SPD: program for the 2024 Saxony state election

The SPD wants to make Saxony a state of climate-neutral future industries and puts innovation funding at the center of its economic policy. It relies on rapid digitalization, climate-neutral energy, and strong infrastructure. The transition is to be socially acceptable.

The SPD wants to support new industries in Saxony. They should not harm the climate. The state should back new ideas and new technology. The change should be fair for everyone.

The SPD wants to focus state funding mainly on small and medium-sized firms and the skilled trades. The aim is to help them manage the shift to digitalization, automation and renewable energy, for which the platform says they often lack money, know-how or time.

The SPD wants to help small firms and the skilled trades. They should be able to use new technology. This includes robots and artificial intelligence. The state should give funding for this.

The SPD wants to eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy for businesses and the skilled trades and simplify administrative procedures. Funding applications are to be handled entirely digitally through a single portal.

The SPD wants less paperwork for businesses. Firms should apply for funding online. There should be one single portal for this. The state should only check random samples.

The SPD plans a broad initiative for the skilled trades and wants to review every policy area for ways to support these businesses. The Meisterbonus (a grant for master craftsman graduates) is to be raised, recruitment of young people promoted, and hiring skilled workers from non-EU countries made easier.

The SPD wants to help the skilled trades. People who become master craftsmen should get a bigger bonus. Firms should find it easier to hire skilled workers from abroad. Young people should get to know the trades better.

The SPD wants to respond to the labor shortage with automation, artificial intelligence and robotics. Top-level research and its transfer to companies are to be expanded, and small businesses advised and supported through the transition.

Soon there will be fewer workers. So machines and computers should take on more work. The SPD wants to fund research on this. Small companies and skilled trades should get help and advice.

The SPD wants to create a "Sachsenfonds 2050" through which the state invests at least four billion euros in the economy and in future jobs. A new investment company would manage the money and earn its own profits. The platform cites the US Inflation Reduction Act as a model.

The SPD wants a new fund for Saxony. It is called Sachsenfonds 2050. The state should invest at least four billion euros from it. The money should go to companies and new jobs. A state-owned company should manage the money.

The SPD wants to strengthen Saxony as a location for microelectronics, artificial intelligence and other future technologies. Around 100,000 people are to work in the Silicon Saxony chip cluster by 2030. The state's AI strategy would be developed further and research expanded.

The SPD wants more modern technology in Saxony. This includes computer chips and artificial intelligence. By 2030, about 100,000 people should work in the chip industry. The state should do more research on artificial intelligence. Developers of such programs should follow rules on openness.

The SPD wants to actively steer the transformation of Saxony's industrial regions. Lusatia is to become a center for renewable energy, and the Central German coal district a core of the green hydrogen economy. A transformation council of politics, science, business and unions would agree on the path.

The SPD wants to guide the change of industry in Saxony. Lusatia should become a center for clean energy. The Central German coal district should produce green hydrogen. That is a gas made with green power. A new council should give advice on the change.

The SPD wants to create a small team that reviews rules and procedures across all ministries and simplifies them substantially. It considers blanket rules such as sunset clauses for laws to be of little use.

The SPD wants less red tape. A small team should check the rules in all ministries. It should make the rules much simpler.

The SPD wants to build a campus for young companies, paid for jointly by the state and the private sector. Start-ups are to get more funding, including beyond the founding stage, and work more closely with established industrial firms.

The SPD wants to give new companies more support. A campus for young companies should be built. The state and businesses should pay for it together. New companies should also get money after they have started.

The SPD wants a new, low-bureaucracy procurement law that ties public contracts to compliance with collective wage agreements and to social and environmental criteria. At the same time, as many contracts as possible should go to companies in Saxony, especially small and medium-sized ones.

The state gives contracts to companies. The SPD wants a new law for this. Companies should pay union-agreed wages. Environmental and social issues should count too. Many contracts should go to companies from Saxony.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for the statutory minimum wage to rise in stages to 15 euros. It also wants the Minimum Wage Commission reformed. The platform justifies this as respect for people who work hard yet barely get by.

The SPD wants a higher minimum wage. It should rise step by step to 15 euros an hour. The party will push for this at the national level. The commission that sets the minimum wage should also change.

The SPD wants a statewide action plan so that more companies in Saxony pay under collective agreements. The aim is to eliminate the wage gap between eastern and western Germany. In the platform's view, companies with collective agreements offer better pay and more secure jobs.

The SPD wants more collective agreements in Saxony. A collective agreement sets pay and working conditions for many workers. There should be a plan for the whole state. Wages in the east should be as high as in the west.

The SPD rejects restricting the right to strike, lengthening working hours, or eliminating a public holiday. At the same time, the state should keep stepping in when wages are not enough to live on during crises.

The SPD does not want to limit the right to strike. People should not have to work longer hours. No public holiday should be cut. In a crisis, the state should keep helping with money.

The SPD rules out cuts in the social sector and wants to secure and expand the counseling and support services run by associations and nonprofit providers. Funding is to become simpler and be guaranteed over several years.

The SPD does not want to cut social services. Associations help people with money worries or addiction, for example. They should get secure funding for several years. The services should be open to everyone.

The SPD wants to give employees in Saxony a legal right to five paid days of educational leave per year. To that end, it supports the citizens' petition for an educational leave law.

Workers should get five days off each year for further education. They should keep getting paid during that time. The SPD wants a law for this. It should also help volunteer work.

The SPD wants to launch a pilot project for the four-day week in Saxony. It is to focus on physically or mentally demanding jobs and shift work.

The SPD wants to test the four-day week in Saxony. The test should focus on hard jobs. That includes shift work. The SPD also wants a right to be unreachable. This means you do not have to answer calls after work.

The SPD wants to strengthen the work of works councils and staff councils and prevent obstruction when works councils are being set up. Specialized prosecutors' offices are to be created as points of contact.

Works councils speak for the employees in a company. No one should be allowed to block their creation. The SPD wants to set up special prosecutors' offices for this. Works councils can turn to them.

The SPD wants to try out new working-time models such as the four-day week, expand working from home and promote job sharing. The aim is to give families more time and to spread caregiving, childcare and housework more evenly between women and men.

Families should have more time together. So the SPD wants to test new ways of working. One example is a week with four working days. Working from home should be possible more often. Women and men should share housework and childcare more fairly.

The SPD wants to provide more money for volunteer service programs to win additional placements and to raise the volunteers' allowance. Volunteering by young people is also to be strengthened, for example through free training for the youth leader card.

