SPD on other topics

The SPD wants to support volunteer work with funding, recognition, advice and less red tape. Clubs are to be reimbursed for GEMA music licensing fees, and investment in fire departments and sports is to continue.

Many people volunteer in clubs or fire departments. The SPD wants to support them with money and advice. Clubs pay fees to GEMA for music at events. The state should pay back these fees for three events a year. Fire departments and sports clubs should keep getting money.

The Ehrenamtsstiftung MV (state volunteering foundation) is to remain the central point of contact that funds, connects and trains volunteers, clubs and initiatives. Clubs, carnival groups and bands, including shawm bands, would get their GEMA fees back for up to three public events per year. For fire departments, the platform announces further large investments so they stay well equipped and ready for duty. In sports, good conditions are promised for the more than 300,000 club members, for recreational sports and for competitive sports including young talent.

The SPD wants to continue and refine the state's programs for rural areas. In the long run, there should be a village shop for everyday needs within reach of every municipality.

The SPD wants to keep supporting villages. There should be a shop near every village. People can buy everyday things there. The village center should be a meeting place for people.

The programs "Ländliche Gestaltungsräume" (rural development areas) and "Neue Dorfmitte" (new village center) and the support for very small rural businesses are to continue. Village centers are meant to be places for shopping and meeting others. Small municipalities are to get more room to develop on their own. The party wants to keep the central-places system, which assigns supply functions to certain towns.

The SPD wants equal living conditions in cities and rural areas to guide political decisions. Vorpommern and eastern Mecklenburg are to keep receiving special attention, as are city districts with social problems.

The SPD wants people to live well everywhere in the state. Vorpommern and the east of Mecklenburg should keep getting special help. Poor city districts should also get more help. The state should be easy to reach there.

The program stresses health care and nursing care, mobility and digital access in rural areas. The existing structures for Vorpommern and eastern Mecklenburg are to stay: a parliamentary state secretary, a council, a steering group and a dedicated fund. For large housing estates and districts with social problems, the SPD wants to examine with municipalities how existing programs can be pooled more closely on the ground. For economic development it also relies on cooperation within the Hamburg, Szczecin and Berlin metropolitan regions.

The SPD wants to keep funding sports facilities in need of repair and to use money from the MV-Plan 2035 for this as well. Olympic and federal training centers are to be kept, and Rostock-Warnemünde is to host Olympic sailing events.

Many sports fields and gyms need repairs. The SPD wants to pay for that. Clubs and top athletes should keep getting help. Children should learn to swim safely. The SPD hopes for Olympic sailing in Rostock-Warnemünde.

Funding under the state sports funding law and cooperation with the Landessportbund (state sports federation) are to continue. Athletes on national squads should be able to do extended training in the state administration or the dual study program in general administration. Inclusive sports programs and accessibility in sport are to be expanded, and projects such as "KinderBewegungsLand" will continue. The SPD wants to build on the program "MV kann schwimmen" (MV can swim). For the sailing events the program names 2036, 2040 or 2044, together with the city of Rostock.

The SPD wants to keep the state's Verbraucherzentrale (consumer advice center) as the central point of contact and continue funding it. Counseling is to reach more of the state, for example digitally, through mobile services and with fixed local offices. The party counts strong consumer rights among essential public services.

The SPD wants to keep supporting the consumer advice center in the state. People get advice there, for example on contracts and prices. The advice should also be offered in the countryside. It should also be possible online and through mobile services.

The program focuses above all on people with low incomes, older people and rural residents. Information is to be free, transparent and easy to understand so that people can defend themselves against unfair contracts. Together with the consumer advice center, the SPD wants to educate people about digital risks such as subscription traps, data misuse and dubious financial offers. Cooperation with schools, adult education centers and social institutions is planned for this.

The SPD wants to achieve at the federal level that the country of production and the manufacturer's address must appear on food products. Labels are to show clearly and accessibly where a product comes from, how it was produced and how healthy it is. Meals in daycare centers and schools are to meet the standards of the German Nutrition Society.

The SPD wants clear information on food. The package should say in which country the product was made. The address of the maker should be there too. Daycare centers and schools should serve healthy food. Nutrition experts have rules for this.

The program justifies the mandatory information by saying that processed products and retailers' own brands usually name only the retail chain, not the place of production. The information is meant to create transparency and benefit regional producers. Results of food inspections are to be published uniformly under nationwide rules so that hygiene and quality in businesses can be checked by the public. Meals based on DGE standards are meant to reduce the follow-up costs of unhealthy eating, such as obesity.