SPD: program for the 2024 Thuringia state election

The SPD wants to form a transformation ministry that combines the economy, labor, energy, research, technology and digital infrastructure. A "Transformation Budget Thuringia" is to accompany structural change with a structural-policy stimulus. The party argues that these tasks require a single, consistent approach.

The economy is changing a lot. The SPD wants a new ministry for this. It should cover the economy, work, energy and research. There should also be a special fund for the change. Unions should have a say.

The SPD wants a loan program to help small and medium-sized companies switch to CO2-free production. The Thüringer Aufbaubank (the state development bank) is to receive more equity so it can grant guarantees and low-interest loans. Work that is paid under collective agreements and subject to co-determination is to become a funding priority.

Small and mid-sized companies should produce without CO2. The SPD wants to give them loans for this. The state development bank should get more money. Companies with union-level pay should get special support. Two existing grants should be open to all commercial companies.

The SPD wants to substantially increase funding programs for the skilled trades and develop them further together with the chambers of skilled crafts. It argues that the economic transformation cannot succeed without tradespeople.

The SPD wants to give more money to the skilled trades. Funding should go up a lot. The trade chambers should help shape it. The SPD says the economy cannot change without tradespeople.

The SPD wants to back federal efforts to speed up permitting and cut red tape. The state's own funding programs are to be made simpler. The platform argues that entrepreneurship needs freedom.

The SPD wants less red tape for businesses. Permits should come faster. State funding programs should be simpler. The SPD is also willing to change rules for this.

The SPD wants Thuringia to remain the most attractive German state for founders, business successors and young companies. Advice and funding programs are to be developed further and financed on a permanent basis, and a start-up network is to be built.

The SPD wants to help people who start a business. Starting a business should be easy. Advice and funding should get steady money. People who start a business next to their job should also get help. Start-ups should be able to connect better.

The SPD wants more people in rural areas to be able to work where they live and commute less. To achieve this, it relies on digitalization, the expansion of renewable energy, and locating public institutions in these areas.

Many rural people travel far to work. The SPD wants more jobs close to home. Digital work and renewable energy should help. Public offices should also move to rural areas.

The SPD wants to fund research institutes outside the universities reliably until 2030 and create a separate pact with fixed annual increases for the state-owned institutes. Research is also to be linked more closely with companies and start-ups so that it leads to economic growth.

Thuringia has research institutes outside the universities. The SPD wants to give them secure money until 2030. The state's own institutes should get a fixed agreement. Companies and founders should be able to use research more easily.

The SPD wants to create a state program for community work worth 10 million euros and secure it by law. It would let municipalities fund things like neighborhood help, flexible childcare and leisure activities, and decide for themselves what helps local families.

The SPD wants a new program for towns and villages. It should be worth 10 million euros. Towns can use it to pay for neighborhood help and leisure activities. Each place decides what its families need.

The SPD wants to secure and better fund voluntary service programs such as the voluntary social, ecological, cultural and political year. All young people should be able to afford such a year, even without support from their parents.

Young people can do a voluntary year. For example in social work or protecting nature. The SPD wants everyone to be able to afford this. So volunteers should get more pocket money. It should be as high as the student aid called Bafög.

The SPD wants to strengthen social and educational work with older people in municipalities and permanently secure programs such as AGATHE against loneliness. Planning of services for the elderly is to become mandatory for municipalities through a new law on elder care structures.

The SPD wants more services for older people in towns. A program against loneliness should stay for good. Towns should have to plan help for older people. There should be a new law for this. Older people should be able to live at home for a long time.

The SPD wants to involve older people more closely in consultations and decisions that affect them and to expand the rights of the bodies that represent them. It also wants public transit to be geared to older people's needs and to improve protection against crime targeting seniors.

The SPD wants older people to have more of a say. Senior councils should get more rights. Buses and trains should work better for old people. The police should protect old people better from fraud and crime.

