SPD: program for the 2022 Saarland state election

The SPD aims for climate-neutral steel production in Saarland using hydrogen. It wants to lobby the federal government and the EU for the necessary funding. It also calls for EU protective measures against high-emission steel imports so that climate action does not weaken competitiveness.

Steel from Saarland should become climate-neutral. Hydrogen should help with that. The SPD wants money from the federal government and the EU. The EU should protect steel that is made cleanly. Cheap steel with high CO2 should cost more at the border.

The SPD wants to preserve the automotive and supplier industry in Saarland and expand it by attracting new companies. It takes a technology-neutral approach, supporting hydrogen, electric mobility, and efficient combustion engines for synthetic fuels. It backs the arrival of battery maker SVOLT.

Many people in Saarland work in the car industry. The SPD wants to keep these jobs. It supports different kinds of engines: electric, hydrogen, and efficient combustion engines. The SVOLT battery factory should come.

The SPD wants to accompany the economy's transformation with public support. It plans "transformation mentors" as advisers, an active role for the Gesellschaft für Transformationsmanagement Saar (GeTS), and a "TransformationsBooster" funding program for small and medium-sized businesses.

The economy in Saarland is changing a lot. The SPD wants to help companies and workers with this. There should be advisers for the change. Small and medium-sized companies should get money for new technology. Nobody should lose their job.

The SPD wants to create 10,000 new jobs in future industries and trigger at least five billion euros in investment by 2025. A transformation task force in the minister-president's office is to shorten decision-making paths. Old industrial sites are to be prepared for new companies.

The SPD wants 10,000 new jobs in new industries. For this, five billion euros should be invested by 2025. The money comes from the state and from companies. A task force with the head of government should help. Old factory land should be used again.

The SPD wants to keep value-added tax for hotels and restaurants permanently low and expand tourism. By 2025, overnight stays are to rise to 3.3 million a year. A new trade fair, convention, and culture forum in Saarbrücken is to receive 99 million euros.

The SPD wants more visitors in Saarland. Hotels and restaurants should pay less sales tax for good. By 2025 there should be 3.3 million overnight stays a year. Saarbrücken should get a new trade fair center.

The SPD wants to improve the transfer of research results into Saarland companies, especially small and mid-sized ones. To that end, 20 million euros are to go into the CISPA Innovation Campus, and clusters linking business and science are to be funded.

Saarland has many research institutes. The SPD wants companies to use their ideas. This should create new jobs. The state will spend 20 million euros on a new campus for IT firms.

The SPD wants to strengthen Saarland as a place to start a business. The Co:hub66 is to act as a central hub for advice and capital, and a stipend is to fund promising founders for one year.

The SPD wants to help people start a company. There is a central place for advice. Good ideas get money from the state for one year. Firms from abroad should also come to Saarland.

The SPD wants to create a right to continuing education for all workers and conclude a transformation pact with the federal government to that end. By 2030, more than 100,000 people in Saarland are to take part in further training. The goal is to keep workers from becoming unemployed during structural change.

Many jobs are changing. The SPD wants a right to further training for everyone. It wants to work with the federal government on this. By 2030, over 100,000 people should learn new skills. This should help them keep their jobs.

The SPD wants to pay a relocation bonus to skilled workers who move to Saarland, provided the employer contributes the same amount. The Rückhol- und Halteagentur (return and retention agency) is to keep graduates in the state and win back people who moved away. The program sees the shortage of skilled workers as an obstacle to economic growth.

Saarland lacks skilled workers. The SPD wants to pay money for moving to Saarland. The company must add the same amount. An agency should keep young people in the state. It should also bring back people who left.

The SPD wants to reduce marginal and insecure employment and backs a federal rule making social insurance mandatory from the first hour worked. Exceptions to the minimum wage and fixed-term contracts without a stated reason are to go, and abuse of temp agency work is to be tackled.

The SPD wants fewer insecure jobs. Every hour of work should be covered by social insurance. The minimum wage should apply to everyone. Short-term contracts without a reason should end. Temp workers should get equal pay right away.

The SPD wants to leave shop opening hours and working hours unchanged and keep Sunday as a day off. It also calls for a right to be unreachable, a legal framework for mobile work, and a separate law on employee data protection.

The SPD does not want to change shop opening hours. Sunday should stay a day off. Workers should not have to be reachable after work. There should be clear rules for working from home.

The SPD wants to strengthen collective bargaining coverage through Saarland's Fairer-Lohn-Gesetz (Fair Wage Act), under which public contracts go only to firms paying collectively agreed wages. The threshold is to be lowered, and business subsidies are to follow the same idea.