The SPD wants to strengthen volunteer service programs. There should be more places for them. Volunteers should get a higher allowance. Young people who volunteer should also get support. Training for youth leaders should be free.

The SPD rules out raising the retirement age or lowering the pension level. It sees adequate retirement income as a central pillar of social security and social cohesion.

The SPD does not want to raise the retirement age. Pensions should not get smaller either. Older people should be able to live with dignity.

The SPD wants Saxony to add its own money to the federal hardship fund. In the platform's view, injustices remain from the transfer of East German pensions into the unified system, especially for women who were divorced in the GDR.

Some people from the former East Germany get a lower pension than others. This mostly affects women who got divorced there. The federal government has a fund to help them. The SPD wants Saxony to add money to it.

The SPD wants to be able to amend the Saxon constitution, specifically regarding the debt brake and direct democracy. It regards the current provisions as outdated.

The SPD wants to change the constitution of Saxony. This is about the debt brake. The debt brake limits how much money the state may borrow. It is also about referendums. The SPD thinks the rules on these are outdated.

The SPD supports introducing the Kindergrundsicherung (basic child allowance) at the federal level and wants to develop it further. It also calls for abolishing Ehegattensplitting (joint tax splitting for married couples) in favor of a tax policy geared to children and families.

All children should have the same chances. The SPD backs the federal basic child allowance. That is a cash benefit for children. The tax break for married couples should end. Families with children should do better on taxes instead.

The SPD wants the Schuldenbremse (constitutional debt brake) reviewed in order to allow more investment. A cross-party commission of federal, state and local governments is to draft a proposal.

The SPD wants to review the debt brake. The debt brake limits how much the state may borrow. The SPD wants more money for investments in the future. A commission should make a proposal.

The SPD wants to loosen the debt brake in the Saxon constitution and make it more flexible. In the platform's view, the repayment periods are too short and the rules for cyclical borrowing too strict. Only a reform, it argues, can keep Saxony competitive as a location.

The debt brake limits new state debt. The SPD thinks the rule in Saxony is too strict. The state should be able to borrow more when the economy is weak. It should be allowed to pay back debt more slowly. The exact rules should be in an ordinary law.

The SPD wants to change how money is distributed between the state and local governments so that all towns, cities and counties have enough room to make their own decisions. Larger investments are to become possible without borrowing.

Towns and cities get money from the state. The SPD wants to change how this is shared. All local governments should have enough money for their own decisions. They should be able to pay for big projects without debt.

The SPD advocates a simple inheritance tax levied as a federal tax and wants to scrap tax advantages for the very wealthy. The revenue is to fund a basic inheritance of 60,000 euros that young people receive at age 18.

The SPD wants to change the tax on inheritances. Very rich people should no longer get tax advantages. The money should pay for a basic inheritance for young people. That is 60,000 euros on their 18th birthday.

The SPD wants to set up a Saxon housing construction company to provide affordable, accessible homes. It sees a need for at least 15,000 new social housing units and 30,000 affordable apartments. Rent increases are also to be limited and misuse of housing tackled.

The SPD wants to start a state company that builds homes. It should provide cheap homes without barriers. The SPD says Saxony needs 15,000 new social housing units. It also needs 30,000 affordable apartments. Rents should not rise so fast.

The SPD wants to fund accessible housing and increase construction of affordable homes. Older people should be able to stay in their familiar surroundings for as long as possible.

Old people should be able to stay in their homes for a long time. The SPD wants to fund homes without barriers. More affordable homes should be built. Houses where young and old live together would also get support.

The SPD wants to strengthen early childhood education and gradually improve staff-to-child ratios in nurseries, kindergartens, home-based childcare and after-school care. Social work in daycare centers and family centers are to be expanded, especially at sites with major problems.

The SPD wants better daycare centers. Staff should have more time for each child. There should be more social work in daycare centers. Centers with many problems should get special help.

The SPD wants to make work and family life easier to combine as a response to the labor shortage. This includes childcare close to home, more all-day schools, affordable care and four-day-week models.

The SPD wants work and family to fit together better. There should be childcare close to home. There should be more all-day schools. In hard jobs, a four-day week should be possible.

The SPD wants to give single parents more support with childcare, training and work, and bundle all measures in a “Pact for Single Parents.” The Landeserziehungsgeld (state child-raising allowance) is to be turned into a single-parent benefit.

Some parents raise their children alone. The SPD wants to help them more. The state's child-raising allowance should become a benefit for single parents. All the help should be part of one shared pact.

The SPD wants to abolish parents' fees for childcare entirely, arguing that education should be free of charge. Because childcare quality is also supposed to improve, it plans to proceed in stages, starting with a cap on fees.

Parents pay for daycare today. The SPD wants to get rid of these fees completely. This should happen step by step. First there should be an upper limit on the fees.

The SPD defines family as any shared way of life in which people care for and take responsibility for one another. All of these forms are to be accepted, supported and funded in Saxony.

For the SPD, there are many kinds of family. Family is where people care for each other. That is true with or without marriage. All families in Saxony should get help and support.

The SPD wants to better equip youth welfare offices and develop Saxony's child protection plan into an overall strategy across ministries. More contact points are also to be created for children who have experienced violence.

Children should grow up safe and healthy. Youth welfare offices should get more resources. Agencies and counseling centers should work together better. There should be more places to go for children who have suffered violence.

The SPD wants to turn Saxony's child and youth welfare law into a children and youth law that puts children's rights at the center. Politics and public administration are to be guided by the interests of young people.

The SPD wants a new law for children and young people. The law should strengthen children's rights. Children should get protection and support. They should also be able to take part. The well-being of the child should come first.

The SPD wants to secure local child and youth work with a state program so that it survives even when municipal budgets are tight. Youth welfare offices are to get enough staff, and social work in daycare centers and schools is to grow.

The SPD wants to give more money for youth work. Towns and villages should be able to keep services for children. Even when they have little money. Youth welfare offices should have enough staff. There should be more social work in daycare centers and schools.

The SPD wants to fund a statewide network of youth centers and leisure facilities. The Jugendpauschale (the state's per-capita youth work grant) is to be secured regardless of population trends, and funding periods are to be longer.

The SPD wants to fund youth centers all over Saxony. Young people should have places to spend free time together. The money should be safe even if there are fewer young people. Funding should run for longer periods.

