SPD: program for the 2022 Schleswig-Holstein state election

The SPD wants to strengthen the state as an industrial location and make its industry climate-neutral rather than shifting production abroad. A transformation council of state government, business and unions would guide the change. A climate investment company would let the state co-invest directly.

The SPD wants to keep industry in the state. Factories should stop harming the climate. Government, companies and unions should plan this together. The state should also be able to put its own money into climate projects.

The SPD wants a state program to attract apprentices to the skilled trades and to invest in their training facilities. In the platform's view, there are too few tradespeople for the energy retrofit of buildings. An integration drive is also meant to bring more skilled workers to the state.

Many homes need to be rebuilt to protect the climate. There are too few tradespeople for that. The SPD wants to get more young people into trade apprenticeships. People from other countries should also work in the trades.

The SPD wants to start a new state development strategy right after taking office and design a mission-oriented economic policy with all stakeholders. The guiding idea is a social and ecological market economy in which the state invests alongside companies.

The SPD wants a new plan for the state's economy. The state and companies should invest together. The economy should be social and green. Permits should come faster. Industry should also get stronger.

The SPD wants to connect small and mid-sized companies more closely with universities. This is meant to help them recruit young talent and keep up with digitalization and technological change, since many have no research department of their own.

Many small companies have no research of their own. The SPD wants to bring them together with universities. This also helps companies find young skilled workers. Universities of applied sciences should get more resources for this.

The SPD wants to encourage more people to start businesses, from schools and universities to the skilled trades. Plans include scholarships, advice, venture capital and targeted support for women founders.

The SPD wants more people to start a company. The topic should already come up in school. Students should get scholarships for it. Women should get special support. Researchers should get help with patents.

The SPD wants to work more closely with Hamburg, especially on research, marketing the region, energy and schools. The stated reason is that people's daily lives do not stop at the state border.

The SPD wants to work more with Hamburg. Both states should promote the region together. Researchers and companies should work together more closely. There should also be more joint work on schools and energy.

The SPD wants to keep the state's shipyards and their suppliers and to give more funding to alternative ship propulsion. Government support should go only to companies that respect worker codetermination and collective agreements.

The SPD wants to keep the shipyards in the state. Shipyards build ships. The SPD wants to fund new, clean engines for ships. Only companies with union wage deals and worker say should get state money.

The SPD wants to digitize the state's ports and make them climate-neutral. It plans a sustainability strategy with port operators and wants to secure maritime training and degree programs.

The SPD wants to modernize the state's ports. The ports should work digitally. They should no longer harm the climate. Ships in port should use power from land. Training for sea-related jobs should stay.

The SPD wants to tackle the shortage of skilled workers in hotels, restaurants and leisure businesses. Good pay, childcare and a funding program for staff housing in tourist towns are meant to help.

Hotels and restaurants cannot find enough staff. The SPD wants to change that. Workers should get good pay. There should be money for staff homes in vacation towns. Good childcare should help too.

The SPD wants vacations in Schleswig-Holstein to happen all year and focuses on quality and protecting nature. It plans more inland and bicycle tourism, digital services, accessibility and steering of visitor flows.

The SPD wants to promote vacations in the state all year. Tourism should protect nature. Places away from the coast should get more guests. There should be better services for cycling and fewer barriers for everyone. Digital tools should spread visitors out better.

The SPD wants a new Tariftreue- und Vergabegesetz (law on wage compliance in public procurement) for Schleswig-Holstein. Public contracts and subsidies should go only to companies that treat and pay their workers properly. The party says this will prevent wage dumping.

The state gives contracts to companies. The SPD wants a new law for this. Only companies that pay fair wages should get contracts. A special minimum wage should apply to these contracts.

The SPD wants to manage industry's shift to climate neutrality so that workers do not end up unemployed. It relies on further training, retraining and transfer companies. It also backs unions and employers in reducing working hours.

Industry is supposed to become climate neutral. Jobs can be lost along the way. The SPD wants people to find new work. For this there should be training and retraining. The SPD also supports shorter working hours.

The SPD supports a right to work from home and to work remotely. Employers should provide suitable equipment, and occupational safety rules should apply fully at home.

The SPD wants a right to work from home. The employer should provide the needed equipment. Safety rules apply at home too. And people at home also get to stop working in the evening.

The SPD wants to strengthen occupational safety and give the state's workplace safety agency more resources. The party wants Schleswig-Holstein to become the German state with the best working conditions.

An agency checks whether work is safe. The SPD wants to give this agency more resources. Nobody should be exploited at work. The state should have the best working conditions.

The SPD wants to gradually bring outsourced units of the university hospital and other state services back under the collective agreement for state employees (TV-L). The aim is to reduce competitive pressure and improve working conditions.

Some state tasks are done by outsourced companies today. For example cleaning or security. Pay there is often different. The SPD wants to bring these areas back. Then the state's pay agreement applies again.

The SPD wants to enforce fair pay, regular contracts and effective workplace safety in agriculture, the food industry and retail. It plans to strengthen works councils, advise seasonal workers in their native language and expand inspections.

The SPD wants good jobs on farms and in food companies. Workers should get fair pay and proper contracts. Seasonal workers should learn about their rights in their own language. The state should check workplace safety better.

The SPD wants to create a new type of professional, the Vor-Ort-für-dich-Kraft ("on-site-for-you worker"), who offers health, nursing and social support from a single source in villages and neighborhoods. This person is to reach out to people actively because, in the platform's view, existing help often fails to reach people or arrives too late due to high barriers.

The SPD wants a new helper in every town and neighborhood. The helper visits people at home. The helper assists with health, care and social questions. This way people should get help faster.

The SPD wants collective bargaining agreements in health and social services that are binding on all employers in the sector. All non-academic training programs in the social field are to be well paid. With this it aims to counter the shortage of skilled workers in nursing, child care, social work, midwifery and emergency services.

Nursing, child care and social work lack many skilled workers. The SPD wants wage agreements there to apply to everyone. A wage agreement sets pay and working conditions. Trainees in social jobs should also get good pay.

The SPD wants a state action plan to strengthen municipalities that take targeted action against poverty. A report on poverty and wealth in the state is to be published in every legislative term. The focus is on poor children and poor older people.

The SPD wants to do more against poverty. There should be a plan for the whole state. Cities and towns should get help with this. Every few years a report should show how poor and rich people are. Poor children and poor older people matter most here.

The SPD wants to create a training guarantee: anyone who cannot find a company placement should be able to start the first year of training at a vocational school. An "Auszubildendenwerk" modeled on the student services organization is to support trainees, for example with affordable housing.

The SPD wants a guarantee for job training. If you find no place at a company, you can start at a vocational school. A new organization should help trainees. For example, it should offer cheap apartments for trainees.