The state only gives contracts to firms that pay union-agreed wages. The SPD wants this rule to cover more contracts. State aid for firms should depend on it too. More staff should check the rule.

The SPD wants to bring unemployment below its pre-pandemic level and reach 400,000 jobs with social insurance in Saarland. To do so, the state programs ASaar and Jugend in Arbeit (Youth in Work) are to be continued and expanded.

The SPD wants fewer jobless people in Saarland. 400,000 people should have a regular job. The state should give jobless people better advice and training. Young people get help starting their careers.

The SPD wants to remove legal and bureaucratic obstacles for people who commute across the border to work. The shared labor market in the Greater Region is to be strengthened, as the COVID period exposed problems.

Many people work in a neighboring country. They often have trouble with rules and offices. The SPD wants to fix these problems. An advice center for workers from abroad should stay.

The SPD wants to expand co-determination and sees it as a competitive advantage, especially during structural change. Works councils are to get more rights, people founding them are to be protected from dismissal, and the state is to get a new staff representation law.

Workers should have more say at work. People who want to start a works council should be safe from being fired. A works council speaks for the workers in a company. Public employees should also get more say.

The SPD wants a right to continuing education for all employees and five days of educational leave without workers having to contribute their own time off. Providers are to be funded so that their courses are affordable for everyone.

All employees should have a right to continuing education. They should get five days off for it. They should not have to give up their own free time. Courses should be affordable for everyone.

The SPD wants to halve poverty in Saarland within five years. It relies on support in affected neighborhoods, education as prevention, a new action plan against poverty and an expanded emergency fund against energy shutoffs.

Many people in Saarland are poor, including many children. The SPD wants to cut poverty in half in five years. It wants to give extra support to poor neighborhoods, above all daycare centers and schools. People who cannot pay for power or gas should get help.

The SPD wants no further drop in the pension level and rejects raising the retirement age. The statutory pension is to be securely funded and strengthened so that people can live well on it after a working life.

The SPD wants pensions to stop falling. Nobody should have to work longer than today. The public pension should be paid for securely. People who worked a long time should live well in old age.

The SPD calls on the federal government to take over municipalities' legacy debts and wants sales tax revenue distributed more by population. Within the state, municipal fiscal equalization is to be reformed on the basis of an expert study.

Many towns and cities in Saarland have high debts. The SPD wants the federal government to take over the old debts. Sales tax money should be shared by number of residents. In the state, the SPD wants to share money among towns in a new way.

The SPD wants Saarland to have 5,000 social housing units again by 2027 and more homes for people on low and middle incomes. It plans a state housing promotion law, a redesigned subsidy scheme and an alliance for affordable housing.

Saarland has only a few social housing units left. The SPD wants 5,000 of them again by 2027. A new law is planned for this. The SPD also wants to fight empty houses and apartments.

The SPD wants to scrap parental fees for daycare, which have already been halved, completely. Education is to be free at every age; this is meant to improve educational opportunity and make it easier to combine family and work.

Parents pay money for daycare today. The SPD wants to end these fees completely. Education should be free for everyone. This goes from daycare up to a master craftsman title or a university degree.

The SPD wants to create more nursery and daycare places, renovate existing facilities, and raise quality. Training for childcare workers is to be paid and free of tuition, and the staff-to-child ratio is to improve.

The SPD wants more places in nurseries and daycare. Old daycare buildings should be repaired. People training as childcare workers should get paid and pay no tuition. Each worker should look after fewer children.

The SPD wants to make it mandatory to involve children and young people in decisions at local and state level and to write children's rights into the state constitution. A child protection commissioner, more civic education and more money for youth work are also planned.

Children and young people should have more of a say. The SPD wants to make their involvement a duty. Children's rights should be in Saarland's constitution. There should be a commissioner for child protection. Youth work should get more money.

The SPD wants to guarantee a training place to everyone looking for an apprenticeship. The dual vocational training system is to be strengthened, including through better career guidance and stronger vocational training centers.

Anyone looking for an apprenticeship should get a place. The SPD wants to guarantee this. Schools should prepare students better for jobs. Vocational schools should get stronger. People who need help to finish should get it.

The SPD wants to give education investment top priority and set up a dedicated education fund for it. It also wants to lift the constitutional ban on cooperation so the federal government can help pay for education.

The SPD wants to spend more money on education. There should be a special fund for it. The federal government should be allowed to help pay for schools. Today the constitution mostly forbids that.