Despite falling numbers of children, the SPD does not want to close any schools or daycare centers and wants to keep the freed-up money in the education system. Instead, a dense school network, smaller classes and renovated buildings are meant to raise quality.

There are fewer children in Saxony. The SPD still does not want to close any school or daycare center. The money should stay in education. Classes should get smaller. Buildings should be modernized.

The SPD regards vocational and academic training as equal in value and wants to make it easier to move between the two. Besides a higher Meisterbonus, there is to be a comparable bonus for other advanced vocational qualifications and wider university access for people with vocational credentials.

The SPD says: An apprenticeship and a degree are worth the same. People who become master craftsmen get a bigger bonus. Technicians and certified business specialists should also get a bonus. People with job training should find it easier to go to university.

The SPD wants to secure classroom teaching through more staff and relief for teachers and rejects larger classes or more mandatory teaching hours. Teacher training is to be reorganized by a dedicated law and made more practical.

Saxony does not have enough teachers. The SPD wants more staff in schools. Classes should not get bigger. Teacher training should change. Students should work in schools earlier.

The SPD wants to help all young people earn a school diploma and a vocational qualification and to make it easier to obtain them later. Those who drop out of training or university are to receive advice and support in finding a new path.

The SPD wants all young people to finish with a diploma. People should also be able to earn one later. For example at an adult education center. People who drop out of training should get advice.

The SPD wants to amend the school law soon and comprehensively and to revise and slim down timetables and curricula. Schools are to work more independently, get their own budgets and be supported by teams from different professions.

The SPD wants to change the school law. Curricula should contain less material. Schools should decide more for themselves and get their own money. Besides teachers, other professionals should work in schools too.

The SPD backs keeping children together in school longer and wants to drop the Bildungsempfehlung (the formal recommendation on which secondary school track a child should attend). Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive schools) are to be easier to set up, including with three classes per grade.

Children should learn together in one school for longer. The SPD wants to drop the school-track recommendation. This is the advice on which school a child attends after primary school. Comprehensive schools should be easier to open. Everyone should finish school with a diploma.

The SPD wants vocational and academic education to be treated as equals and plans a training fund financed by a levy. It is meant to support small businesses in training apprentices and help pay for joint and off-the-job training.

The SPD wants to strengthen job training. Companies should pay into a shared fund. Small companies get help from the fund to train young people. Vocational schools should become more modern. People who want to become master craftsmen should get more support.

The SPD wants staff in nurseries, kindergartens, after-school care and home-based childcare to have more time for the children. To achieve this, a staffing reserve is to keep growing and a state institute for early childhood education is to be founded.

The SPD wants better daycare. Teachers should have more time for the children. For this, there should be more staff. A new institute will look after quality. Children should learn to speak better in daycare.

The SPD wants to expand all-day schools in which lessons, support and free time are spread across the whole day. Together with more Gemeinschaftsschulen (comprehensive schools) and extra resources based on a social index, this is meant to make educational success depend less on background.

The SPD wants more all-day schools. There, learning and breaks alternate through the whole day. There should also be more comprehensive schools. Schools with many poor children get more money. This should give all children the same chances.

The SPD wants education to be free of charge from daycare through a master's degree or master craftsman qualification. Parental fees for daycare and fees for long-term students are to be dropped, and learning materials are to stay free.

The SPD wants education to cost nothing. Parents should no longer pay for daycare. People who study for a long time should not pay fees either. School books and other learning materials stay free.

The SPD wants to create 450 new permanent positions at universities and raise the share of permanent employment to more than 45 percent. Academic career paths are to become more predictable, and student employees are to get a collective agreement.

Many university staff only have short-term contracts. The SPD wants to create 450 new permanent jobs. More than 45 out of 100 jobs should have no end date. Student assistants should also get a union wage agreement.

The SPD wants to scrap fees for long-term students and for students from countries outside the EU. In its view, tuition-free study and modern student aid safeguard equal opportunity.

People who study for a very long time must pay fees in Saxony. Students from countries outside the EU may also have to pay fees. The SPD wants to abolish both fees. Studying should be free for everyone.

The SPD wants to guarantee universities stable base funding through a six-year agreement, growing by 3.5 percent each year. This is to be complemented by an investment strategy for buildings, grounds and large research equipment.

Universities should be able to plan with certainty. The SPD wants to promise them fixed money for six years. This money should grow by 3.5 percent every year. There should also be a plan for buildings and large research equipment.

The SPD wants to give the Studierendenwerke (student services organizations) higher grants under a six-year agreement so that semester fees stay stable. It also plans further investment in student dormitories.

Student services run cafeterias, dormitories and counseling. The SPD wants to give them more money. The promise should last six years. That way student fees should not go up. There should also be more and better dormitories.

The SPD wants rural schools to be treated more as a tool of regional development and to keep school sites open even with low student numbers. The Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) are to be strengthened as providers of adult education and given more tasks.

The SPD wants to keep schools in small towns. A local school is important for the community, the SPD says. Adult education centers should also become stronger. They should get more tasks.

The SPD wants to keep spending heavily on school construction and on digital equipment for schools. It also wants to reorganize how responsibilities for schools are divided between the state and municipalities.

The SPD wants to keep spending a lot on school buildings. Schools should also get more computers and technology. Experts should look after the devices. The state and towns should split their school tasks in a new way.

The SPD wants children who grew up multilingual to be able to count their heritage language in place of a second foreign language. German Sign Language is also to be recognized as a foreign language.

Some children grow up with two languages. The SPD wants their family language to count as a second foreign language at school. German Sign Language should count as a foreign language too. The plan for teaching German as a second language should get better.

The SPD wants to make education steadily more inclusive and provide more staff and material resources for it. Every school should be able to admit children from its neighborhood and support them according to their needs.

All children should be able to take part at school. This includes children with disabilities or special needs. The SPD wants to give more staff and materials for this. Every school should be able to take in children from the neighborhood.

The SPD wants to pass a teacher education act and gear training more toward classroom practice. The 2,400 university places for teacher training are to be kept.

The SPD wants a new law on how teachers are trained. Training should include more practice. There should still be 2,400 university places for future teachers. Further training for teachers should also get more money.

The SPD wants to plan enough teaching positions to cover 104 percent of lessons. In addition, more assistants and support staff are meant to ease the load on teachers.

The SPD wants to plan more teaching jobs than lessons need. That creates a reserve. More other experts should work in schools too. For example, social workers and assistants. This should take pressure off teachers.

