SPD on democracy and the state

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.

In the SPD's view, funding policy should rest on more trust from the administration toward people. Existing cultural and educational venues are to be developed into "places of community." People in villages, small towns, and city neighborhoods are to get support to organize neighborhood life themselves and revive public spaces. Public authorities are to meet citizens as equals.

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 coordination and advice center for preventing radicalization (KORA) is to be strengthened, as are exit projects. The SPD wants to build an NSU documentation center together with those affected. Police and the justice system are to be trained on hate crime, especially online, and on dealing with victims. Democracy projects in daycare and schools and providers of civic education continue to receive funding. The platform explicitly opposes racism, discrimination and fascist tendencies.

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 simplification is to apply to citizens, associations and businesses. The platform justifies it with greater trust in applicants. As possible penalties for rule violations, it names a funding ban or exclusion from the program in question.

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.

According to the platform, some municipalities have to apply for grants even for small purchases. The SPD cites LEADER, an EU program for rural regions, as the model for the alliances. The alliances would receive annual lump sums and decide jointly how to use them. The party says this would strengthen people's confidence that they can make a difference locally.

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.

Besides easier ballot initiatives, the platform lists public information, forums, citizens' assemblies, project advisory boards and consultation procedures. The petition system is to be further digitized, with better information on ongoing and completed cases. A transparency platform is to be up by 2026, based on the transparency law in force since 2023. Children and young people should be able to help shape decisions in youth parliaments, schools, daycare centers, workplaces and universities, among other places.

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 party wants “Weltoffenes Sachsen” to secure civil society for the long term and across election cycles. The two “Orte” programs fund initiatives and meeting places for social life and community work, especially in rural municipalities and city neighborhoods. They are meant to strengthen civic spirit and shared responsibility. The SPD also wants to expand the central reporting office for online hate crime into a contact point for officeholders and to allow anonymized reports.

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 also wants to examine how young people could register on the voter rolls without barriers even before turning 14. Together with children and young people, the state's commissioner for children and youth, and youth work professionals, the SPD wants to draw up an overall participation strategy. A state youth parliament is one option to be discussed. The platform also calls for more democracy in schools and for putting local child and youth participation into practice.

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.

So-called demographic bridges are to be built into upcoming staffing plans so that no gap arises between retirement and new hires and leadership staff is available early. Around 300 courtrooms are to be equipped for video hearings. Judges are to be trained for this, and additional staff is to handle the technology. The SPD wants to advance the nationwide debate on digital mass proceedings and the laws needed for them.

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 state is to prevent ethnic-nationalist settlements from forming through property purchases and the scene from financing itself through far-right rock concerts. The program "Weltoffenes Sachsen" (Open-Minded Saxony) will continue. The state office for the protection of the constitution is to expand its analytical capacity and provide dynamic situation reports for the public and municipalities. The SPD wants firm action against Reichsbürger and other radicalized groups while also relying on education and media literacy. Civic courage is to be promoted as well.

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.

Seniors' advisory councils are planned for counties and independent cities, with seniors' commissioners as contacts in the administration. Multigenerational houses and the "Soziale Orte" (social places) program are to enable encounters, and projects for exchange between young and old will be strengthened. Adult education centers, the consumer advice center and university seniors' academies are to keep reliable funding. The SPD wants to support village shops through social cooperatives. Saxony is also to become a leader in memorial-site and eyewitness education.

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.

Phone numbers on official letters and phone consultation hours are to be kept whenever public administration is digitized. The SPD also wants to train more technology ambassadors. They would offer local workshops on using smartphones and tablets as well as digital cafés.

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 existing local voting right for EU citizens would be written into the Saxon constitution. At the same time, the SPD wants to extend it to residents from non-EU countries. The proposal is part of a broader overhaul of the state 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 platform justifies the reform by saying the world has changed greatly since the constitution was adopted. The right to education is currently only a state objective and would become an individual fundamental right. Promoting democracy would be laid down as a task for all state institutions. A broader reference to Europe is meant to strengthen cooperation with EU neighbors and the representation of regional interests at the European level. The SPD also wants to review the rules on the relationship between parliament, government and the constitutional court, and to discuss fundamental rights as a claim to participation in housing, work, education and health care.

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.

Lower quorums, meaning smaller minimum numbers of signatures, are meant to make citizen-initiated legislation easier. The SPD wants to set up an advisory office for such initiatives at the state parliament. Further forms of democratic participation at state and local level would be added to the constitution. The platform justifies broader oversight rights for parliament by pointing to the transparency law, which already obliges public bodies to disclose information to all citizens. Keeping 120 members is meant to ensure political contacts in every region.

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 law is to set firm rules and funding for promoting democracy. The SPD wants to continue and develop the "Weltoffenes Sachsen" (Open-minded Saxony) program. The engagement foundation and the volunteering agency are to receive sufficient funding to better support volunteers. The platform also floats a parliamentary inquiry commission that could advise on how to handle future crises.