The SPD wants to keep expanding compulsory all-day schools so families can choose between voluntary and compulsory all-day models. By 2030, additional all-day offerings are to be created according to need.

The SPD wants more all-day schools. Children there have lessons and care in the afternoon too. Families should be able to choose the type they want. There should be more offerings by 2030.

The SPD wants to launch a school building program for municipalities, hire more staff, and reduce class sizes. Schools are to get more autonomy and students more say, and staff are to be allocated more closely according to local burdens.

The SPD wants modern school buildings and equipment. There should be more teachers and smaller classes. Children should have more time to learn. Schools with many problems get more help. Students should have more say.

The SPD wants Saarland to spend more per student compared with other German states. All educational tracks, from comprehensive schools to academic high schools and vocational schools, are to be equipped on an equal footing.

The SPD wants to spend more money on schools. Saarland should do better compared with other German states. All types of schools should be equally well equipped.

The SPD wants to allow no more than 25 children per class in elementary schools and aims for even smaller classes over time. Principals are to get dedicated time for leadership duties.

An elementary school class should have at most 25 children. Later, classes should get even smaller. Principals should get more time for running their school.

The SPD wants to ease the burden on Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive schools) and launch a quality drive there. Teachers at all secondary schools are to be put on equal footing in promotion, teaching load, and pay.

The SPD wants to strengthen comprehensive schools. Teachers there should have the same conditions as at academic high schools. Learning groups should be smaller.

The SPD wants academic high schools (Gymnasien) to return to a nine-year path to the Abitur diploma, known as G9. In the platform's view, the eight-year model does not serve many students well.

At academic high schools, the path to the diploma should take nine years again. Today it takes eight years. The SPD says eight years is too short for many. Schools should use the time for better support.

The SPD wants to support vocational schools and the dual apprenticeship system and set up a Center for Transformation. Career guidance is to be expanded at all general schools because the party sees apprenticeships and university study as equally valuable.

The SPD wants to strengthen vocational schools and apprenticeships. A new center should help with this. All schools should give better information about jobs. For the SPD, an apprenticeship is worth as much as a university degree.

The SPD wants to keep developing daycare centers and schools into inclusive institutions. Multi-professional teams are to be deployed, and regional support structures for mainstream schools further developed.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. This is called inclusion. The SPD wants to equip daycare centers and schools better for this. Experts from different professions should work together.

The SPD wants to strengthen participation in schools and give school social workers an equal say. Education on democracy and human rights is to be expanded, as is the "Gesunde Schule Saarland" (Healthy School Saarland) program.

More people should have a say in schools. That includes school social workers. Children should learn early what democracy and human rights mean. The SPD also wants to promote health in schools.

Starting in the 2022/23 school year, the SPD wants to give all students from third grade up, as well as apprentices, tablets and digital textbooks. Computer science is to become a mandatory subject from seventh grade.

All students from third grade up should get a tablet. Apprentices get one too. They also get digital textbooks. From seventh grade, computer science should be a required subject.

The SPD wants to include media education in the curricula of all subjects and grades and make it a mandatory part of initial and ongoing training for educators. Schools are to get technical support and fast internet.

Children should learn how to use media in all subjects. Teachers and daycare staff should learn this in their training too. Schools get help with technology. They should have fast internet.

The SPD wants to make adult basic education, such as reading and writing, a priority in the coming years. In civic education, new learning formats are to be funded that help people respond to far-right slogans.

Many adults cannot read well. The SPD wants to help them better. This should be an important topic in the coming years. People should also learn how to answer far-right slogans.

The SPD wants to give universities predictable and sufficient core funding instead of letting austerity drive planning. A broad range of subjects and enough study places are to be maintained.

Universities should get enough money. They should be able to plan with it safely. The SPD does not want to cut spending on universities. There should be many different subjects to study.

The SPD wants to create permanent, adequately paid positions for ongoing tasks in research and teaching. Students are to have a stronger role in committee decisions, and student assistants are to be covered by the staff representation law.

Many researchers only have temporary contracts. The SPD wants more permanent jobs at universities. Students should have more of a say. Student assistants should get more rights and union contracts.

The SPD wants to create affordable housing for students and make studying more flexible, for example through part-time and work-compatible degree programs. People from families without university experience are to get easier access to higher education.

Students should find cheap housing. Studying should fit better with family and work. Part-time programs help with that. People who are the first in their family to study should get more help.

The SPD rejects tuition fees and wants to expand BAföG (federal student aid). More students are to be eligible, and aid should no longer depend on parents' income.