The SPD wants to work with the unions toward a collective bargaining agreement for student and research assistants. Pay for adjunct lecturers and student assistants, unchanged for years, is also to rise. The platform justifies this with social fairness at universities.

Many assistants work at universities. Their pay has stayed the same for years. The SPD wants them to get more money. There should be a collective agreement. That is a fixed contract on pay and working conditions.

The SPD wants to provide an additional one billion euros from the state budget for climate action over the next three years. The money would come through the exception rules of the Schuldenbremse (debt brake), and a state investment plan would spell out all needed investments.

The SPD wants to spend one billion euros more on climate action. The money would be spent over three years. The party wants to use exceptions to the debt brake. The debt brake is a rule that limits new government debt.

The SPD commits to the Schuldenbremse (debt brake) and to balanced budgets. At the same time, it says the rule must not prevent the economic and social transformation it considers necessary.

The SPD wants to keep the debt brake. That is a rule that limits new debt. But the SPD says saving alone is not enough. The state must also invest in the future.

The SPD wants property owners to no longer pay charges for road improvements. Municipalities would be compensated through the municipal fiscal equalization system, and financially weak ones would get additional help with legacy debt.

Today, residents often pay when their street is rebuilt. The SPD wants to end these charges. The towns get money from the state instead. Poor towns should also get help with old debts.

The SPD wants to invest more in education and is willing to take on debt to do so. It argues that the long-term costs of not investing would be higher.

The SPD wants to spend more money on education. The state may borrow money for this. The SPD says: otherwise it will cost even more later.

The SPD considers a lower Grunderwerbsteuer (property transfer tax) sensible for families with children when they buy property for the first time. The state is to use its powers in tax law to lower the costs of social housing construction and home ownership.

People who buy a house pay a tax. It is called the property transfer tax. The SPD wants to lower this tax for families with children. This applies when they buy their first house or apartment.

The SPD wants to improve regional housing planning and coordinate bindingly with Hamburg. This is meant to allow more affordable apartments and houses in the Schleswig-Holstein municipalities around Hamburg.

There are too few cheap homes around Hamburg. The SPD wants to plan housing there better. It wants firm agreements with Hamburg. This should lead to more affordable apartments and houses.

The SPD wants to give municipalities more power to intervene in the housing market. This includes building orders that are easier to enforce, a law against the neglect of housing, and social housing quotas for infill development as well.

The SPD wants towns to do more against the housing shortage. Towns should be able to order owners to build more easily. They should also be able to act when homes fall into decay. New buildings should include more social housing.

The SPD wants a state strategy for developing downtowns, town centers and Soziale Stadt (socially integrative city) areas. Centers are meant to be meeting places with leisure, culture, sports and work spaces, not just places to live and shop.

The SPD wants to bring life back to town centers. The state should make a plan for this. Centers should offer more than shops. People should be able to meet, learn and play sports there.

The SPD wants to give the Studentenwerk Schleswig-Holstein (student services organization) more staff and money. The share of publicly subsidized student housing is to reach the national average in the medium term. BAföG (federal student aid) applications are to be processed faster.

The Studentenwerk helps students. The SPD wants to give it more money and more staff. There should be more cheap housing for students. BAföG applications should be done faster. BAföG is money from the government for studying.

The SPD wants to enshrine a right to affordable housing in the state constitution. Much more is to be built in sought-after locations, and nonprofit-oriented housing cooperatives are to be strengthened. The platform calls housing a basic right and affordable housing a central social issue.

The SPD says: housing is a basic right. Everyone needs a home they can pay for. This right should be in the state constitution. More homes should also be built.

The SPD wants to reinstate the Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) that the state government abolished and make it permanent. The cap on rent increases is to be lowered in tight housing markets. This is meant to limit rising rents until enough new homes are finished.

Rents are rising fast in some places. The state government got rid of the rent brake. The SPD wants to bring it back. Rents would then be allowed to rise more slowly. This should help until there are more homes.

The SPD wants to launch a state development strategy through 2050 to steer the housing market over the long term. It includes regular forecasts, regional planning, cooperation between cities and surrounding towns, and a coordination office for home swaps.

The SPD wants a long-term plan for housing. The plan should run until 2050. Cities and nearby towns should work together more. People should be able to swap homes more easily. The state should set up an office for this.

The SPD wants to protect and maintain the existing housing stock more strongly. A state ordinance would restrict the conversion of rental apartments into condominiums in tight housing markets, alongside preservation statutes in neighborhoods facing displacement pressure.

The SPD wants to protect renters better. Rental homes should not easily become homes for sale. This should apply where housing is scarce. Repairs to old homes should also go faster.

The SPD wants the state to become an active player in the housing market again and plans to found a state development company for this purpose. Together with municipalities and cooperatives, 100,000 new housing units are to be built within ten years, backed by a push to develop building land.

The SPD wants the state to start its own housing company. This company should help towns. It should also build homes itself if no one else does. In ten years, 100,000 new homes should be built. Building offices should work digitally and faster.

The SPD wants to reshape city centers and turn unused office space and empty storefronts into apartments. This is meant to create additional housing while bringing life back to downtown areas.

Many cities have empty offices and shops. The SPD wants to turn them into homes. That creates more housing. It also brings more life to city centers.

The SPD wants to raise the stock of publicly subsidized housing to 120,000 units over the long term. To get there, at least 4,000 apartments with occupancy restrictions are to be created each year through new construction and renovation, with more budget funds made available.

The SPD wants more social housing. These are low-cost homes supported by the state. At least 4,000 should be added each year. In the end there should be 120,000. The state should spend more money on this.

The SPD wants to give municipalities with tight housing markets a broad right of first refusal that lets them buy properties at a capped price. A state ordinance would also allow them to use the tools of the federal Baulandmobilisierungsgesetz (Building Land Mobilization Act).

Towns should be able to buy land and buildings more easily. They should get the first chance to buy when something is sold. The price should be capped. This should lead to more affordable homes. The federal government and the railway should also offer towns more cheap land.

The SPD wants to make it easier for young families to buy a home and will examine public support for rent-to-own models. Municipalities are also to be able to designate building land for young people's housing where simpler building standards apply.

Many young families do not have enough money for their own home. The SPD wants to check whether the state can help with rent-to-own. With rent-to-own, you pay rent and buy the home step by step. Small, cheap homes should be built quickly for young people. Simpler building rules should apply there.

The SPD wants to create a housing oversight and housing protection law. It would let municipalities act against deteriorating housing and have serious defects in rental apartments fixed, with owners bearing the cost.

Some landlords let homes fall apart. The SPD wants a new law against that. Towns should then be able to have bad defects repaired. The owners have to pay for it.