The SPD wants to bring more people with disabilities into training and regular jobs with social insurance coverage. To do so, support services are to be expanded and a financial incentive for companies is to be examined.

People with disabilities should find a regular job more easily. The SPD wants more training places and more help at work. It is also looking at money benefits for companies that hire people with disabilities. The government itself should set an example.

The SPD wants to reform Thuringia's public procurement law so that public contracts go only to companies covered by collective wage agreements. This is to apply to municipal contracts as well. The party sees this as a contribution to aligning wages between eastern and western Germany.

The government gives contracts to companies. The SPD wants only companies with a collective wage agreement to get them. Such an agreement sets pay for many workers. The rule should also apply to cities and towns. This should help raise wages in the east.

The SPD rejects longer store opening hours and more work on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. It justifies this with the protection of employees. Violations are to be met with penalties.

The SPD does not want longer opening hours for stores. It also does not want more work on weekends and holidays. This is meant to protect workers. Those who break the rules should be punished. The workplace safety agency should get more staff.

The SPD supports a chamber of labor as a counterpart to the business chambers IHK and HWK, provided the unions broadly agree. The chamber is to advise employees and represent their interests toward politics and administration. It is to be joined by an institute for worker-oriented research and a technology advice center.

The SPD wants a chamber for workers. A chamber speaks for the interests of a group. Businesses already have such chambers. The new chamber should advise workers. The unions should agree to it. A new institute should study working conditions.

The SPD wants a skilled-worker drive to make social professions more attractive, including social work, health and nursing care, and childcare. Training is to be free of tuition fees, and nonprofit providers are to receive uniform, sufficient funding statewide. The platform calls these professions hard location factors because without them other people cannot go to work.

Social jobs include nursing and childcare. The SPD wants to win more people for these jobs. Training should not cost school fees. Internships should be paid. Social service providers should get enough money to pay union-level wages.

The SPD wants to guarantee every young person an apprenticeship by law and fund this through a levy. It points out that young people are left without a place even though many positions stay vacant and fewer companies train apprentices.

Every young person should get an apprenticeship. The SPD wants to guarantee this by law. It is paid for with a levy. That means companies pay together into one pot. Training conditions should also get better.

Together with the unions, the SPD is pushing for collective agreement coverage across the whole care sector. It also backs a four-day week for care workers, phased in gradually and later leading to 30 hours a week at full pay.

The SPD wants better working conditions in care. Union wage agreements should apply everywhere. Overtime should be paid better. Care workers should step by step work only four days a week. Their pay should stay the same.

The SPD wants to develop a state-level strategy against poverty in old age. In its view, it is unacceptable for people to be poor after a long working life.

Many old people have little money. The SPD wants a state plan against poverty in old age. People who worked for a long time should not be poor. Thuringia should help as far as it is allowed to.

The SPD rejects calls to extend people's working lives. Instead, employees in Thuringia are to be able to work more productively, and no one is to be left without a vocational qualification.

Some people want workers to retire later. The SPD says no to this. Instead, work should become more productive. Everyone in Thuringia should have a job qualification.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for everyone to receive a basic inheritance of 20,000 euros on turning 18. It justifies this with its goal of greater social justice.

Everyone should get 20,000 euros at age 18. The SPD calls this a basic inheritance. The SPD wants to push for this at the federal level. It wants more fairness.

The SPD wants to help municipalities work off their investment backlog in a predictable way through permanent investment grants. A fund is to provide missing co-financing as low-interest loans, and a digital database is to make access to grants easier.

Many towns need to renew roads and buildings. They often lack the money. The SPD wants to give towns lasting money for investment. A new fund should give cheap loans. A database should show all grant programs.

The SPD wants to hold the investment share of the state budget between 16 and 18 percent. At the same time, loans taken out during the pandemic are to keep being repaid, and reserves are to be built up for unforeseen developments.