Studying should cost nothing. The SPD is against tuition fees. More students should get BAföG. BAföG is money from the government for studying. It should no longer depend on parents' income.

The SPD wants to continue the cooperation between the state's two arts colleges and secure their funding. New subjects are to be considered, and the music college's site is to be renovated.

Saarland has two arts colleges. They should work together more closely. The SPD wants to give them enough money. It will look at new subjects such as acting. The music college will be renovated.

The SPD wants to expand education for sustainable development, for example through school and daycare gardens, nutrition education and stronger school camps. Citizen projects from the sustainability strategy and municipalities are to receive financial support.

Children should learn more about nature and the environment. Schools and daycare centers will get gardens. School camps will get more staff. There will be free vacation programs about the environment. Citizens' ideas for sustainability will get money.

The SPD wants to promote French and English more strongly in Saarland, from daycare to programs for older people. Exchanges, school partnerships and study trips in the Greater Region are to receive more funding. Vocational qualifications are to be mutually recognized and the University of the Greater Region expanded.

The SPD wants more people to learn French and English. Students and teachers should visit the neighboring country more often. Job qualifications should count on both sides of the border. The shared university should grow. Workers would get more days of educational leave.

The SPD aims for a digital health system with telemedicine, connected providers, and electronic health records. This is meant to relieve doctors and nurses, improve care, and avoid duplicate examinations.

The SPD wants more digital tools in medicine. Doctors should also be able to advise by video. Practices and hospitals should share data easily. Home technology should make care at home easier.

The SPD wants to gain 4,000 additional care workers by the end of the decade to end the staff shortage. A concerted action on care, better pay, more training places and a new care plan are meant to contribute.

Saarland lacks many care workers. The SPD wants 4,000 more of them by 2030. Care workers should be paid better. There should be more places for training and for day care for people who need help.

The SPD wants to give nursing staff more room to act on their own and relieve them of paperwork. It also wants to make it easier to bring in foreign nurses and to recognize their qualifications.

The SPD wants to strengthen nursing as a job. Nurses should be able to decide more on their own. They should have less paperwork. Nurses from other countries should find it easier to work in Saarland.

The SPD wants to push in the Bundesrat for a solidarity-based long-term care insurance in which people's own contributions are capped from the start of their need for care. In Saarland, more short-term care places and more outpatient services are to be created.

Care costs people a lot of money. The SPD wants to limit these costs. The limit should apply from the first month. Saarland should get more places for short-term care.

The SPD wants the state to take an active role in hospital planning again and to keep Saarland free of private hospital operators. The state should be able to take stakes in hospital providers, and the shortage of doctors and therapists in rural areas is to be countered.

The SPD does not want private companies to run hospitals. The state should plan hospitals better. The state can also take a share in hospital providers. Rural areas should have enough doctors.

The SPD wants to reorganize the public health service in local health offices and at state level. It plans more staff, new responsibilities, more prevention and a state institute modeled on the Robert Koch Institute.

The SPD wants to improve the public health offices. More people should work there. The offices should do more to prevent illness. A new health institute is to be set up in Homburg.

The SPD wants to expand psychotherapy services in Saarland because, according to the program, people wait months for a place. Addiction prevention and help for people with addictions are also to be strengthened.

Many people wait a long time for therapy. The SPD wants to create more therapy places. It also wants to help people with addictions better. Homeless people should get help more easily too.

The SPD wants to enable older people to stay in their own homes by introducing housing advice, support for home conversions and outreach counseling. Senior citizens' offices, a legally guaranteed say for seniors' councils and an updated dementia strategy are also planned.

Many people want to stay at home when they are old. The SPD wants to help with changes to the home. Older people should get advice. People with dementia should also get more help. Dementia is an illness that makes people forget many things.

The SPD wants to consolidate state responsibilities for migration and integration and draw up a statewide integration plan together with migrant organizations. An emergency program would give the immigration office more staff and space. Language courses, education and the labor market are to become easier to access regardless of residence status.

The SPD wants to organize integration in Saarland better. There would be one plan for the whole state. The immigration office would get more staff. A welcome center would be set up. All newcomers should find it easier to learn German and to work.

The SPD wants more women in paid work and wants to close the gender pay gap. Social professions are to be paid better, and moving from part-time to full-time work is to be supported.

Women often earn less than men. The SPD wants to change that. Jobs in care and social work should pay more. Women should find it easier to move from part-time to full-time. There should be more advice for women.

The SPD wants to give people with disabilities more participation in housing, work, health care and leisure and involve them in decisions. For sheltered workshops, it seeks nationwide pay in line with minimum wage rules.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. The SPD wants more help with housing and work. Sheltered workshops should pay like the minimum wage. Public information should also come in easy language.