The SPD wants to develop an app where families can find all government benefits in one place and access them more easily. In addition, family education centers, family centers and early support for parents of young children are to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to make an app for families. Families can find all government help there. Children can also see leisure offers there. Family centers should also get more support.

The SPD wants to support youth associations, coordinate open child and youth work statewide and give targeted help to disadvantaged children. No child should be shut out of activities for lack of money. It also wants to tackle child and youth poverty.

The SPD wants to support youth groups. No child should be left out because of money. Poor children should get more help. Young refugees should also be able to join youth work.

The SPD wants to develop a statewide prevention program to protect children and young people from every form of violence. Child protection centers and girls' shelters are to be adequately funded, and child protection in rural areas is to be strengthened.

The SPD wants to protect children better from violence. It plans a program for the whole state. Child protection centers and girls' shelters should get enough money. Protection should also get better in rural areas.

The SPD wants to eliminate parental fees for daycare centers, nurseries and home-based childcare by 2027. It argues that fees keep even middle-income families from using childcare.

The SPD wants daycare to be free for parents. This also covers nurseries and childminders. It should happen by 2027. The SPD says the fees are unfair.

The SPD wants to tackle staff shortages in daycare with paid, practice-oriented training and easier entry for career changers. It also wants to strengthen home-based childminders and use more mixed professional teams in daycare centers.

Daycare centers lack staff. The SPD wants to pay people during training. Changing from another job should be easier. Childminders should get more support too.

The SPD wants to create more childcare places for children under and over three and provide extra state investment funds for this. Care hours should fit parents' working lives better, and daycare centers in disadvantaged areas should get special support.

There are too few daycare places. The SPD wants to create new ones. The state should pay more for this. Daycare centers should be open longer. Centers in poor areas should get extra help.

The SPD wants all non-academic training programs in the social sector to be paid, at least at the national average level. Trainees employed by the state should also be guaranteed a job afterward.

People who train for a social job should get paid for it. The pay should be at least the German average. Trainees working for the state should be sure of a job afterward.

The SPD wants to make it easier for employees to take up further training. It plans an information campaign on Bildungsurlaub (paid educational leave) and will examine doubling the number of leave days.

Workers should find it easier to learn new things. There is educational leave for this. These are days off for learning. The SPD wants to inform people better about it. It will also check whether to double the number of days.

The SPD wants to set up a separate ministry for universities, research and technology transfer. It also wants to invest heavily in research and its transfer into companies and make universities more international.

The SPD wants a new ministry just for universities and research. The state should put much more money into research. There should be more degree programs in English. Students from abroad should learn how they can stay.

The SPD wants clear career paths and secure working conditions for academic staff below the rank of professor. Positions after the doctorate should generally be permanent, and positions for research staff should be planned as full-time jobs.

Many researchers at universities only have temporary jobs. The SPD wants to change this. After the doctorate there should be permanent jobs. Positions should be planned as full-time. Universities need more money for this.

The SPD wants to raise core funding for universities so that good teaching does not depend on winning third-party grants. In addition, an open science strategy is to make research results accessible to everyone.

Universities should get more steady money from the state. Good teaching should not depend on outside money. Everyone should be able to read research results. The SPD wants to make a plan for this.

The SPD wants to substantially increase spending on civic education and media education. In its view, this helps prevent radicalization, everyday racism and other forms of exclusion.

The SPD wants to spend more money on civic education. People should also learn to handle media better. The SPD says this helps against hate and exclusion. The programs should reach everyone.

The SPD wants to stop pupils from being moved down to a lower school type as a rule, including after sixth grade. It also wants a voluntary entitlement to ten instead of nine years of schooling and more all-day schools. The aim is to break the link between social background and educational success.

Some children are made to leave their school for a lower type of school. The SPD wants to ban this in almost all cases. Pupils should be allowed to stay in school for ten years. There should be more all-day schools.

The SPD wants the state to offer all school operators a central package for digital equipment, including operation and maintenance. Pupils from eighth grade on should receive or be able to obtain a digital device, and teachers should be freed from looking after the technology.

Not all schools have good technology. The SPD wants the state to help all schools with this. From grade 8, pupils should get a device such as a tablet. Teachers should no longer have to take care of the technology.

The SPD wants enough teachers so that lessons are rarely canceled even when staff are sick or on class trips. The long-term use of substitutes without teacher training is to end, and fixed-term contracts are to become the exception.

The SPD wants more teachers than the timetable needs. Then fewer lessons are canceled. Untrained substitute teachers should no longer work for long periods. Teachers should get permanent contracts.

The SPD wants to relaunch a school construction fund to renovate and modernize school buildings together with school operators. This includes a funding program for schoolyards and cafeterias and new room concepts from the #SchuleDerZukunftSH project.

Many school buildings are old and run-down. The SPD wants to provide money for school construction. Schoolyards and cafeterias should get better too. Schools should be nice places to learn and spend time.

The SPD wants to overhaul university studies, practical training and continuing education for teachers. Continuing education is to be mandatory more often and attended by whole teaching staffs because, according to the platform, the current format has little effect.

Teachers should be trained better. The SPD wants to review their studies and the training after that. Further training should be required more often. Many teachers at a school should attend it together.

The SPD wants to reduce the costs parents face when their children attend school. School transport costs are to be eliminated statewide until the intended diploma is reached, and a new study is to track how school costs have developed.

School costs parents a lot of money. The SPD wants to lower these costs. Getting to school should be free for pupils. A new study should show how much parents pay.

The SPD wants to continue the Perspektivschulen program (extra support for schools in disadvantaged areas) and equip such schools better based on a social index. School social work should be available at every school to an adequate extent, especially in disadvantaged neighborhoods.

Some schools face very hard conditions. The SPD wants to give these schools more money and staff. Smaller classes should be possible there. Every school should have school social work.

The SPD wants to move elementary school teachers into civil-service pay grade A13 as quickly as possible. It justifies this with the upcoming entitlement to all-day care in elementary school and the need to pay staff appropriately.

Elementary school teachers should earn more. The SPD wants to move them to pay grade A13. This should happen quickly. The SPD says: work at elementary schools is growing.

The SPD wants the principle 'only yes means yes' to be taught from daycare onward and included in textbooks. Schools are to cooperate with specialist counseling centers on sex education and develop plans against violence to protect children and young people from abuse.

Children should learn early: only yes means yes. Nobody may touch them against their will. This should also be in school books. Teachers should get training on it. Schools should have plans against violence.

The SPD wants to prepare elementary schools for the legal entitlement to all-day schooling starting in 2026, increase the number of compulsory all-day schools, and make all-day programs at elementary schools free. Healthy meals and reliable childcare during school vacations are to be added. The platform justifies this with fairness in education and helping parents combine family and work.