The SPD wants to expand civic education in schools and give better support to student and parent councils. According to the platform, having a say in everyday school life contributes to a good school climate.

Students should learn more about politics at school. They should also have more say. The SPD wants to give student councils and parent councils more support. Trips to memorial sites should keep getting money.

The SPD wants to separate supervision from school development organizationally and found a state institute for school development. According to the platform, schools should be able to work more autonomously.

The SPD wants to reorganize how schools are supervised. One office would oversee schools and recruit teachers. A new institute would advise and guide schools. Schools should be able to decide more for themselves.

The SPD in Saxony supports the federal reform of hospital financing and emergency care. Hospitals are no longer to be paid solely through per-case flat rates so that, according to the platform, medical need comes before economic benefit.

The federal government wants to pay hospitals differently. The SPD in Saxony supports this. Hospitals should also get money for being ready to treat people. Rural hospitals should benefit from this.

The SPD stands by the Bürgerversicherung (citizens' insurance), a single health insurance system for everyone, and wants to push for it at the federal level. It aims to end what it calls two-tier medicine.

The SPD wants one health insurance for everyone. It is called citizens' insurance. Then there is no more split into public and private insurance. The SPD wants to push for this at the federal level.

The SPD pledges that emergency, basic and acute care will remain available close to home everywhere in Saxony. At the same time, hospitals are to specialize in focus areas, and health centers are to preserve small rural sites.

The SPD wants emergency help to be close by everywhere. Health centers should be set up in rural areas. Hospitals should specialize in certain illnesses. The state and towns should keep investing in hospitals.

The SPD wants to bring more people into health professions and deploy existing staff more effectively. To do so, it calls for binding minimum staffing levels and closer integration of outpatient and hospital care.

The SPD wants more staff in hospitals and care homes. There should be fixed rules on the minimum number of staff. Doctors' offices and hospitals should work together more closely. Working conditions should get better.

The SPD wants to push back economic pressure in hospital care and build care structures fit for the future. In its view, health and long-term care must not depend on a person's income.

The SPD wants hospitals to focus less on making money. Care should get better. Good treatment should not depend on how much money people have. Everyone should get good care.

The SPD wants to press at the federal level for a reform of long-term care insurance so that everyone can afford care. In Saxony, it plans to expand short-term care, fund care places directly and create a state care law.

The SPD wants everyone to be able to afford care. For that, care insurance should be changed. There should be more places for short-term care. This helps people who care for relatives. Saxony should get its own care law.

The SPD wants employers and employees in Saxony to fund long-term care insurance in equal shares again. No public holiday is to be given up in exchange.

In Saxony, workers pay more for long-term care insurance than their employers. The SPD wants to change that. Both should pay the same. No public holiday should be lost for this.

The SPD wants to expand addiction prevention and support services and backs the federal plan to decriminalize cannabis and bring it under state control. According to the platform, this makes effective prevention and action against the black market possible.

The SPD wants more help for people with addiction. Children and teenagers should get help quickly. The SPD also supports the federal plan on cannabis. Cannabis should no longer be a crime. The state should control how it is handled.

The SPD wants to keep acute care at every hospital location in Saxony. Doctors' offices, health centers, emergency services, hospitals and care facilities are to cooperate more closely, and care services in rural areas are to be expanded.

The SPD wants to keep emergency care at all hospital sites in Saxony. Doctors, hospitals, ambulance services and care homes should work together more closely. Rural areas should get more care services. Digital health services should grow too.

The SPD wants long-term care not to depend on income and calls for a cap on patients' own contributions. At the federal level it wants all options considered, including full-coverage care insurance.

Long-term care has become very expensive. Everyone should get care, even with little money. The SPD wants to limit what people pay themselves. It wants to achieve this at the federal level. One option is insurance that pays all care costs.

The SPD wants to win more staff for health professions through training, career changers, returnees and financially supported immigration. To address the shortage of family doctors in rural areas, the 20-point program and the rural doctor quota are to continue.

Clinics, practices and care homes lack skilled staff. The SPD wants to train more people. It also wants to support skilled workers from abroad with money. Rural areas lack family doctors. Programs for rural doctors should continue.

The SPD wants to keep investing in hospitals and to use money from the Sachsenfonds 2050 for this. Where necessary, hospitals are to return to municipal ownership. Health centers are to secure care in rural areas.

The SPD wants to put money into hospitals. Some of the money should come from a special fund. Some hospitals should belong to towns and counties again. Rural areas should have health centers. There, doctors' offices and hospitals work together.

The SPD wants to set up a state health office to coordinate the regional health authorities. Children who attend the U9 preventive checkup are to receive 100 euros. The public health service and addiction prevention are to be strengthened.

Saxony should get a state health office. It should coordinate the local health offices. Children get 100 euros for going to the U9 checkup. Health offices should have better-trained staff. There should be more prevention against addiction.

The SPD wants to draft a state care law together with municipalities that clearly divides tasks between the state and municipalities. Care coordinators, short-term care and neighborhood help are to keep receiving funding. Family caregivers are to get better information.

Saxony should get a state care law. It sets out who is responsible for what. There should be more places for short-term care. Neighborhood helpers should keep helping. Family members who give care should get better information.

The SPD wants to keep funding integration structures and local engagement and to further develop the Saxon Participation and Integration Act. It says Saxony will continue to depend on immigration. Those without a permanent right to stay should leave, provided this is possible and humane.

The SPD wants to help people who are new in Saxony. There should be good services and local help. The integration law should be improved. People who may not stay should leave if that is possible and humane.

The SPD calls Saxony a state of immigration and wants to attract workers from abroad. Foreign qualifications are to be recognized faster, family reunification made easier for people in work, and immigration offices turned into welcome offices.

Saxony needs workers from other countries. The SPD wants to recruit them. Their degrees should be accepted faster. Their families should be able to join them more easily. The offices should decide quickly and help.

The SPD wants to get refugees into work quickly so they can build a prospect of staying regardless of their residence status. The Chancen-Aufenthaltsrecht (opportunity residence permit) is to be implemented as well as possible by the authorities.

Refugees should be allowed to work quickly. People who work should have a chance to stay. Young refugees without a diploma should get into school or training fast. The offices should carry this out well.

The SPD wants to require authorities to always use their discretion in favor of granting work or training permits. Refugees should be able to stay as long as their job or training lasts, and targeted immigration of skilled workers is to be strengthened.

Refugees should find it easier to work or start job training. Offices should use every option to allow this. Anyone with a job or training place should be allowed to stay during that time. Saxony should also attract skilled workers from abroad.