The state should spend a lot on investments. That is spending for the future, such as buildings. It should be 16 to 18 percent of the budget. The state should also pay back debt from the COVID years. And it should save money for emergencies.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for abolishing the constitutional debt brake in its current form. In its view, the rule severely limits the state's ability to act, especially for the states. The borrowing rules in Thuringia's budget law are also to be reviewed.

The debt brake limits new government debt. It is part of the German constitution. The SPD wants to end it in its current form. It says the states cannot invest enough otherwise. Thuringia should also be allowed to borrow more for investments.

The SPD wants to create a Thuringian transformation fund to finance future-oriented investments over the long term. It is meant to give a boost to structural and climate policy. To finance it, the party wants to examine issuing “green” bonds.

The SPD wants a new fund for Thuringia. A fund is a large pot of money. The money is for investments in the future and for the climate. Companies and towns can then plan with more certainty. The SPD will look at green bonds to pay for it.

The SPD wants to review the state's funding programs for effectiveness, simplify them and consolidate them. It is also considering cuts. A central platform is to process all state programs fully electronically, and the Thüringer Aufbaubank (the state development bank) is to be strengthened.

The state has many funding programs. The SPD wants to check them and make them simpler. Some programs may be dropped. An online platform should handle all applications digitally. The state development bank should give cheap loans and guarantees.

The SPD wants to preserve and create affordable rental and owner-occupied housing for families in cities and rural areas. Social housing construction is to move faster, and municipalities should be able to sell building land to families at lower prices without financial disadvantage.

Families should be able to afford homes. This applies to renting and owning. The SPD wants to build social housing faster. Towns should be able to sell building land to families more cheaply. The state pays the towns the missing money.

The SPD wants to promote municipal and social housing construction and create a rent-to-own program for families without savings for a down payment. Its goals are affordable housing in the centers, fewer vacancies in rural areas, and a higher homeownership rate.

The SPD wants more affordable homes. It wants to fund the building of social housing. Families with little money should be able to rent a home and own it later. This is called rent-to-own. Towns should find it easier to buy land for building.

The SPD wants existing buildings to be used and renovated before anything new is built. According to the platform, this saves resources and keeps established settlements intact. Municipal housing is to remain publicly owned.

The SPD wants to use old buildings first. New buildings should come only when no empty ones are left. This saves materials and land. Housing owned by towns should not be sold.

The SPD wants to bring together people with more living space than they need and people who need more. Advice, support and a moving bonus are meant to make swapping apartments and houses easier.

Some people have too much space at home. Others need more space. The SPD wants them to be able to swap. There should be advice and money for moving.

The SPD wants to restore non-profit housing status (Wohngemeinnützigkeit) for municipal housing companies and cooperatives. This is meant to give broad parts of the population access to affordable housing again.

The SPD wants to bring back non-profit status for housing. This means: housing companies owned by towns and cooperatives limit their profits. In return they count as non-profit. This should help more people find an affordable home.

The SPD wants to extend the Mietpreisbremse (rent brake) to more cases and remove its expiration date. In regions with tight housing markets, the cap on rent increases in existing leases is to be applied in a more targeted way.

The SPD wants stronger limits on rents. The rent brake should apply in more cases. It should no longer have an end date. Where housing is scarce, rents in old leases should rise more slowly.

The SPD wants to add state money to federal funds for social housing and make more low- and middle-income households eligible. Funding for accessible housing is to become permanent. Homelessness is to be overcome by 2030 if possible.

The SPD wants to spend more money on social housing. More people with low or middle incomes should be allowed to live there. There should also be lasting money for homes without barriers. By 2030, as few people as possible should be homeless.

The SPD wants greater use of wood and other alternative building materials, especially in public construction. Serial and modular building is meant to ensure quality and curb rising construction costs. More building material is to be recycled.

The SPD wants more building with wood, clay and straw. This applies especially to public buildings. Houses should more often be built from ready-made parts. This should lower costs. Building materials should be reused more often.