From 2026, elementary school children have a right to all-day school. The SPD wants to get schools ready for this. All-day programs at elementary schools should be free. There should be healthy food. Schools should also look after children during vacations.

The SPD wants to make career guidance mandatory from 7th grade and set up youth employment agencies (Jugendberufsagenturen) in every county and independent city. The hands-on program "Produktives Lernen" is also to be available in all regions. According to the platform, the goal is that no young person ends up without a diploma, vocational training or a degree.

Students should learn more about jobs starting in 7th grade. This should be required. There should be youth job agencies everywhere in the state. They help young people find job training. No young person should be left without training.

The SPD wants to introduce statewide planning for vocational schools and keep existing programs in place until it is ready. In occupations short of trainees, the state is to make small classes possible. The platform counts vocational education in all parts of the state as a basic public service.

The SPD wants a plan for all vocational schools in the state. Until the plan is ready, all programs should stay. The state should also pay for small classes. This way, vocational schools stay within reach.

The SPD wants to rebuild the state's continuing education law into a continuing education funding law and make the right to further training usable in practice. Employees are to be able to gain new skills while still in their jobs. According to the platform, this should keep people in work even during structural change.

People should be able to learn all their lives. The SPD wants to improve the law on further training. People should get training while they still have a job. This way they will have work later, too.

The SPD wants to set up an innovation fund for digital and flexible forms of study, such as part-time, distance and work-study programs. At the same time, it plans to invest in the university as a place to meet, because in the platform's view digital teaching does not replace in-person study.

During the Covid period, students learned a lot online. The SPD wants to keep and support good digital offers. There should be a fund for this. A fund is a pot of money. But the university should also stay a place to meet.

The SPD wants to charge no tuition fees up to the master's degree and keep the master's open to everyone in principle. Where needed, capacity in master's programs is to grow. Student counseling is also to get more staff.

Studying should stay free. This applies up to the master's degree. Everyone should be able to do a master's after the bachelor's. There should be enough places for that. There should also be more counseling for students.

The SPD wants to abolish attendance requirements in all courses and make degree programs less school-like. This is to include more electives, fewer module exams and a required option for penalty-free exam attempts.

Students should no longer have to attend every class. There should be fewer exams. Students should be able to choose more for themselves. They should also be able to try an exam once without risk. This is called a free attempt.

The SPD wants binding staffing levels in maternity care and aims for every woman in labor to have her own midwife. Care before and after birth should be available close to home everywhere in the state.

At every birth, one midwife should care for just one woman. Help before and after birth should be nearby. Maternity wards in hospitals should stay open. The state should help midwives with costly insurance.

State civil servants would be able to choose between the individual Beihilfe (state reimbursement of medical costs) and a flat-rate employer contribution to full health insurance. In the long run, the SPD continues to back a single citizens' insurance for everyone.

State civil servants should get a choice in health insurance. They can keep the current system. Or the state pays a fixed share of their premiums. Later, the SPD wants one insurance for everyone.

The SPD wants to make rural practice more attractive for young doctors and to connect medical services better. People should be able to stay in their familiar surroundings even as their need for care grows.

The SPD wants good doctors in rural areas too. Young doctors should like working there. Doctors and care services should work together in centers. Video appointments should also help.

The SPD wants every county to have care centers offering comprehensive general medicine by 2030. Smaller hospitals are to be able to develop into regional health centers. This is to rest on a care and prevention strategy drawn up with all stakeholders, because in the party's view health must not be organized by profit and loss.

The SPD wants a center with doctors in every county by 2030. People get general medical help there. Small hospitals should be able to become health centers. The SPD says: health is not a product for sale.

The SPD wants to expand digital services in health care more quickly, such as phone and video consultations and electronic patient records. In the platform's view, such services can complement and improve local care but cannot fully replace it.

The SPD wants more digital technology in medicine. For example, people should be able to talk to a doctor by video. Patient records should be electronic. The local doctor's office still stays important.

The SPD wants to set aside medical school places for applicants without top grades who commit to working as rural doctors for ten years. It also wants to create additional places in human medicine. The background is that many practices will need new doctors in the coming years.

Rural areas will soon lack doctors. So the SPD wants to reserve places in medical school. People without top grades can get these places. In return they must work in the countryside for ten years. There should also be more places overall.

The SPD wants to change billing through Fallpauschalen (flat rates per treatment case) so that it reflects actual costs. Hospital investments in buildings and equipment are to continue to be paid from public funds. Rural hospitals are to receive base funding for keeping their services available.

Today hospitals get fixed amounts per treatment. The SPD wants to change that. The money should match the real costs. Rural hospitals should get money just for being there. The state should keep paying for buildings and equipment.

The SPD wants more hospitals to be run by public or municipal operators again. Municipalities that want to take hospitals back under their own responsibility are to receive support from the state.

Many hospitals belong to private companies. The SPD wants more hospitals to belong to the state or to cities again. Cities and counties should get help with this.

The SPD wants to push for contraceptives to be free for everyone. Couples who are involuntarily childless are to receive financial help for treatment through a federal program, explicitly including unmarried and same-sex couples as well as single people. For abortions, the party wants to secure information, counseling and care close to home.

The SPD wants contraceptives to be free for everyone. People who cannot have children should get money for treatment. This should also apply to unmarried couples, same-sex couples and single people. Women should find good help nearby for an abortion.

The SPD wants to keep maternity wards in both urban and rural areas and expand care before and after birth close to home. Midwife-led delivery rooms, practices and outpatient clinics are to be supported. Parents should remain free to choose where their child is born.

The SPD wants to keep maternity wards in cities and in the countryside. Midwives should get more support. There should be more training places for midwives. Parents should choose where their child is born.

The SPD wants to improve access to therapy for people with mental illness, especially children and teenagers. Public education is meant to counter stigma, including in schools. Preventing and fighting addiction is to be given more weight.

People with mental illness should get therapy more easily. This applies especially to children and teenagers. School psychologists should visit classes. The SPD also wants to do more against addiction.

The SPD wants to raise the number of hospice places in the state to 160 and support hospice work, which is largely done by volunteers. Day hospices are to be funded as pilot projects at first in order to close gaps in care.

A hospice cares for people who are dying. The SPD wants 160 hospice places in the state. Many helpers there work without pay. The SPD wants to support them. There should also be hospices for daytime only.

The SPD wants to restructure long-term care close to home and prioritize home-based services over nursing homes. Short-term, day and night care are to grow in order to relieve family caregivers. People aged 75 and over are to be offered a preventive home visit with advice.