The SPD wants to make naturalization easier and faster and welcomes the reform of citizenship law. The Chancen-Aufenthaltsrecht (opportunity residence permit) is to be applied as fully as possible in Saxony, and the hardship commission is to be strengthened.

People from other countries should find it easier to become German citizens. The process should be faster. People who are well integrated should be allowed to stay in Saxony. The SPD wants to make good use of a new federal law for this. The commission for hardship cases should also be able to do more.

The SPD wants children in initial reception centers to be able to attend regular daycare centers and schools. Stays in reception centers are to be as short as possible for children and teenagers, and language courses for parents are to come with childcare.

Refugee children first live in large shelters. There are hardly any lessons there. The SPD wants these children to go to normal daycare and schools. They should stay in these shelters only for a short time. Parents should be able to learn German while someone looks after their children.

The SPD wants to give refugees an electronic health card so they can see a doctor without a detour. At present, during their first months they need a voucher from the municipality before each treatment.

At first, refugees need a paper from a public office before they can see a doctor. The SPD wants to change that. Refugees should get a health card. With it they can go straight to the doctor.

The SPD wants to fund municipalities reliably for their integration tasks and adjust the flat-rate payments. Municipal integration centers are to bundle services of the same standard in every county and independent city.

Integration happens in towns and cities. The SPD wants to give them secure money for it. Every county should have an integration center. The services should be equally good everywhere.

The SPD wants humane asylum procedures that follow the rule of law and are completed faster. People who are already well integrated should be allowed to stay wherever possible. Those without a permanent right of residence should leave, provided this is feasible and humane.

The SPD wants fair asylum procedures. The procedures should be faster. Well-integrated people should be allowed to stay. People who may not stay should leave the country. This applies only if leaving is possible and humane.

The SPD wants Saxony to keep enough initial reception places for refugees and to coordinate their distribution among municipalities itself. Municipalities are to get incentives for taking people in and reliable funding for integration. Afghan local staff should also be admitted.

Saxony should have enough places for refugees. The state should manage how they are spread across towns. Towns should get money for integration. Saxony should also take in helpers from Afghanistan.

The SPD wants to reorganize the immigration offices and speed up their procedures so that international skilled workers can come to Saxony more easily. It considers more immigration necessary for Saxony to remain a strong industrial state.

Saxony lacks skilled workers. So the SPD wants more skilled workers from abroad. The immigration offices should work faster. They should make people feel welcome.

The SPD calls for equal pay for equal work and wants to strengthen works councils, staff councils and collective bargaining coverage to get there. At the federal level it wants the Pay Transparency Act tightened. The state of Saxony is to lead by example on gender equality in the labor market.

Women often earn less than men. The SPD wants to change that. It wants more union wage agreements and strong works councils. A federal law on pay openness should become stricter.

The SPD wants menstrual products to be available free of charge in buildings owned by the state of Saxony. It also backs a uniform nationwide rule under which the cost of medically prescribed contraception is covered.

Buildings of the state of Saxony should offer free pads and tampons. Birth control should not depend on money either. The SPD wants one rule for all of Germany. Then people would not pay for prescribed birth control themselves.

The SPD wants enough shelters for women and children across Saxony and gives priority to implementing the Istanbul Convention. It also advocates making the killing of women and girls because of their gender a separate criminal offense.

Women and children should find protection from violence all over Saxony. There should be enough shelters and counseling. The SPD also wants a new crime in the law. It is called femicide. That means killing a woman because she is a woman.

The SPD wants to protect queer people better from violence and plans protection strategies, more counseling and a statewide campaign. Associations and initiatives working for LGBTIQ* people, diversity and anti-discrimination are to receive stronger support.

Queer people are, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. The SPD wants to protect them better from violence. There should be more counseling in cities and in the countryside. A campaign across Saxony should work against hostility toward queer people. Groups that stand for diversity should get more support.

The SPD rejects a ban on gender-inclusive language. Whether someone writes with or without the gender asterisk is for people in Saxony to decide themselves, at work and in private.

Some people write German words with a gender star to include all genders. The SPD does not want to ban this. Each person should decide how to write and speak. That should apply at work and in private life.

The SPD wants more women in leadership positions in politics, business and public administration and will back quotas where needed. Saxony's Equality Act is to apply to municipalities as well, and options for a constitutionally sound parity rule for parliaments are to be examined further.

The SPD wants more women as leaders. This applies to politics, companies and public offices. Where needed, it wants quotas. A quota sets a fixed share of women. Saxony's equality law should also apply in towns and cities.

The SPD wants queer ways of life and education about them to be part of young people's everyday experience in educational institutions. Children and teenagers should be able to grow up without discrimination.

The SPD wants to encourage children and teenagers. They should be able to live the way they want. Schools should talk about queer life. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. Every school and daycare center should have trained contact persons.

The SPD wants to remove abortion from the criminal code and replace mandatory counseling with a right to counseling. Access to abortion should be possible throughout Saxony. The cost of medically prescribed contraception is to be covered.

Abortion is in the criminal code today. The SPD wants to remove this rule. Women should be able to get counseling but not have to. Abortion should be available everywhere in Saxony. Contraception prescribed by a doctor should be paid for.

The SPD wants to rewrite the equality clause of the Saxon constitution. The term "race" would be replaced because, scientifically, there are no human races. The bans on discrimination would be named explicitly and expanded.

Saxony's constitution uses the word race. The SPD wants to replace it with a better word. The constitution should say exactly what is forbidden. For example, no one may be treated worse because of age, disability or sexual orientation.

The SPD wants municipalities to receive a mandatory share of profits from local energy production. Where a lot of green power is generated, cheap regional electricity rates are to apply. The shift in heating is to be carried out in a socially fair way with support for residents and municipalities.

Towns should get money when power is produced there. This should be required. People who live there should pay less for electricity. Residents and towns should get help with changing heating systems.

The SPD wants to expand generation, storage and grids for renewable energy as fast as possible. Saxony is to rely on a mix of solar, wind, hydro, biomass, biogas, geothermal and green hydrogen, with gas power plants serving as a transitional solution.

The SPD wants more power from sun, wind and water. Storage and power lines should also be built quickly. Gas power plants should help for a transition period. Later they should run on green hydrogen.

The SPD stands by the agreed end of coal power by 2038 at the latest. It considers an earlier exit possible but ties it to a secure and affordable energy supply and enough new, well-paid jobs in the coal regions.

