SPD on democracy and the state

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.

In Germany, only the Federal Constitutional Court can ban a party; the motion can be filed by the Bundestag, the Bundesrat or the federal government. The SPD wants to trigger the proceedings through a Bundesrat initiative by Berlin. Alongside this, it says it relies on deradicalization and promotion of 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.

A strategy for democracy and cohesion online is planned, with digital prevention against hate speech, disinformation and radicalization; focus areas include racism, antisemitism, sexism and hostility toward queer people. The competence center is to deal with Islamism and right-wing extremism, and measures on left-wing extremism are to be developed too. Far-right youth culture gets its own prevention programs. The "Mein Berlin" participation platform is developed further, the citizen participation offices stay, and civic education providers are to get adequate funding while remaining independent in content.

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 "Internal Investigations" unit would be based at the Senate Department for the Interior. Disciplinary law would also be made more precise for misconduct that is not a crime. The program cites silent membership in chat groups with dehumanizing content as an example.

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.

Authorities should respond especially quickly to offenses by teens and young adults. Berlin's prosecution service would get new or expanded specialized units against attacks on workplace co-determination and against housing and rental crime, plus training on the organized far right. The role of lay judges would be upgraded, with emphasis on commitment to the free democratic basic order. Electronic legal communication would be expanded, and a justice portal would bring together key information.

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 state-level children's and youth parliament is to be set up in the next legislative term with enough staff and resources. Together with young people, the SPD wants to draw up and carry out a youth strategy for Berlin. All children and teenagers should be able to take part; the platform points to the paid sign language interpreters in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf youth parliament as a model. A Ring politischer Jugend (council of political youth organizations) is to strengthen the democratic political youth groups.

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 state's activities on civic engagement are to be bundled across all departments. The SPD wants to reach out specifically to women, young people, people with a migration background and people with disabilities. Work, training and volunteering are to fit together better, for example through rules on time off. Further training courses for volunteers are to be eligible as educational leave in Berlin. In the districts, volunteer agencies and their matching services are to be strengthened.

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.

According to the program, a new law already exists, but implementation and areas such as digitalization, staff, finances and administrative culture are still pending. This is to get priority and be steered centrally. Senate departments are to steer policy for the whole city, while districts handle tasks on the ground. For the districts, the SPD plans a reformed funding model, application of the Konnexitätsprinzip (whoever assigns a task pays for it) and a budgeting system suited to a growing city. Using AI as support in processing applications is also part of the plan.

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.

Hiring procedures are to be transparent and free of discrimination. Civil servants who leave voluntarily are to keep their pension entitlements as so-called Altersgeld. The administrative academy will be developed further, the leadership academy expanded, and personnel tasks pooled. Female employees are to receive targeted support to raise the share of women in leadership. Because the housing shortage makes recruiting harder, the SPD wants to build employee housing and help companies create housing for workers and trainees.

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 principle of “open by default” is to apply, meaning openness is the rule. Data on critical infrastructure is to get special protection. A clear dashboard is to show data in real time. The program calls data protection a fundamental right rather than a bureaucratic hurdle, and it is to comply with European law.