The SPD wants better care close to home. Care at home should come before a nursing home. There should be more places for day care, night care and short stays. People aged 75 and over should get a visit and advice at home. This should help them stay in their homes longer.

The SPD advocates training programs without tuition and with pay that is subject to social insurance, especially in occupations mostly chosen by women. Nurses are also to be trained at vocational schools, and there are to be more university places for nursing. The platform justifies this with the shortage of skilled workers and rising demands in nursing care.

Some training programs charge tuition and pay no wage. This often affects jobs that many women choose. The SPD wants to change that. Trainees should pay no tuition and get a wage. There should also be more places for nursing training and nursing degrees.

The SPD wants to expand special support for refugee women, above all those who have experienced violence. This includes mobile psychosocial consultations in shelters, information gathered in one place online and backing for self-help organizations.

Refugee women need special help. That is what the SPD says. It wants to strengthen consultation hours in shelters. Women should easily find information about their rights. Public offices should pay more attention to women's needs.

The SPD wants to declare Schleswig-Holstein a safe harbor in its first year in government and set up a flexible state admission program for refugees. Special programs for women and girls from conflict areas are to be added. It wants to show that the state is willing and able to take in people who are fleeing.

The SPD wants to take in more people who are fleeing. The state should declare itself a safe harbor. The state should have its own admission program. There should be special programs for women and girls from war zones.

The SPD wants to end deportation detention in the state and replace it with what it calls a humane return policy. Deportations to countries with armed conflicts are to be banned for as long as those conflicts last. Under the platform, no one seeking protection who has committed no crime should be detained.

Some people must leave Germany and are locked up first. The SPD wants to end this detention in the state. Nobody should be sent back to a country at war. Pregnant women should also be allowed to stay.

The SPD wants to use state money to pay for places in integration and job-related language courses for people who are not eligible under federal rules. This is meant to let newcomers learn German without waiting for months. In addition, the share of people with a migration background in the state's public service is to rise by 2030.

Some newcomers may not take a federal German course. The SPD wants the state to pay for places for them. There should be more courses in rural areas and online. More people with a migration background should work for the state.

The SPD wants a campaign to encourage more people to become citizens. In its view, citizenship means equal participation in politics and society and strengthens cohesion. It also commits to the goal of voting rights for all, because not everyone can be naturalized.

The SPD wants more people to get a German passport. A campaign should promote this. With a passport, people can take part in all decisions. The SPD also wants everyone living here to be allowed to vote.

The SPD wants to protect people with disabilities from discrimination by law and expand their participation in education, leisure and work. The state action plan under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is to be developed further and the accessibility fund continued. Wherever possible, the goal is employment in the regular labor market.

The SPD wants to protect people with disabilities better from unfair treatment. Schools, day care centers and youth clubs should be free of barriers. More people with disabilities should find work in regular companies. Pay in sheltered workshops should go up.

The SPD wants a statewide gender equality strategy with goals and measures for the government and its agencies. Among other things, it is meant to narrow the pay gap between women and men, upgrade social and care professions and strengthen equal opportunity officers.

On average, women earn less than men. The SPD wants to change that. The state should get a plan for equality. Equal opportunity officers should get more support.

The SPD wants to set up a statewide, accessible program against domestic and sexual violence. In addition, a coordinating women's counseling center against online violence is to be created. The platform points to gaps in the existing support system.

Many women face violence at home or online. The SPD wants a program against this for the whole state. There should be a new counseling center against online violence. Children who see violence at home should also get help.

The SPD wants to push for an amendment to the Basic Law (Germany's constitution) to make parity laws possible, which would fill parliaments equally with women and men. A state cabinet led by the SPD is to be half women.

There are more men than women in parliaments. The SPD wants to change that. For this, the constitution should be changed. In an SPD government, half of the minister posts should go to women.

The SPD wants to create more places in women's shelters, cover their costs in full and assign more staff per resident. Every county and independent city is to have a women's shelter. Other counseling centers are to be strengthened as well.

Women's shelters protect women from violence. The SPD says there are too few places. It wants more places and more staff. The state should pay the costs.

The SPD wants equal rights for same-sex married couples, especially in adoption, and equal treatment of queer people under the law. The state action plan against transphobia and homophobia is to be continued and expanded. The party rejects bans on gender-inclusive language.

The SPD wants equal rights for queer people. Same-sex couples should be treated equally in adoption. A plan against hostility should continue. The SPD is against bans on gender-inclusive language.

The SPD wants gender-inclusive language in school not to be marked as an error, without imposing rules on schools about using it. Teaching staff should decide for themselves whether to wear religious symbols such as a headscarf, as long as the face remains visible.

Some pupils write in a gender-inclusive way. The SPD wants this not to count as a mistake. But schools do not have to use it. Teachers may decide for themselves about wearing a headscarf. Their face must stay visible.

The SPD wants to continue funding for minorities and ethnic groups in Schleswig-Holstein and extend long-term planning security to the Sinti and Roma as well. The platform sees the state's cultural diversity as a strength and the minorities as bridge-builders in the border region.

Several minorities live in Schleswig-Holstein. They include Frisians, Danes, and Sinti and Roma. The SPD wants to keep supporting them with money. The funding should be secure for a long time. This should also apply to Sinti and Roma.

The SPD wants to continue the fight against antisemitism and ensure support for victims of antisemitic acts. For antiziganist incidents, it wants to examine statewide monitoring and secure counseling and prevention there as well.

The SPD wants to protect Jewish people in the state better. Victims of hatred against Jews should get help. Sinti and Roma face hatred too. The SPD wants to check whether the state can count such incidents. They should get counseling as well.

The SPD wants to create a state anti-discrimination law in Schleswig-Holstein to support and legally protect people affected by discrimination. Diversity is also to become more visible in politics, for example by making it a criterion for public funding of political work.

Some people are treated worse, for example because of where they come from. This is called discrimination. The SPD wants a new state law against it. The law should protect those affected. Diversity should also count more in politics.

The SPD wants to make Schleswig-Holstein climate neutral by 2040, the first German state to get there. A climate plan would set out all necessary steps, backed by a binding CO2 budget aligned with the 1.5-degree target.

The SPD wants Schleswig-Holstein to be climate neutral by 2040. That means the state no longer harms the climate. There would be a climate plan. A fixed limit would say how much CO2 is still allowed. Experts would check this.

The SPD wants to greatly accelerate and broaden the expansion of renewable energy, arguing that electricity demand will rise. In the next legislative term, at least two percent of the state's land area is to be used for wind power.

The SPD wants more power from wind and other clean sources. Two percent of the state's land should be for wind turbines. Old turbines should be replaced with new, stronger ones. Offices should approve projects faster and get more staff.