The SPD wants to stop using coal by 2038 at the latest. An earlier end is only possible under conditions. Power must stay secure and affordable. The coal regions must have enough new, well-paid jobs.

The SPD wants Saxony linked to Germany's national hydrogen core network by several pipelines, with key industrial regions connected directly. This is meant to preserve what the platform sees as the state's current lead in hydrogen.

The SPD wants hydrogen pipelines to reach Saxony. Hydrogen is a gas that provides energy. Important industrial regions should be connected directly. Storage sites for hydrogen should also be built.

The SPD wants to revise the state development plan and set goals for Saxony's spatial planning in it. The plan is to anchor the protection of natural habitats and socially balanced climate action, including the federal target of two percent of the state's area for wind energy.

The SPD wants to renew the plan for how Saxony develops. The plan should protect nature and the climate. Two percent of Saxony's land should be available for wind turbines. The federal government requires this. New ideas should be tested in pilot projects.

The SPD is counting on a mix of renewable energy sources and wants to support energy-intensive companies with a bridge electricity price, meaning a temporarily state-subsidized power price. Municipalities are to get a larger share of revenues from renewable energy.

The SPD wants more power from sun, wind and water. Companies that use a lot of power should get cheaper power for a while. Towns should get more money from wind and solar plants. Power should always stay secure and affordable.

The SPD wants a major expansion of photovoltaics in Saxony: along highways and rail lines, on artificial lakes, on rooftops and over parking lots. Solar would become mandatory on new buildings. Planning and permitting procedures for infrastructure are to move faster.

The SPD wants more power from the sun. Solar panels should stand along highways and rail lines. They should also be on roofs, over parking lots and on lakes. New buildings should have to carry solar panels. Permits should come faster.

The SPD considers the shift of electricity, heating and transport to renewable energy unavoidable and wants to shape it in a socially balanced way. Replacing heating systems and the heating transition should remain predictable and affordable. At the federal level, the party backs introducing the Klimageld (climate dividend).

The SPD wants to move away from oil, gas and coal. Power, heating and transport should become clean. This should be affordable for everyone. The state should help pay for support programs. The SPD also wants a federal climate payment. That is money paid to citizens to offset higher prices.

The SPD wants to fund the expansion of renewable energy and storage and to help companies become climate neutral. Energy-intensive firms are to receive subsidies for this. The stated aim is to keep industry while ending carbon emissions.

The SPD wants more power from wind and sun. It also wants to support power storage. Companies that use a lot of energy should get state money. This should help them become climate neutral. Industry should stay in Saxony.

The SPD wants to keep Saxony's wolf management and maintain a balance between species protection and herd protection. Public information, compensation and protective measures for herds are to remain funded.

The SPD wants to keep Saxony's way of dealing with wolves. Wolves should stay protected, but so should herds of farm animals. Animal owners should still get money for damage. The state should also keep paying for herd protection.

The SPD wants decisions by the state parliament, government and administration to be checked for sustainability. The sustainability report is to become a real balance sheet with measurable goals, and life-cycle assessments are to play a role in public investment as well.

The SPD wants to check political decisions for sustainability. That means looking at the effects on the future. Saxony should get measurable sustainability goals. A report should later show whether the goals were met.

The SPD wants to make sustainable products cheaper through taxation and to make the Reparaturbonus (repair subsidy) permanent. The circular economy and consumer education are to be strengthened; the party explicitly wants to do without bans.

The SPD wants sustainable products to cost less. Taxes should change to make that happen. People who get things repaired should keep getting money from the state. The SPD does not want bans here. Big corporations should pay a minimum tax worldwide.

The SPD wants to build closed material loops in Saxony, from raw material to reuse. The platform sees the reuse of resources as a key to climate neutrality. Public buildings are to be built with as much recycled material as possible.

The SPD wants raw materials to be used more than once. Old products should become new ones. This is called a circular economy. The state should use a lot of recycled material when it builds. Groups that repair and swap things should also get money.

The SPD wants a climate adaptation strategy covering all areas and more money for municipalities to prepare for heat, drought and extreme weather. Water supply is to be secured as groundwater becomes scarcer. The party continues to reject expanding the Elbe river for shipping.

The weather is getting more extreme. The SPD wants to prepare towns and villages for it. There should be more money for this. Water should stay clean and be enough for everyone. The Elbe river should not be expanded for ships.

The SPD wants to cut land consumption: by 2030, fewer than three hectares a day are to be newly sealed, and in the long run none on a net basis. This comes with measures for biodiversity, climate-resilient mixed forests and the rewetting of peatlands.

A lot of land in Saxony gets built over. The SPD wants to slow this down. By 2030 it should be less than three hectares a day. Later no more land should be added at all. The SPD also wants to protect forests, peatlands and rare animals and plants.

The SPD wants measurable improvements for animals. It wants to strengthen animal shelters and veterinary offices, secure veterinary care, and fund alternatives to animal testing so that research can soon do without such tests.

The SPD wants animals to be better off. Animal shelters should get help. The offices for animal health should get stronger. Research should soon work without animal testing.

The SPD wants to push the transformation of agriculture and tie public money to public benefits. Regional products are to be used more in cafeterias and communal catering, and besides organic farming, conventional farms are also to be supported for sustainability gains.

The SPD wants to change farming. Farmers should get state money for things that benefit everyone. Cafeterias should use more food from the region. Regular farms should also get support when they work more sustainably.

The SPD wants to promote sustainable methods in farming and food production and to strengthen organic agriculture. Public money should be tied to services for the common good, such as preserving ecosystems. Animal welfare is to carry great weight in livestock farming.

The SPD wants farming that is gentle on nature. Farmers should spray fewer chemicals. More farms should work organically. Animals should travel shorter distances. Every field should have fast mobile coverage.

The SPD wants to continue the Bildungsticket (student transit pass) at 15 euros a month and extend its validity to all of Saxony. Young people in vocational training, at university or in voluntary service are to get a social fare of 29 euros a month based on the Deutschlandticket.

The SPD wants to keep the student transit pass. It should still cost 15 euros a month. Later it should be valid in all of Saxony. Trainees, university students and volunteers should get a pass for 29 euros a month.

The SPD wants to expand Saxony's position in electric mobility through research funding and support the auto industry through its transition. Electric cars are to be affordable and charging infrastructure available close to home; the platform also backs autonomous driving and hydrogen for logistics.