The SPD wants to create a fund of 50 million euros for energy-efficient building renovation. It is meant to give households with low incomes and little equity access to affordable grants and loans, which they repay from the operating costs they save.

The SPD wants to set up a pot of money with 50 million euros. It should help people with little money renovate their homes. After the renovation they need less energy. They pay back the help with the money they save.

The SPD wants to begin introducing a free lunch for all children in daycare centers and schools. The meal is meant to be healthy and cost neither children nor parents anything.

The SPD wants a lunch for all children. This applies to daycare and school. The food should be healthy. Parents and children should not pay for it.

The SPD wants to fully abolish parental fees for daycare and after-school care (Hort), ideally from January 2025. It bases this on its conviction that education, from daycare to a master craftsman's certificate or master's degree, should in principle be free.

Parents should no longer pay for daycare and after-school care. This should apply from January 2025. The SPD believes education should be free for everyone. That goes from daycare to university.

The SPD wants a binding step-by-step plan to improve the ratio of staff to children in daycare centers. The long-term goal is the expert-recommended ratios of 1:3 for children under three and 1:7.5 for older children. In addition, center management is to be strengthened and social work introduced in daycare centers.

Daycare centers should have more staff per child. The SPD wants a fixed plan with several steps. Experts recommend one staff member for at most 3 small children. For older children it is 7 to 8. There should also be social workers in daycare centers.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for a "family working time" model that lets both parents reduce their hours with wage compensation. In Thuringia, small and mid-sized businesses in particular are to get support in adapting working conditions to families.

Parents should be able to work less and still have enough money. This should apply equally to mothers and fathers. The SPD wants to push for this at the federal level. In Thuringia it wants to help small companies. The companies should allow working from home, for example.

The SPD wants to keep supporting open child and youth work and youth associations. The per-capita youth grant to municipalities (Jugendpauschale) is to rise regularly by law, and an investment program is to modernize youth facilities.

The SPD wants to keep supporting youth work. Towns get money from the state for this. This money should rise regularly. That should be written into a law. Youth clubs and education centers should be modernized.

The SPD wants to attract more skilled staff for daycare centers and social professions. Training is to be free of school fees, recognition internships paid everywhere, and educators paid statewide under the public-sector collective agreement.

The SPD wants more trained staff for daycare centers. Training should no longer cost school fees. Internships during training should be paid. All educators should be paid by the union wage scale. This applies to all providers.

The SPD wants school social work offered according to need in all Thuringian municipalities and its quality strengthened. The amount of state funding is to be fixed by law and adjusted annually so that youth welfare offices and independent providers can plan.

Schools all over Thuringia should have social workers. The state should pay a fixed amount for this. The amount should be written into a law. It should rise every year. This helps offices and providers plan better.

The SPD wants to continue moving toward an inclusive school system in which children with and without disabilities learn together. To that end, schools are to receive staff, space and equipment, and all teachers are to receive relevant training.

Children with and without disabilities should learn together. Schools need more staff and suitable rooms for this. All teachers should get training on it. Teams from different professions should work at schools.

The SPD wants to include sexual orientation and gender identity as a topic in Thuringia's curriculum and have suitable teaching materials developed. Education professionals are to receive mandatory training on this.

Schools should talk about different ways of loving and living. The SPD wants to write this into the curriculum. There should be suitable teaching material. Teachers and child care workers should get required training on it.

The SPD wants to amend Thuringia's educational leave law so that all employees can take Bildungsurlaub (paid educational leave), no matter how large their company is. Apprentices are to get the full five days. The party bases this on the idea of lifelong learning.

Educational leave is time off work for learning. The SPD wants it for all workers. The size of the company should not matter. Apprentices should get the full 5 days. Companies should get money for training their staff.

The SPD wants children to learn together from first grade on, without changing schools where possible. Merging schools into Gemeinschaftsschulen (community schools) is to become the general principle. The platform sees this as the path to a socially fair school system.