The SPD wants everyone in the state to be able to afford rooftop solar. A state program for 100,000 roofs would supplement federal funding and mainly help households with little money. Tenants should not be worse off than homeowners.

The SPD wants more solar panels on roofs. People with little money should be able to get them too. The SPD plans a support program for 100,000 roofs. Tenants should also benefit from cheap solar power.

The SPD wants to require solar panels on new buildings and new parking lots. All suitable state-owned buildings would be fitted with photovoltaics. The party wants to steer ground-mounted solar with statewide criteria.

Anyone who builds a new house should have to put solar panels on the roof. The same should apply to new parking lots. State buildings should get solar panels too. There should be clear rules for solar panels on open land.

The SPD wants to introduce EU-style energy communities in the state and promote citizen-owned wind and solar parks. It opposes selling these parks to energy corporations from outside the region. Jobs, investment and tax revenue should stay in the state.

Citizens should be able to own a share of wind and solar parks. The SPD wants to strengthen these citizen parks. Big energy companies from elsewhere should not buy them up. The money and the jobs should stay in the state.

The SPD wants to push for a reform of grid fees. The costs of the power grid should be spread more evenly across Germany. In the party's view, they must not be highest where the most green power per capita is produced.

Grid fees are charges for the power lines. They are part of the electricity price. They are especially high in Schleswig-Holstein. The SPD wants all regions in Germany to pay about the same.

The SPD wants to build at least 10 gigawatts of electrolysis capacity for green hydrogen in the state by 2030. As part of a "Hydrogen Hanse," Schleswig-Holstein would also become a hub for hydrogen imports. The west coast around Brunsbüttel would be its center.

Green hydrogen is an energy carrier made with green power. Industry needs it to become climate-neutral. The SPD wants to make much more of it in the state by 2030. Hydrogen from other countries should also arrive through Schleswig-Holstein.

The SPD wants to promote district heating networks and heat pumps to replace oil and gas heating. Besides money, the state would provide its own implementation structure with standard solutions. Building renovation would focus on whole neighborhoods.

Homes should be heated in a climate-friendly way. The SPD wants to support heating networks and heat pumps. A heating network supplies many homes with heat together. The state should help towns build them with money and experts.

The SPD wants to speed up a statewide climate adaptation strategy and monitor its implementation. Flood and coastal protection would be geared to the effects of warming. No further building would be allowed in flood risk areas, except for coastal protection.

Climate change brings more storm surges, heavy rain and drought. The SPD wants to prepare the state better for this. It wants to protect the coasts and inland areas from flooding. Nobody should build new homes in areas at risk.

The SPD wants a statewide campaign to promote skilled trades and STEM degree programs that are needed for climate protection. Women in particular are to be drawn into technical jobs and fields of study. According to the platform, new workers are lacking exactly where wind power, solar, building renovation and grids need to be expanded.

Climate protection needs many skilled workers. For example in the trades and in technology. There are not enough people there. The SPD wants a campaign to promote these jobs. Women especially should choose them.

The SPD wants to make greater use of peatlands, forests, grassland and seagrass meadows as natural carbon stores. It plans binding quotas for rewetting peatlands and 2.9 million new trees in the next legislative term. This is also meant to protect species.

Peatlands, forests and meadows store the climate gas CO2. The SPD wants to make drained peatlands wet again. It wants to plant 2.9 million new trees. That is one tree for every person in the state. Seagrass in the Baltic Sea should grow back too.

The SPD calls for a water protection drive because, according to the platform, the goals of the EU Water Framework Directive are being missed. The North Sea and Baltic Sea would be better protected and old munitions safely recovered. Water supply should stay in public hands.

The SPD wants to protect rivers, lakes and seas better. Fewer pollutants should get into the water. Old munitions from wars lie in the sea. The SPD wants to remove them safely. Water should belong to the public, not to private companies.

The SPD wants to counter species loss and implement the state's biodiversity strategy. This includes a larger habitat network, a species protection program and more insect protection. Animal shelters would continue to receive funding.

Many animal and plant species are disappearing. The SPD wants to stop that. It wants to create more protected areas for nature. Children should learn more about biodiversity at school. Animal shelters should keep getting money.

The SPD wants to bring privately run waste and sewage sludge incineration plants back into state ownership. Municipalities would get help with taking them back. Waste should only be burned when recycling and reuse are not better options.

Some waste-burning plants belong to private companies. The SPD wants them to belong to the public again. Waste should only be burned if it cannot be reused. Good filters should protect the environment and neighbors.

The SPD wants to improve animal welfare in livestock farming and backs a mandatory government animal welfare label. A new state veterinary office is meant to ensure uniform standards across the state.

The SPD wants farm animals to be treated better. A required government label should show how animals are kept. There should be a new state office for animal health. This office should set the same rules for all counties.

The SPD wants net land consumption to reach zero by 2050. Land that can no longer be used is to be unsealed to offset new development, and soil is to be protected from erosion and compaction.

The SPD wants to protect the soil. By 2050, no more land should be built over than is freed up. Old, unused paved areas should be opened up again. Parks and community gardens should get funding.

The SPD wants to stop rising prices for leasing and buying farmland. To do so, it plans to strengthen the agricultural right of first refusal in order to limit investors from outside the sector.

Farmland keeps getting more expensive. The SPD wants to stop that. Farmers should be allowed to buy land before other buyers. This is called the right of first refusal. The SPD wants to make it stronger. Outside investors should get less land.

The SPD wants less fertilizer and pesticide use, more protection of biodiversity and farm subsidies that make sustainable farming competitive. It points to agriculture's role in climate change and its vulnerability to drought and heavy rain.

The SPD wants farming that protects nature and the climate. Farmers should use less fertilizer and fewer pesticides. Subsidies should help sustainable farms. The state should get its own plan for growing crops.

The SPD wants to support farms in changing course with advice, more training options and digital infrastructure. The Chamber of Agriculture is to play a central role.

Farmers should get help with change. The SPD wants good advice for farms. There should be more training in green jobs. These are jobs in farming. Farms should get fast internet.

The SPD wants more food from the region to be processed, sold and eaten in the state. It plans marketing support, regional food in daycare centers and schools, and an overall strategy for the food industry.

The SPD wants more food from the region. Supermarkets should show regional products better. Daycare centers and schools should get more regional food. Slaughterhouses in the region should stay. Children should learn more about healthy eating.

The SPD wants to work with family farms to promote agriculture that combines environmental protection, animal welfare, social fairness and profitability. The aim is for biodiversity in the farmed landscape to recover. It wants to shape the expansion of renewable energy in rural areas together with local residents.

The SPD wants farming that protects nature. There should be more kinds of animals and plants again. Family farms should take part. Wind and solar power should also grow in the countryside.