The SPD wants to make Saxony a state of electric cars. The state should fund research on this. Electric cars should be affordable. There should be enough chargers near people's homes. Self-driving vehicles should also be tested.

The SPD wants to raise public transit's share of all trips, extend the core network and run services more frequently. A Saxon mobility company is to plan rail and regional bus services under state responsibility and implement a binding state transit plan.

The SPD wants more buses and trains in Saxony. They should run more often and reach more places. 80 percent of people should have a stop nearby. The state should plan transit better itself in the future. Ticket rules should be the same all over Saxony.

The SPD wants to speed up bike path construction by shortening planning and dropping parts of the environmental impact assessment. Fast cycling routes are to link big cities with their surroundings, and walking is to get more weight in road and transit funding.

The SPD wants to build bike paths faster. Planning should take less time. Fast bike routes should link big cities with nearby areas. Walking should also become safer and easier. The goal is that no one dies in traffic.

The SPD wants to abolish Straßenausbaubeiträge (charges levied on property owners for road upgrades) across Saxony to relieve residents. In road building, maintenance is to keep priority over new construction; new roads are to be limited to necessary gap closures.

The SPD wants to end the charges for road upgrades. Today, residents pay these when their street is renewed. Existing roads should be repaired first. New roads should only be built where there are gaps in the network.

The SPD wants to upgrade several rail lines, including the Dresden–Prague high-speed line, reopen disused lines and electrify more of them. More freight is to move from highways to rail.

The SPD wants more and better rail lines in Saxony. A fast line should run from Dresden to Prague. Old lines should go back into service. More goods should travel by train instead of by truck.

The SPD wants a social fare version of the Deutschlandticket for 29 euros a month for seniors with low pensions. Local transit is to run more often and be accessible in cities and rural areas so that older people stay independently mobile.

Older people with small pensions should ride buses and trains cheaply. The ticket should cost 29 euros a month. Buses and trains should run more often. There should also be on-call buses. Everything should be usable without barriers.

The SPD wants to invest just under two billion euros of state money in fast internet over ten years so that every town and household gets a gigabit connection. The 5G mobile standard is also to be available everywhere.

The SPD wants fast internet for everyone in Saxony. Every household should get a very fast connection. The state should spend almost two billion euros on this. The 5G mobile network should also be available everywhere.

The SPD wants to simplify administrative procedures first and then offer them digitally, so that people can deal with government offices from home. A task force is to review the procedures. AI-supported processing of applications is to be tested first.

The SPD wants to make government offices simpler. People should be able to do many things from home online. A working group should remove steps that are not needed. AI programs should help with applications. This will be tested first.

The SPD wants Saxony's police to be modern and well equipped, focusing above all on working and training conditions. The higher number of training places is to be maintained.

The SPD wants the police to be well equipped. Police training should become more modern and better. Many people should keep being trained there. People should be able to trust the police.

The SPD wants to keep modernizing Saxony's Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency) but rejects giving it additional powers. The agency should cooperate more closely with police and firearms authorities and operate under clear rule-of-law standards.

The Verfassungsschutz is a domestic intelligence agency. The SPD wants to modernize it. But it should not get more powers. It should work better with the police and gun authorities. The state parliament should oversee it more closely.

The SPD wants a statewide disaster response plan and continued investment in fire protection. Volunteers in all emergency organizations are to be treated equally. Fire departments and rescue services are to become more capable locally.

Saxony should get a plan for disasters. The state should keep paying for fire departments. Volunteer helpers should have the same rights everywhere. They should still get their pay during missions. Rescue services should also get better.

The SPD wants prisons to focus more on reintegration and to hire more specialist staff for this. People who cannot pay a fine should more often do community service instead of going to jail. This is meant to relieve the prisons.

Prisoners should be better prepared for life after prison. There should be more psychologists, doctors and therapists. Some people cannot pay a fine. They should more often do community work instead of going to prison.

The SPD wants to keep matching police staffing to the force's tasks and to prevent staff cuts. Police are to be visibly present, alongside prevention programs. At demonstrations, violent troublemakers are to be identified and stopped early.

The police should have enough staff for their tasks. This should be checked regularly. Police should be easy to see on the streets. At protests they should spot violent troublemakers early. Peaceful protesters should be left alone.

The SPD wants more support for people who have experienced violence and for their relatives. After sexual assaults, victims should be able to have evidence secured at a hospital even without filing a police report first.

Victims of violence should get more help. Their families should get help too. After a sexual assault, a hospital can secure evidence. You do not have to go to the police first.

The SPD wants to expand security partnerships with municipalities and continue local crime prevention programs. Older people should feel safe in their neighborhoods.

Older people should feel safe where they live. The SPD wants the state and towns to work together more on safety. Police should be seen more often in certain places. There should be more community police officers.

The SPD wants to make it easier for associations and volunteers to obtain public funding and to give them planning security through long-term commitments. Programs such as "Soziale Orte" (Social Places) and "Orte der Demokratie" (Places of Democracy) are to continue.

Clubs and groups should get state money more easily. The promises should hold for a long time. Programs for local meeting places should continue. People should be able to shape their own town.

The SPD wants to push back hostility to democracy and group-focused hatred through prevention, exit programs and prosecution. Civic education and education for democracy are to be expanded.

The SPD wants to act against hate and enemies of democracy. Police and courts should pursue hate crimes, also online. There should be help for people who want to leave extreme groups. Children and adults should learn more about democracy.

The SPD wants to simplify funding procedures: instead of extensive documentation, there would only be spot checks. Those who break the rules are to face tough consequences.

Clubs, companies and citizens can get funding from the state. The SPD wants to make this easier. People then have to hand in fewer documents. The state only checks some cases. Anyone who cheats gets no more funding.

The SPD wants to set up regional groupings of municipalities that receive lump-sum investment funds every year. The municipalities would decide together how to spend the money, making them less dependent on individual grant programs.

Towns and villages should team up in their region. These groups get a fixed amount of money each year. They decide for themselves how to spend it. That way they need to apply for fewer grants.

The SPD wants to make citizen-initiated legislation easier and involve residents more through forums, citizens' assemblies and advisory boards. The petition system, youth participation and access to public information are also to be strengthened.

Citizens should find it easier to vote on laws themselves. The SPD also wants citizens' assemblies and forums. Petitions should become easier online. A petition is a request to the state parliament. Children and young people should also have more say.