The SPD wants one school for all children. Children should learn together for a long time, starting in first grade. They should not have to change schools if possible. For this, schools should merge into community schools.

The SPD wants to give schools more decisions of their own and a lump-sum budget. The regional school offices are to get more staff and powers, and the state school advisory council is to receive its own right of initiative.

The SPD wants schools to decide more on their own. Each school gets a fixed budget. The regional school offices get more staff and more rights. The state school council may start its own proposals. This council advises the ministry.

The SPD wants to hire administrative assistants at every school so that principals and teachers can focus on teaching. In addition, an annual working-time model is to define which tasks belong to the teaching profession.

Teachers should do less office work. The SPD wants to hire office staff at every school. They handle things like forms and statistics. A new working-time model should make clear what belongs to a teacher's job.

The SPD wants to create a single teaching qualification for lower and upper secondary level so that teachers can work at different school types. To tackle the teacher shortage, the program also provides for a hiring guarantee, civil-servant status for students in shortage subjects and continued use of career changers.

Thuringia does not have enough teachers. The SPD wants to change teacher training. Teachers should be able to work at several types of school. Trainee teachers who pass their exams get a job for sure. Students of shortage subjects get paid by the state during their studies.

The SPD wants lessons to start no earlier than 9 a.m. It bases this on young people's biorhythm and also wants to shorten class periods.

The SPD wants school to start no earlier than 9 a.m. It says young people learn worse early in the morning. Class periods should also be shorter. They should last 45 to 60 minutes at most.

The SPD wants to replace grades up to 4th grade with individual assessments and development talks. It also wants the law to state that the school is responsible for each child's learning success.

There should be no more grades up to 4th grade. Instead there are written assessments and talks. The SPD says grades put needless pressure on young children. The school should be responsible for each child's learning success.

The SPD wants to establish all-day schools across Thuringia, with lessons, leisure and support alternating throughout the day. Teams of teachers and other educational specialists are to work at all schools.

The SPD wants all-day schools across Thuringia. Lessons, free time and support should alternate during the day. After-school care alone is not enough for the SPD. Other specialists should work at every school alongside teachers.

The SPD wants to equip schools with gigabit connections and digital technology and extend free learning materials to digital devices. Digital education is to be anchored in teacher training and in the curricula.

The SPD wants fast internet at all schools. Digital devices should be free for students, like textbooks. Teachers should learn more about digital teaching. Lessons should deal more often with social media.

The SPD rejects cuts to civics classes and wants to expand the subject. It cites the rise of right-wing and far-right forces as the reason and wants all curricula geared toward promoting democracy.

The SPD wants more civics classes in schools. It rejects cuts. In civics, children learn how democracy works. All other subjects should also strengthen democracy.

The SPD wants to restructure the school conference so that students make up half of its members. Student representatives are also to get voting rights in class and subject conferences.

Students should have more say. They should get half the seats in the school conference. The school conference decides on important school matters. Students should also be allowed to vote in other conferences.

The SPD wants to subsidize affordable housing for apprentices, modernize training facilities and keep vocational school sites across the state. The transition from school to training is to be eased through more counseling and new school formats.

Apprentices should get affordable housing. Vocational schools should stay close by. The SPD is against bundling training in a few places. Young people should get more help when starting an apprenticeship.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for stronger BAföG (federal student aid) so that studying does not depend on parents' income. In Thuringia, BAföG applications are to be processed within three months.

BAföG is money from the state for students. The SPD wants more BAföG. It wants to push for this at the federal level. Applications should be finished within three months. More people from families without a degree should be able to study.

The SPD wants to scrap the fees charged to long-term students at Thuringian universities. Students who exceed the standard period of study should neither be removed from enrollment nor denied a dormitory place for that reason.

People who study for a long time must pay fees in Thuringia. The SPD wants to end these fees. The SPD says many students have to work on the side. Students who need longer should keep their place. They should also be allowed to live in a dorm.

