SPD on Europe

The SPD wants to expand the European single market because many German jobs depend on it. It includes the banking and capital markets union and digital infrastructure for cross-border services.

In the EU, companies can trade freely everywhere. This is called the single market. The SPD wants to make it stronger. Banks and money markets in Europe should grow closer together too. Many jobs in Germany depend on this.

The SPD welcomes the reports by Enrico Letta and Mario Draghi on Europe's competitiveness and wants to support the EU Commission in implementing them. A common capital market is meant to provide more private money for innovation and new technologies. EU state aid law is also to be modernized so that companies undergoing structural change can be supported.

The SPD wants a European social union and EU-wide minimum standards for member states' basic income support systems. The platform regards social standards as a competitive advantage for Europe.

The SPD wants more social rules in Europe. Every EU country should protect poor people at least equally well. There should be shared minimum rules for that. The SPD says this makes Europe stronger.

The European Pillar of Social Rights is to be implemented in Germany and at EU level. The SPD wants the single market to serve workers. There should be European minimum standards for member states' basic income support systems in order to fight poverty. Industry and business are to be supported but also held to obligations.

The SPD wants a European reinsurance scheme for member states' unemployment insurance that steps in during severe crises. The EU budget is to be reformed, and own revenue is to make the EU less dependent on national governments.

The SPD wants a shared safety net in Europe. It should help countries pay unemployment aid in severe crises. The EU should get its own income. Money for weaker regions should stay.

The Multiannual Financial Framework is to focus more on areas with European added value. Repaying the Next Generation EU recovery program must not come at the expense of other programs and investments. Regional funding is to be secured and developed according to need; the SPD rejects centralizing it. The Just Transition Fund is to be extended to all industrial regions.

The SPD wants a European defense union and wants to enable Europe to do more for its own security. EU states are to procure armaments jointly, integrate their armed forces more closely over the long term and pursue a common arms export policy.

The EU countries should defend themselves together. They should buy weapons and equipment together. Their armies should train together. Step by step, troops should work in shared units. There should be common rules for selling weapons.

The platform provides for joint exercises, uniform training concepts and the gradual integration of national units into multinational structures. The European defense industry is to be strengthened so that more can be bought in Europe in the future. Here the SPD builds on the Franco-German projects for tanks and combat aircraft as well as on the European Defence Agency and PESCO. The common export policy is to be guided by values and strategic priorities. The SPD expects the governing partners to act in unison in the EU and democratic parties to keep their distance from the far right.

The SPD wants the Western Balkan states to join the EU quickly and wants Ukraine and Moldova to become members as well. The platform justifies this with peace, democracy and prosperity in Europe and with the concern that other powers could otherwise gain influence.

The SPD wants the EU to grow. The Western Balkan countries should join quickly. Ukraine and Moldova should become members too. All new countries must meet the EU's rules.

Progress should be felt even before accession, for example through access to the single market. The platform sees eastern enlargement as a signal against Russian attempts to shift borders unilaterally and as a commitment to rebuilding Ukraine. In Georgia, the SPD backs the forces calling for a European future. The Copenhagen criteria, the EU's accession conditions on democracy, rule of law and a market economy, are to apply without exception. The Weimar Triangle with France and Poland is to serve as a driver for developing the EU further.

The SPD wants to act more firmly against member states that violate the EU's fundamental values. Existing instruments are to be used more strictly and expanded, complemented by tougher financial sanctions and an independent oversight body.

Some EU countries do not respect the shared values. The SPD wants to be stricter with them. These countries could get less money. An independent body should watch over this.

Among the instruments to be used more consistently, the platform lists infringement proceedings and the withdrawal of voting rights. An independent body is to check whether these tools are actually applied. The SPD also supports the EU joining the European Convention on Human Rights. The European Court of Human Rights is to be strengthened, and implementation of its rulings is to be demanded.

The SPD wants to reform the EU treaties and abolish the unanimity principle in the European Council and the Council of Ministers. The platform considers the veto rights of individual states outdated because, in its view, they are misused as leverage.

On some issues, all EU countries must agree. One country alone can block everything. The SPD wants to change that. In the future, a majority should be enough. The EU Parliament should get more rights.

The treaties are to be changed by the time of enlargement at the latest; a results-oriented European Convention is to be set up for this. Until then, the SPD wants to use all existing options to make decisions more efficient. The European Parliament is to get full co-decision rights and its own right of initiative, meaning it could propose laws itself. In the platform's view, majority voting means a gain in sovereignty for Europe.