The SPD wants a parity law so that half of the state parliament's members are women in the future. In companies majority-owned by the state, a women's quota is to apply to supervisory and management boards, and the state budget is to be analyzed for its effect on the sexes.

The SPD wants more women in important positions. Half of the members of the state parliament should be women. A law should make sure of that. State-owned companies should get a quota for women. The state should check how it shares money between women and men.

The SPD wants to set up a state program that covers the cost of contraceptives for women on low incomes. Couples who are involuntarily childless would get financial help with fertility treatment regardless of their sexual identity. The party also wants more counseling for women with unwanted pregnancies.

The SPD wants to help women with little money. The state would pay for their birth control. Couples who cannot have a child would get money for fertility treatment. This also applies to same-sex couples. There would be more counseling for pregnant women.

The SPD wants to treat racism as a cross-cutting issue and draw up a comprehensive prevention strategy against discrimination. People affected are to get easily accessible contact points and better support. Public administration is to become more open to cultural diversity.

The SPD wants to do more against racism. There would be a plan against unfair treatment. People affected should find help easily. Contact points would be set up for them. Public offices should also become more open to people from other cultures.

The SPD wants sexual and gender identity to be protected in Article 3 of the Basic Law, Germany's constitution. It plans a strategy against homophobic and transphobic hate crime. The needs of queer people in health care are also to receive more attention.

The SPD wants to protect queer people better. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. The constitution should name this protection. There would be a plan against hate crimes. The police would get a dedicated contact person.

The SPD wants to make fighting violence against women, especially domestic violence, a priority of its gender equality policy. An independent body is to monitor how the Istanbul Convention is implemented. Shelters and support services are to be expanded and reliably funded.

The SPD wants to protect women better from violence. A new office would check whether the state does enough. Support services would get more money. Every woman should find a place in a shelter. Men who are affected would also get protection.

The SPD wants to turn Saarland into Germany's leading hydrogen location by 2030. The state is to produce hydrogen itself, be connected to the European long-distance pipeline network, and get a regional distribution grid. The program treats hydrogen as a key energy carrier for climate-neutral production.

The SPD is betting on hydrogen. Hydrogen is a gas that provides energy. Saarland should make it itself. There should be pipelines and filling stations for it. By 2030, Saarland should be a leader here.

The SPD rejects the EU's plan to classify nuclear power as climate-friendly and demands the shutdown of the French nuclear plant at Cattenom. It supports building gas-fired power plants as a bridge technology. Supply for industry and the public is to remain secure.

The SPD is against nuclear power. It sees nuclear power as unsafe and too costly. The Cattenom nuclear plant should be shut down. Gas power plants should be used for a transition time. Power should always be available.

The SPD wants to pass a climate protection law with binding targets for Saarland and write sustainability into the state constitution. It also plans to set up a citizens' council on climate.

The SPD wants a climate law for Saarland. The law will have fixed targets. Sustainability will be written into the state constitution. Citizens will have a say in a climate council.

The SPD wants to at least double the share of renewables in electricity consumption by 2030 and cut greenhouse gas emissions in half. To get there, it plans a solar requirement for public buildings, subsidy programs and a share of wind power revenue for residents.

The SPD wants much more power from wind and sun. By 2030 there should be twice as much. Harmful gas emissions should fall by half. Public buildings will get solar panels on their roofs. Citizens will earn money from wind turbines.

The SPD wants to support municipalities with advice and money in protecting against floods and heavy rain. It also calls for mandatory insurance against natural hazard damage and warning systems that cover the whole state.

The SPD wants to protect towns better against floods. The state will provide money for this. Everyone should have insurance against damage from natural events. Warning systems should work everywhere.

The SPD wants to punish the illegal dumping of waste in nature more severely. It points to rising costs for removing trash from state-owned forests.

Some people dump their trash in the forest. The SPD wants tougher penalties for this. Cleaning up costs more and more money. Everyone pays for it.

The SPD wants to safeguard drinking water quality with a water master plan. All rivers and lakes in the state are to be brought into good condition, with the state providing the money.

The SPD wants to protect drinking water. There will be a big plan for this. All rivers and lakes should become clean. The state will provide the money needed.

The SPD wants to cut the use of new land in Saarland in half within ten years and reach the federal goal of net-zero land consumption before 2050. Sealed surfaces are to be opened up again, and in rural areas building within existing towns is to take priority.