The SPD wants to give universities base funding that rises with costs and to increase the student services organization's funding every year. At the federal level it backs a social pact for higher education that secures housing and low cafeteria prices.

Universities should get enough money from the state. The money should rise with costs. The student services organization should also get more money each year. It runs dorms and cafeterias. This should keep housing and food cheap for students.

The SPD wants to guarantee the core funding of Thuringia's universities until at least 2030 and raise it every year. In addition, a renovation program for university buildings is to be set up.

The SPD wants to give universities secure money until at least 2030. The money should grow a little every year. University buildings should also be repaired. There should be a plan for this until 2030.

The SPD wants more permanent employment at universities and more predictable careers for early-career researchers. It also wants a higher share of women among professors and in university leadership.

The SPD wants better jobs at universities. People who do a lasting task should get a permanent job. Young researchers should be able to plan their careers better. More women should become professors or lead universities.

The SPD wants to strengthen applied research at universities of applied sciences. Research-strong areas or alliances of several institutions are to be allowed to award doctorates themselves, provided they meet high quality standards.

The SPD wants to strengthen research at universities of applied sciences. Some areas there do a lot of research. These areas should be allowed to award doctorates. They must ensure high quality to do so.

The SPD wants to strengthen adult education as the fourth pillar of the education system. Basic education courses are to be available everywhere in the state and be accessible, and catching up on a school diploma is to remain free of charge.

The SPD wants to strengthen learning for adults. There should be reading and writing courses everywhere in Thuringia. People who catch up on a school diploma should not have to pay. There should also be more courses for older people.

The SPD wants to give sports and physical activity more weight in daycare centers, schools and youth facilities. Existing projects are to be merged into a broader state program promoting exercise for children and young people.

Children should move more in daycare and at school. The SPD wants a state program for this. Daycare teachers should learn more about exercise. Sports teachers should also get better training for it.

The SPD wants a systematic review of the social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the protective measures. To do this, the Thuringian state parliament is to set up an Enquete-Kommission (a parliamentary study commission). The platform considers Thuringia's handling of the pandemic a success but still sees a need for a review.

The SPD wants to look back at the COVID years. The state parliament should set up a commission for this. The commission should study the effects of the pandemic. It should also study the effects of the COVID rules. The focus is on vulnerable people.

The SPD wants to support Jena University Hospital with guaranteed annual funding increases and a third construction phase. This is meant to improve patient care, especially emergency medicine, as well as conditions for study, teaching and research.

The SPD wants to strengthen the university hospital in Jena. The hospital should get more money every year. More buildings should be added. This should improve care for sick people, especially in emergencies.

The SPD wants to keep all hospital and care sites in Thuringia and to prevent further privatization of municipal hospitals. A special fund of 100 million euros is to enable networked, digital care close to where people live.

The SPD wants to keep all hospitals in Thuringia. Hospitals owned by cities and counties should not go to private companies. There should be an extra 100 million euros for modern care. Doctor guides should help bring doctors to rural areas.

The SPD wants to reduce bottlenecks in psychotherapy for children and adolescents, which the program says grew during the COVID-19 pandemic. Easily accessible support is to be expanded, and schools and kindergartens are to be made aware of possible problems early on.

Many children and teenagers wait a long time for mental health therapy. The SPD wants more help that is easy to reach. Schools and kindergartens should watch for problems early. The first talk with a therapist should also be possible by video.

The SPD wants to push at state and federal level for quality and reliable provision in maternity care. It plans a tiered system with easily reachable maternity wards across the state and enough well-trained midwives.

The SPD wants women everywhere in Thuringia to be able to reach a maternity clinic. Small and large clinics should work closely together. There should be enough midwives. Their job should become more attractive. An overview should compare all maternity clinics in plain language.