The SPD wants to reduce the gap in transport links between Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. It plans a strategy covering all modes of transport in the metropolitan region and a joint fare system for local public transit.

The SPD wants better links between Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Commuter trains and subways around Hamburg should get better. Buses and trains should share one fare system. That means one set of prices for the whole region.

The SPD wants to create a modern, climate-friendly transportation system across the state by 2030, linked with Hamburg and Denmark. Private car traffic is to be reduced in cities, while in rural areas the car remains part of the plan but is to stop emitting pollutants.

The SPD wants to make transportation climate-friendly by 2030. Fewer cars should drive in cities. In the countryside, many people will still need a car. But cars should soon stop producing exhaust. People with little money should also be able to afford such a car.

The SPD wants children, teenagers and people with disabilities to ride buses and trains for free in the long run. As an interim step, it plans a 365-euro ticket for children and teenagers, an end to school transportation fees and stable ticket prices.

Children and teenagers should later ride buses and trains for free. This should also apply to people with disabilities. First there should be a yearly ticket for 365 euros. Getting to school should no longer cost anything. Ticket prices should stop rising.

The SPD wants to expand public transit, including in rural areas, with a focus on alternative drive systems and rail. A funding program for municipalities would support complementary services such as car sharing, shuttles and on-call shared taxis, accompanied by a digital mobility platform.

The SPD wants more buses and trains, also in the countryside. Towns should get money for new services. These include shared cars and bikes or shared taxis. A digital platform should connect buses and trains better. Volunteer-run community buses should also get more money.

The SPD wants no more diesel trains running in Schleswig-Holstein. More lines are to get overhead wires. Because that is costly and slow, the platform also relies on new propulsion and storage technology.

The SPD wants no more diesel trains in the state. More lines should get power lines above the tracks. That takes a long time and costs a lot. So trains with new technology, such as batteries, should run too.

The SPD wants to make train travel more attractive and enlarge the network. Everywhere in the state, the nearest station should be no more than 20 kilometers away, and rail use should rise by 20 percent in five years. This is meant to strengthen rural areas and relieve cities and roads.

The SPD wants more and better train connections. Nobody should live more than 20 kilometers from a station. In five years, many more people should take the train. Trains should be faster and more on time. All trains should have Wi-Fi.

The SPD wants the state to guarantee a network of charging stations for electric cars without gaps. It treats this as a basic public service because running a station does not pay off at every location. Stations in densely built residential areas are to get special support.

The SPD wants charging stations for electric cars everywhere in the state. The state should make sure of this. Not every location makes money for companies. There should be many stations near apartment buildings.

In road construction, the SPD puts maintenance ahead of new building and wants all state roads repaired by 2035. Roads are still to be expanded at certain points, such as the A20 with an Elbe crossing. To speed up projects, the state road and transport agency is to get more staff.

Many roads in the state are in bad shape. The SPD wants to repair all state roads by 2035. Repairing matters more to it than building new roads. Some roads should still get bigger, such as the A20 highway. The road agency should get more staff.

The SPD wants to renew or newly build 1,000 kilometers of bike paths within five years. Bike routes and fast cycle highways are to get special support. In transport planning, cycling is to be treated on an equal footing with car traffic.

The SPD wants to repair or build 1,000 kilometers of bike paths in five years. There should be fast bike paths between cities. Bikes should matter as much as cars in planning. At train stations, people should be able to park and charge e-bikes.

The SPD wants to invest in waterways and ports and shift more freight from roads to inland vessels. Seaports are to get better hinterland connections and cooperate more closely. The platform cites economic strength, less road congestion, and more climate-friendly transport.

The SPD wants to spend money on canals and ports. More goods should travel by ship instead of by truck. That is better for the climate and frees up roads. Ports should get better links to the rest of the country.

The SPD wants to support workers through digital change with further training and stronger employee co-determination. In rural areas it wants to promote coworking spaces, which state and municipal employees should also use.

Work is becoming more digital. The SPD wants to help workers with training. There should be more coworking spaces in rural areas. These are shared offices close to home. This saves people long commutes.

The SPD wants to make digital processing the rule without exception in state administration and change the legal basis to do so. A Chief Digital Officer in the State Chancellery is to coordinate digitalization, while agencies stay reachable in person and in writing.

The SPD wants government offices to work digitally. One person in the State Chancellery should lead this. Each ministry gets such a person too. People should still be able to visit offices or write letters. Experts in citizen offices should help with applications.

The SPD wants the state to run its own digital infrastructure and be independent of private providers. Public IT service providers are to be strengthened, and joint platforms and centers are to be built with Hamburg, the northern German states and Denmark.

The state should have its own digital technology. It should not depend on private companies. The SPD wants to build a public data platform with its neighbors. It should first manage traffic better. Everyone should have access to the digital world.

The SPD wants the state to protect consumers' rights on the internet as well and to make existing law enforceable there. Digital tools used at work, in schools and at universities are to be secured against sexual harassment.

The same rules should apply online as in daily life. The state should protect consumers' rights on the internet. Digital tools for work and school should be safe. Nobody should be sexually harassed there.

The SPD sees digital infrastructure as a responsibility of the state. Together with municipalities, it wants to provide fiber, 5G and free Wi-Fi statewide and to offer everyone a public cloud with office software.

The SPD wants fast internet everywhere in the state. The state and the towns should pay for it. There should be fiber, 5G and free Wi-Fi everywhere. Everyone should also be able to get their own online storage.

The SPD wants to expand media counseling for young people, parents and professionals and to develop media literacy training starting with daycare and elementary school children. The state is also to build active digital youth protection to shield children from online risks.

Children and teenagers use the internet every day. There are dangers there too, such as bullying. The SPD wants to offer more advice about media. Children should learn early how to use media well.

The SPD wants to quickly modernize disaster response in the state. This includes a statewide siren network and digital warning channels. Counties, fire departments and volunteer helpers would get more support.

The SPD wants to warn people better about disasters. There should be sirens across the whole state. Apps should send warnings too. Fire departments and volunteer helpers should get more help from the state.

The SPD wants to continue the current police hiring program with 100 additional positions per year. It also wants shorter weekly hours, better equipment and a more diverse police force.

The SPD wants to hire more police officers. Each year, 100 positions should be added. Officers should work fewer hours per week. The police should also recruit people with immigrant backgrounds.

The SPD wants to transfer collective pay settlements for state public employees promptly to the pay and pensions of civil servants. This is meant to keep the state competitive with other German states on civil-service pay.

Civil servants are paid by the state. The SPD wants this: when public-sector wages go up, civil servants' pay goes up too. This should happen quickly. That way the state stays a good employer.