A lot of land in Saarland gets built on. The SPD wants to cut that in half in ten years. Paved areas should be opened up again. Building should mainly happen inside towns. Cities should get more green spaces.

The SPD wants to update the forest master plan and put ecological concerns ahead of commercial returns. Old beech trees are, where possible, no longer to be felled, and the wilderness forest near Saarbrücken is to double to 2,000 hectares.

The SPD wants to protect the forest better. The health of the forest matters more to it than profit. Old beech trees should be left standing where possible. The wild forest near Saarbrücken will double in size.

The SPD wants to develop the state's biodiversity strategy further and strengthen its three large protected landscapes. For the Bliesgau biosphere reserve, it will consider an expansion and supports building a biosphere visitor center.

Many kinds of animals and plants live in Saarland. The SPD wants to protect them better. The three large protected areas will be strengthened. A visitor center will be built in the Bliesgau.

The SPD wants to fund animal shelters and rescue stations better and gear livestock farming more toward animal welfare. Certain animal transports, fur farming, the fur trade and black-market trade in animals are to be stopped.

The SPD wants to protect animals better. Animal shelters will get more money. Farms should not keep too many animals per area. Fur trading and fur farming should end. Animal testing should be replaced by other methods.

The SPD wants to strengthen villages with more funding, an additional LEADER region and digital infrastructure. The sharply higher funds available from 2023 are to be drawn down in full, with the state raising its own share to do so.

Almost half of the people in Saarland live in rural areas. The SPD wants to support villages more. There will be more money for local projects. Meeting places and shared offices will be set up. Volunteer work will be strengthened.

The SPD wants to raise the share of organically farmed land to 30 percent by 2030. Farmers are to receive higher premiums and a larger compensatory allowance; the platform treats conventional and organic farms as equals.

The SPD wants more organic farming. By 2030, it should cover 30 percent of farmland. Farmers will get more money. Farms on poor land will get more help too. The SPD supports hunting and fishing.

The SPD's long-term goal is local public transit without fares. As a next step, it wants to introduce a 365-euro annual ticket for young people and invest more than two billion euros in local transit over ten years.

The SPD wants buses and trains to be free one day. First, there will be a ticket for 365 euros a year. It is for students, apprentices and volunteers. The state should put a lot of money into buses and trains.

The SPD wants to develop the regional rail network into an S-Bahn (commuter rail) network with more frequent service and reopen disused lines. Public transit is meant to become an alternative to the car, supported by more buses and better long-distance connections.

The SPD wants more trains and buses in Saarland. Regional trains should become a commuter rail network. Old rail lines should be used again. On main lines, a train should run every 15 minutes.

The SPD wants to repair roads and bridges through an investment program. New roads are to be built only where they clearly benefit the economy, are compatible with the environment and improve towns and villages.

The SPD wants to fix broken roads and bridges. New roads should be rare. They must help the economy a lot. They must not harm the environment and should make towns better.

The SPD wants to raise cycling's share of traffic from two to ten percent by 2030. At least 100 million euros are to go into bike paths over ten years, and municipalities are to get help redesigning street space.

The SPD wants more people to ride bikes. By 2030, ten percent of all trips should be by bike. Today it is two percent. Many new bike paths should be built for this.

The SPD supports changing road traffic law so that municipalities can more easily set 30 km/h limits in built-up areas. Alongside smooth and safe traffic, climate, environment, health and urban development are to count in the future.

The SPD wants to change road traffic rules. Towns should be able to set a 30 km/h limit more easily. The rules should also consider climate, environment and health. Until now, they mainly look at traffic flow and safety.

The SPD wants to secure Saarbrücken Airport and maintain reliable flight connections. It regards the airport as an indispensable asset for business, science and tourism in the state.

The SPD wants to keep the airport in Saarbrücken. Planes should keep flying from there reliably. The SPD says the airport matters for companies, research and tourists.

The SPD wants to keep expanding public transit across the borders and introduce a joint ticketing system. It will examine a shared transit operator for the Greater Region and better connections between cities. Renewable energy and research are also to be promoted across borders.

The SPD wants more buses and trains across the border. One ticket should work in the whole Greater Region. Cities should be better connected. Green power should also be expanded together with the neighbors.

The SPD regards fast internet as a basic public service and wants access written into law. Broadband and mobile coverage are to be available everywhere; where the market fails to deliver, the state is to step in.

Everyone should have fast internet. This should be written in the law. Mobile coverage should be good in the countryside too. If companies do not build the network, the state should help. Schools get fiber first.