The SPD wants to continue and strengthen the “Weltoffenes Sachsen” (Open-Minded Saxony) program, which provides binding multi-year funding for democracy projects. The “Soziale Orte” and “Orte der Demokratie” programs are also to be developed further and expanded.

Saxony funds groups that stand up for democracy. The SPD wants to continue and increase this funding. Meeting places in villages and neighborhoods should also get more money. People should come together there and do things jointly.

The SPD wants to lower the voting age to 14 nationwide. In Saxony, a constitutional amendment is to make this possible for local and state elections and for direct-democracy procedures. An overall strategy is also meant to strengthen participation by children and young people.

The SPD wants teenagers to be able to vote from age 14. This should apply in all of Germany. Saxony's constitution should be changed for this. Children and young people should also have more of a say in general. The SPD wants to make a plan for this.

The SPD wants to cushion the generational change in the courts with additional bridging positions. All courtrooms are to get equipment for video hearings. Mass proceedings in the justice system should be handled digitally.

Many judges will retire soon. The SPD wants to hire new judges in time. All courtrooms should get equipment for video hearings. Cases with very many similar lawsuits should be handled digitally.

The SPD wants to keep implementing Saxony's overall strategy against right-wing extremism and to prosecute politically motivated crime consistently. Enemies of the constitution are to be dismissed from public service. The domestic intelligence agency is to improve its analysis, and prevention is to grow.

The SPD wants to act against right-wing extremism. The state should stop far-right settlements and far-right rock concerts. Enemies of the constitution should not work for the state. The domestic intelligence agency should inform people better. There should be more prevention and education.

The SPD wants to give older people more political say through advisory councils, commissioners and a seniors' participation law. A Saxony seniors' academy is to train people who get involved. Meeting places, education and village shops are to secure inclusion in old age.

Older people should have more say. There should be seniors' councils and a special law. A seniors' academy should train people who get involved. There should be meeting places against loneliness. Village shops should make shopping possible in rural areas.

The SPD wants to ensure that public offices remain reachable through all channels, including by phone, as services go digital. The reasoning is that not all older people are comfortable with computers and smartphones.

Not all older people use computers or smartphones. So the SPD wants offices to stay reachable by phone. Letters should show a phone number. There should also be classes on using smartphones and tablets.

The SPD wants to extend the right to vote in local elections to everyone living in Saxony who holds a foreign passport. So far, besides Germans, only citizens of other EU countries may vote there. The rule is to be written into the state constitution.

In town and city elections, Germans and EU citizens may vote. The SPD wants to change this. All foreigners who live in Saxony should be able to vote there. This should be written in Saxony's constitution.

The SPD wants a comprehensive overhaul of the Saxon constitution, which is more than thirty years old. Climate protection would become a state objective, and children's rights and an enforceable right to education would be added. The constitution's reference to Europe and the promotion of democracy would also be anchored.

Saxony's constitution is over 30 years old. The SPD wants to renew it. Climate protection should become a goal of the state. Children should get their own rights in the constitution. Everyone should be able to claim the right to education in court.

The SPD wants to lower the hurdles for citizens' petitions and referendum initiatives so that people introduce their own bills more often. The state parliament and individual lawmakers would get more rights to oversee the government. Parliament would keep its 120 members.

Citizens in Saxony can propose laws themselves. They need many signatures for this. The SPD wants fewer signatures to be enough. The parliament should give citizens advice on this. Lawmakers should be able to check the government better.

The SPD wants to create a democracy promotion law that secures civic engagement for democracy over the long term and sets funding for it. In its view, democracy depends on people getting involved and must be able to defend itself against its opponents.

The SPD wants a new law for democracy. The law should secure money for democracy work. People who get involved should be able to rely on it.

The SPD wants to strengthen cross-border cooperation with Czechia and Poland in every field. It also wants more people to learn the neighboring countries' languages and intends to implement the state's overall plan for education about Europe.

Saxony borders Czechia and Poland. The SPD wants to work more closely with these countries. More people should learn Czech and Polish. People in Saxony should get to know Europe better.

The SPD wants to reform the Sorbs Act and the Foundation for the Sorbian People together with the Sorbs, with an eye to their rights to participation and self-determination. Sorbian language, history and culture are to be promoted, starting in daycare.

The Sorbs are a minority in Saxony. The SPD wants to update the law for the Sorbs. The Sorbs should have a say in this. More children should learn Sorbian in daycare.

The SPD wants to introduce fee guidelines and minimum standards in arts funding to improve working conditions for creative professionals and the solo self-employed. The Kulturraumgesetz (Saxony's law on regional arts funding) is to be revised so that arts funding can be planned over several years.

The SPD wants fair pay in the arts. There should be rules for fees. A fee is the pay for self-employed people. Arts institutions should be able to plan for several years. State money should only go to those who pay union-level wages.

The SPD wants to make Saxony a leader in educational work at memorial sites and with eyewitnesses to history. Funding for the Saxon Memorials Foundation is to increase.

The SPD wants to strengthen the memory of history. Memorial sites should do modern educational work. The foundation for memorial sites should get more money. This gives helpers more support.

The SPD wants to fundamentally restructure Saxony's state media authority and give its media assembly more decision-making powers. Public broadcasting is to be developed further, with a focus on information, education and culture.

The SPD wants to change the state media authority. It oversees private broadcasters in Saxony. The media assembly should have more say. Local media should keep getting money. Public broadcasters should mainly inform and educate.

The SPD wants to preserve the language and culture of the Sorbs for future generations. Knowledge of Sorbian is to count as a plus in suitable selection procedures, and bilingualism is to become more visible.

The Sorbs are a minority in Saxony. The SPD wants to protect their language and culture. People who speak Sorbian should have an advantage in some selection procedures. Town signs should show two languages. Public information should also be available in Sorbian.

The SPD wants to put more money into the “Wir für Sachsen” program, which pays volunteers an expense allowance. Grant applications are to become simpler, and clubs, sports and welfare associations are to receive dependable support.

Many people volunteer in clubs. The SPD wants to give them more money for their expenses. Applying for grants should become easier. Clubs should pay no GEMA fees for two parties a year. GEMA charges money when music is played.

The SPD wants to support village shops and strengthen social cooperatives for this purpose. The "Vitale Dorfkerne" (vital village centers) program is to continue and be linked with the "Soziale Orte" (social places) program so that the running costs of community facilities are also covered.

The SPD wants to support village shops. They should offer many things under one roof, such as a café, a post office and groceries. The funding program for village centers should continue. It should also pay for running meeting places, not just building them.