The SPD wants to expand cooperation with Hamburg and continue joint regional planning. The office of the Hamburg Metropolitan Region is to become an innovation agency with more resources and powers.

Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg work together a lot. The SPD wants even more of this. Both states should keep planning together. The office of the metro region should get more tasks and more resources.

The SPD wants to relieve the justice system through more positions, better organization and digitalization, and to offer the best working conditions in Germany. It adds plans for juvenile detention, prison staff and prosecutors.

The SPD wants to modernize the courts. Staff should get better working conditions. There should be more positions and more digital tools. Prosecutors should act more strongly when employers block works councils.

The SPD wants a digital pact to help clubs and associations with digital work and wants to digitize and expand the Ehrenamtskarte (a benefits card for volunteers). Voluntary service programs are to receive greater financial recognition and more state funding.

Many people help others for free. The SPD wants to give clubs free digital tools. The volunteer card should become digital. Young people in voluntary service should get more money and discounts.

The SPD wants to write participation rights for young people and the primacy of the child's best interests into the state constitution. Children's and young people's say in cities and towns is to become binding. Daycare centers and schools are also to teach more about democracy.

Children and teenagers should have more of a say. The SPD wants to write this into the state constitution. Cities and towns should have to truly involve children. Children should also learn about democracy in daycare and school.

The SPD wants to extend the counseling network against right-wing extremism to all regions and step up the work of the police and the domestic intelligence service against extremist violence. The platform justifies this by saying democracy regularly comes under pressure.

The SPD wants to do more against right-wing extremism. There should be counseling offices all over the state. The police and the domestic intelligence service should do more against extremist violence. That service is an agency that watches enemies of democracy. Research should also get money.

The SPD wants to work with municipalities on a "Democratic Municipality 2030" program to make local self-government and volunteer office more attractive. Every full-time local administration is to have advisory councils for certain groups so that their perspectives feed into decisions.

The SPD wants to strengthen politics in towns and villages. It plans a program with the municipalities for this. More people should be able to join local councils. There should be advisory councils everywhere, for example for young and older people. An advisory council is a group that advises politicians.

The SPD wants to expand cross-border cooperation with Denmark and step it up in the Fehmarnbelt region as well. The Baltic Sea region is to become a field for joint projects, with Schleswig-Holstein as a testing ground for European integration. The focus is on training, the labor market, health care, culture, and maritime policy.

The SPD wants to work more closely with Denmark. This also applies to the area around the Fehmarnbelt. Young people should find it easier to train and work in the neighboring country. The SPD also wants more joint projects with other Baltic Sea countries.

The SPD wants a European social union with common rules on work, taxes, and basic social security. For Schleswig-Holstein, it calls for a dedicated Europe strategy to gain a stronger voice in Brussels and bring EU funding to the state. In its view, Europe should also be strengthened as a community of values.

The SPD wants a social Europe. Common rules for work and wages should apply across the EU. Schleswig-Holstein should get its own plan for Europe. A new office should help with applications for EU money.

The SPD wants every child in Schleswig-Holstein to be able to learn a musical instrument. To that end, music schools are to receive more state funding. The platform argues that music supports development and bridges differences of language and culture.

Every child should be able to learn an instrument. That is what the SPD wants. Music schools should get more money for this. The SPD says music is good for children's development.

The SPD wants to make the state's regional and minority languages more visible in public spaces. It intends to build on the language policy of the former "coastal coalition" and says fee-funded broadcasters also have a duty here.

People in Schleswig-Holstein speak several languages, such as Frisian and Danish. The SPD wants these languages to be seen and heard more often. Radio and TV should help too. This means the stations paid for by the broadcasting fee.

The SPD wants to put the state's cultural funding on a statutory footing with a dedicated law, raising the standing of arts and culture. Funding is also to become more transparent through regular reports.

The state spends money on arts and culture. The SPD wants a special law for this. The law should make culture more important. The state should also report regularly on where the money goes.

The SPD opposes the state and municipalities balancing their budgets by cutting culture spending and wants to secure this through rules in the budget codes. At the same time, socio-cultural centers, public art and the digitalization of culture are to receive more support.

The SPD does not want cuts to culture. The state and towns should not fix their budgets this way. There should be firm rules for this. Culture centers should get more security. Art in public places should get more money too.

The SPD wants to preserve and expand theater offerings in Schleswig-Holstein, including in rural areas. Funding for public theaters is to rise automatically with collectively agreed staff costs.

The SPD wants to keep the theaters in the state. There should be more theater, also in the countryside. Theaters should get more money when wages go up. The same should apply to public libraries.

The SPD wants to improve social protection for artists and workers in the creative industries and plans to launch an industry dialogue for this purpose. Pop culture is to receive public funding, and the state government is to get a single point of contact for the creative industries.

Many artists have poor social protection. They often lack pension or health insurance. The SPD wants to change that. It wants to talk with the industry about it. Pop culture should also get public money.

The SPD wants to preserve and further develop public broadcasting while also promoting local media diversity. The platform counts access to free, independent media as part of essential public services.

The SPD wants to keep public TV and radio. These stations should keep developing. Small local media should get help too. This includes community radio and local stations. Everyone should get good information.

The SPD wants to fund and secure remembrance culture in the state and strengthen the work of memorial sites statewide. Civic education is to be firmly anchored in all types of schools and at all grade levels.

The SPD wants people to remember history. There should be more money for this. Memorial sites should be strengthened too. All schools should teach about politics. This way young people learn why democracy matters.

The SPD wants to strengthen consumer protection and expand the advice offered by consumer centers. It also plans a strategy against food waste and wants to push for fair competition rules, especially in digital markets.

The SPD wants to protect consumers better. Consumers are people who buy things. There should be more advice, also right in the neighborhoods. Less food should end up in the trash. Small companies should have a fair chance against big online platforms.

The SPD wants to create a funding program in which counties and independent cities team up to launch joint projects for the future. It is to be financed with help from the EU and the federal government and is meant to strengthen rural areas.

The SPD wants to start a new program for regions. Counties and cities work together in it. They plan projects for the future together. Money should also come from the EU and the federal government.

The SPD wants to support sports clubs and volunteers in sports after the pandemic with a special initiative program and make state funding permanent. Federal training centers, inclusive sports offerings and e-sports are also to be supported.

The SPD wants to help sports clubs. Many clubs had a hard time because of Covid. So there should be a new program. Top-level sports should also get money. People with and without disabilities should be able to do sports together.

The SPD wants to keep funding municipal sports facilities, especially swimming pools, so that every child in the state learns to swim. Funding is to be geared more closely to municipalities' actual needs.

The SPD wants to give money for gyms and sports fields. Swimming pools matter most to it. Every child should learn to swim. Outdoor sports should also be open to everyone.