The SPD wants to offer government services online faster and catch up on implementing the Online Access Act. It plans a Saarland app, a central state digitization platform, and joint digitization of the municipalities.

The SPD wants people to handle government business online. There should be a Saarland app for this. The services should be easy and in plain language. The state should help towns with this.

The SPD wants to support small and mid-sized companies in going digital while protecting workers' rights. New digital forms of employment are to be covered by social insurance, and further training is to prepare workers for change.

The SPD wants to help small firms go digital. Workers should keep their rights. People who work through online platforms should have social protection too. There should be more training.

The SPD calls for transparent, verifiable, and non-discriminatory algorithms that authorities can inspect. It commits to net neutrality and data sovereignty and wants to expand digital education for all age groups.

Computer programs should be fair and open to checks. Authorities should be able to inspect them. Everyone should decide about their own data. The SPD wants more education on digital topics. Daycare centers should get digital equipment too.

The SPD wants online casino games in Saarland to be offered only by state-owned companies. Part of the gambling revenue is to go to prevention, counseling and research, and the party wants to crack down on illegal gambling.

The SPD wants only the state to run online casinos. Private companies should not get a license for this. Part of the gambling money should help fight gambling addiction. The SPD wants to fight illegal gambling.

The SPD wants people to feel safer in their neighborhoods and in public spaces. To achieve this, it relies mainly on visible local policing and on well-functioning municipal public order services.

The SPD wants people to feel safe where they live. More police should be visible in towns. Towns should have a good public order service. It should take care of order and cleanliness.

The SPD wants to act against extremism and currently sees right-wing extremism as the greatest threat to democracy. It plans a task force at the domestic intelligence service for online hate, an action plan against racism and antisemitism, and more deradicalization work.

The SPD wants to fight hate and extremism. A new team is to be set up at the domestic intelligence service. It should track down hate speech online. There should be a plan against racism and hatred of Jews. Memorial sites should keep getting money.

The SPD wants to give police and prosecutors better technology, organization and staffing to pursue money laundering, cybercrime and hate offenses online. Proceeds of crime are to be confiscated consistently. A digital reporting office is to be set up for people targeted by online hate.

The SPD wants to prosecute crime on the internet more firmly. Police and prosecutors would get more staff and technology. The state would take away money that comes from crime. People who face hate online could report it online.

The SPD wants to raise police recruitment so that at least 2,900 officers are on duty again within ten years. Every municipality is to keep a police station. Pay, pensions and allowances are to rise to make the job more attractive.

The SPD wants to hire more police officers. In ten years there should again be at least 2,900. Every town should keep a police station. Police officers should earn more. Training should also get better.

The SPD considers video surveillance appropriate at crime hot spots and in cases of specific threats but rejects blanket surveillance. It relies instead on a visible presence of the security authorities. The police law and the law on police data processing are to be reorganized.

The SPD wants cameras only in dangerous places. It is against cameras everywhere. Police should be present on the ground instead. The laws for the police should become clearer. One law would cover police powers, another data protection.

The SPD wants to fight cross-border crime through closer cooperation with French and Luxembourg police rather than additional border checks. The Federal Police in Saarland is to gain staff. A new Federal Police authority in the state is to advance networking with neighboring countries.

The SPD wants to fight crime across borders. The police should work more closely with France and Luxembourg. The SPD does not want more checks at the border. The Federal Police in Saarland would get more staff.

The SPD wants to strengthen the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency) in staff and structure because it sees a growing threat from enemies of democracy. The tools of police and intelligence are to remain proportionate. At the same time, municipal crime prevention networks are to be set up statewide.

The SPD wants to strengthen the Verfassungsschutz. This agency watches enemies of democracy. It would get more staff. Citizens' rights should stay protected. Towns would get networks that help prevent crime.

The SPD wants volunteers in aid organizations such as the Red Cross (DRK), ASB and DLRG to get the same time off for training and deployments as fire brigade and THW members. The law on fire protection, technical assistance and disaster control is to be reformed soon. Emergency responders are to be better protected from attacks.

The SPD wants better conditions for volunteers in aid services. They should get time off for missions just like firefighters. The disaster protection law would be rewritten. The SPD condemns attacks on emergency workers. More women should take part.

The SPD wants a functional reform under which municipalities divide tasks among themselves and specialize. This is meant to cut costs, avoid duplicate structures and make administration more capable.

The SPD wants to reorganize local government offices. Not every town should do everything itself. Towns should share tasks and focus on certain areas. This should save money and improve the work.

The SPD wants to make government decisions easier to follow by creating a lobby register and a transparency register. Citizens are to be more involved, including through a citizens' assembly on climate.

