work more recognition and attract more people to it. This includes a better volunteer card, cheaper BVG transit tickets and less bureaucracy. The program sees volunteering as a pillar of cohesion and participation.

Many people help others for free. This is called volunteering. The SPD wants to reward these people more. They should ride buses and trains for less. There should be less paperwork.

The SPD wants to keep implementing Berlin's administrative reform so residents get good advice and fast decisions. Responsibilities between the Senate and the districts should be clear. The districts are to get a new, reliable funding model.

Berlin's public offices should work faster and better. It should be clear who is in charge of what. The districts should get enough money for their tasks. The SPD wants to change the money rules for this.

The SPD wants to make working for Berlin's administration more attractive in order to recruit and keep staff. Equal work is to be paid equally in the districts and at the state level. Flexible work arrangements, more women in leadership and housing for employees are also planned.

The SPD wants more people to enjoy working in public offices. Equal work should get equal pay everywhere. Staff should also be able to work from home. Berlin should build homes for its employees.

The SPD wants government data to be public by default unless it is sensitive. To that end, it aims for a transparency law and a central portal. Personal data is to remain protected at the same time.

Public offices should show their data openly. This does not apply to sensitive data. The SPD wants a new law and a website for this. Data about individual people stays protected.

The SPD rejects plans by the EU Commission to centralize European funding. The structural funds are to keep their regional focus because the state and districts know local needs best. The European Social Fund is also to remain independent.

The EU gives money for projects in the regions. The EU Commission wants to steer this more centrally. The SPD is against that. Berlin and its districts should keep having a say.

After the budget cuts, the SPD wants to give cultural institutions planning certainty again and preserve the full range of cultural infrastructure. Culture should be easy to access, for example by bringing back the free-admission Museum Sunday. The federal government is to take on a larger share of responsibility for culture in Berlin.

The SPD wants to keep theaters, museums, clubs, and other cultural places. They should be able to plan safely again. Culture should cost little or nothing. Museum Sunday with free entry should come back.

The SPD wants to improve working conditions in the cultural sector. It advocates collectively agreed wages, binding minimum fees, and appropriate exhibition fees. Funding is to be multi-year, approved early, and transparent.

People who work in culture should be paid fairly. The SPD wants minimum fees. That is the lowest amount an artist must be paid. Funding should be promised for several years.

The SPD wants to secure libraries permanently through a state law and develop them as neighborhood meeting places. A cultural funding law and an urban development plan for culture are to anchor culture in city planning. District-level offerings such as music schools and adult education centers are to grow.

The SPD wants a law for libraries. It should secure their money. Another law should support culture. New neighborhoods should get places for culture from the start.

The SPD wants to give Berlin's memorial sites more money and staff. It regards the critical examination of National Socialism and the SED dictatorship as a fixed part of democratic culture. Projects on East German experiences and life stories are to be funded.

The SPD wants to give memorial sites in Berlin more money and staff. These places recall the Nazi era and the East German dictatorship. The experiences of people from East Germany should also be made visible.

The SPD wants to permanently anchor the citywide concept "Kolonialismus erinnern" (Remembering Colonialism) and implement its recommendations step by step. A central site of remembrance and learning is to be created. Streets that commemorate colonial criminals are to be renamed.

Germany once had colonies. The SPD wants Berlin to remember this. There will be a central place for remembering and learning. Streets named after colonial criminals will get new names.

The SPD stands by public broadcasting and its funding. The Berlin-Brandenburg media authority is to receive secure long-term funding. Local journalism is to be supported so that neighborhoods keep an informed public.

The SPD wants to keep public TV and radio. Their funding should be safe too. The media watchdog for Berlin and Brandenburg should get enough money. Local news should get support.

The SPD wants to push forward a Berlin bid for the 2040/44 Olympic and Paralympic Games and for EXPO 2035, together with Brandenburg. It expects this to boost urban development, infrastructure, and digitalization.

The SPD wants Berlin to bid for the Olympic Games. This means the Games in 2040 or 2044. Berlin should also bid for the world's fair EXPO 2035. Brandenburg should take part. Berliners should have a say from the start.

The SPD wants to keep giving clubs free use of sports facilities and to invest in new construction, renovation, and accessibility. Sports are to be a regular part of daily life in daycare centers and schools. Every child should be able to swim by the time they finish elementary school.

Clubs should keep using sports fields and halls for free. The SPD wants to build and repair sports facilities and pools. Children should do more sports in daycare and school. Every child should learn to swim in elementary school.