The SPD wants to govern more openly. A lobby register should show who has a say on laws. Lobbyists speak for the interests of companies or associations. Public data should be free. Citizens should discuss climate in an assembly.

The SPD wants young people aged 16 and over to be able to vote in state and local elections. In local elections, they should also be able to run for office from that age.

The SPD wants to lower the voting age. Young people should be allowed to vote at 16. This should apply to state and local elections. In local elections they should also be able to run.

The SPD wants to keep adding staff to the justice system so cases move faster, and to bring starting pay in line with other states. Access to the courts is to become easier through broader legal advice aid and online services. In the prison system, the platform focuses on rehabilitation and wants better support for crime victims.

The SPD wants more staff for the courts. Cases should then move faster. People with little money should also be able to go to court. Many things should be possible online. Offenders should learn to live without crime. Victims should get more help.

The SPD commits to the idea of a federal European state and wants to make the Greater Region a model region for Europe. Cross-border institutions are to be strengthened and a parliament of the Greater Region created. Administrative hurdles at the borders are to be removed.

The SPD wants a united Europe as a federal state. The Greater Region should be a model for this. It includes Saarland and nearby areas in France, Luxembourg and Belgium. It would get its own parliament. Young people should also have a say.

The SPD wants to create a health corridor along the borders in which people can use medical services on both sides at no extra cost. The European Pillar of Social Rights is to be applied more strongly in the Greater Region. National rules should no longer put cross-border commuters at a disadvantage.

The SPD wants people near the border to see doctors on both sides. This should not cost more. Good wages and social protection should apply across the whole Greater Region. People who work in the neighboring country should face no disadvantages.

The SPD wants to make Saarland Germany's first fair trade state. Public procurement is to be shifted step by step to fair and regional products. The party bases this on solidarity with the countries of the Global South.

The SPD wants to support fair trade. Fair trade means people in poor countries get fair wages. The state would step by step buy fair products from the region. Saarland should become the first fair trade state in Germany.

The SPD wants to set minimum fees and minimum performance pay in cultural funding to improve the income and social security of freelance artists. The independent scene is to get permanent workspaces and a production house, and culture is to become a mandatory municipal task.

Freelance artists should earn more. There should be minimum fees for this. The independent arts scene should get permanent spaces to work. Towns and cities should be required to offer culture.

The SPD wants everyone to be able to visit museums for free on certain days or at certain times. Museums are to be strengthened as places of cultural education and experience and be better networked.

On some days, museum admission should be free for everyone. For children and teenagers it is already free. The SPD wants to support museums with new exhibitions. Museums should work together more.

The SPD wants to keep the Saarland State Theater with its three divisions and give established festivals permanent financial security. The industrial heritage of coal and steel is to be preserved as a place of remembrance.

The State Theater should stay as it is. Well-known festivals should get money permanently. The SPD also wants to remember the era of coal and steel. Old mines and monuments should get funding.

The SPD wants to expand arts and cultural education in schools and daycare centers and keep existing programs running. Artists who work in schools are to receive higher fees.

The SPD wants more arts in schools. Programs that work well will stay. Artists who work in schools will get more money. Children will be encouraged to read from daycare on.

The SPD wants to keep funding Saarland's consumer advice center according to need. In addition, advice is to reach disadvantaged neighborhoods and remote areas more directly, with more money planned for pilot projects.

The consumer advice center helps people with shopping and contracts. The SPD wants to keep giving it money. Advice should also come directly to neighborhoods. This should help people who find it hard to help themselves.

The SPD wants to examine whether the state should reimburse part of the cost of repairing broken household appliances. It also wants food inspections to be adequately staffed and consumer protection online to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to look into a repair bonus. People who get a broken home appliance fixed would get some money back. Food should be checked well. The SPD also wants to protect people better when they shop online.

The SPD wants to redesign Saarland's volunteer card and support clubs after the pandemic with further funding programs. School camps, youth hostels and volunteering in nature conservation are also to receive more resources.

Many people in Saarland volunteer in clubs. The SPD wants to support these people more. The volunteer card should bring more benefits. Clubs should get funding more easily. Youth hostels should also get money for repairs.

The SPD wants to secure the funding of sports through the so-called Sportachtel and support municipalities and clubs in building and renovating sports facilities. The structures of sports in Saarland and the awarding of grants are to become more transparent and independent.

The SPD wants to support sports in Saarland better. The money for sports should stay secure. Towns and clubs should get help to build sports facilities. The rules for funding should become clearer.