The SPD wants to strengthen the public health service, meaning above all the local health offices, for the long term. To do so, more future doctors are to be recruited for this work, including through course content and a scholarship.

The SPD wants to strengthen the public health offices. Medical school should teach more about public health. Part of the training should be possible in a health office. Students who want to work there later should get a scholarship. That is money for their studies.

The SPD wants to put the public health service (ÖGD) on the footing of a dedicated state law, replacing the current regulation as its basis. Local health offices are to get a uniform minimum staffing level, and employees are to be paid better.

Local health offices are part of the public health service. The SPD wants a new state law for it. Every office should have enough staff. The workers should get better pay.

The SPD wants to advance research and treatment for post-COVID and long COVID and set up contact points across the state for illnesses that follow viral infections. It also plans a statewide strategy for addiction prevention.

Some people stay sick for a long time after COVID. This is called long COVID. The SPD wants help centers for them everywhere in the state. Doctors should get more training on it. The SPD also wants a plan to prevent addiction.

The SPD wants to cut energy and resource use in health care, which the platform says accounts for an estimated five percent of CO2 emissions. To do so, it plans investments in sustainable infrastructure, above all buildings.

Hospitals and clinics use a lot of energy. That harms the climate. The SPD wants to spend money on better buildings. Health care should use fewer materials.

The SPD wants to keep pharmacy coverage across the state, strengthen pharmacy training, and create incentives for opening pharmacies in underserved areas. New professional roles are also meant to ease the load on doctors.

The SPD wants to keep pharmacies everywhere in the state. More people should be able to become pharmacists. People who open a pharmacy in a rural area should get help. New health jobs should take work off doctors.

The SPD wants to fund the Anonymer Krankenschein Thüringen (anonymous health voucher) on a permanent basis and open it to people without health insurance. Funding is to rise in line with need.

With the anonymous health voucher, people can see a doctor without giving their name. The SPD wants to pay for it permanently. People without health insurance should be able to use it too. There should be more money for it.

The SPD wants to limit the share of care costs that people in need of care must pay themselves. As a first step, these out-of-pocket shares are to be frozen at today's level and anything above reimbursed, so that care, in the party's view, does not become a poverty risk.

Care in a nursing home costs a lot. People pay part of it themselves. The SPD wants to limit that part. At first it should stop rising. People should get back what they pay above that.

The SPD wants to support family caregivers with outreach advice that is regionally networked, turning the care support centers into mobile services. The state is also to fund additional short-term care places, because the lack of them, according to the platform, overburdens many relatives.

Many people care for family members at home. The SPD wants to help them. Advisers should come to the families. There should be more places for short-term care. Then caregivers can take a break.

The SPD wants to appoint a state-level commissioner for care and patients who acts as an ombudsperson and reports regularly on the state of care. Publicly available regional care statistics are to form the basis for statewide care planning.

The SPD wants a new office for care and patients. People can turn to it with problems. The office should write regular reports. There should also be exact numbers on care in every region.

The SPD wants EU citizens who live permanently in Thuringia to be able to vote in state and federal elections as well. People from non-EU countries with permanent residence are to be given the right to vote in local elections.

Many people without a German passport have lived in Thuringia for a long time. The SPD wants to give them more voting rights. People from EU countries should vote for the state and federal parliament. People from other countries should be allowed to vote in their town or city.

The SPD sees immigration as an opportunity to counter demographic change and the shortage of skilled workers. It wants to ease refugees' path into work, make it easier to recognize foreign qualifications, and speed up procedures together with the federal government.

The SPD says: immigration helps Thuringia because workers are missing. Refugees should be allowed to work more easily. There should be more language courses for jobs. Degrees from abroad should be recognized more easily. People who need protection should get asylum in Thuringia.

The SPD wants language courses, integration and training programs to be available to all immigrants, regardless of their country of origin or their prospects of being allowed to stay. The platform sees language as the precondition for taking part in society. It also wants simpler handling of family reunification and easier work permits for people with tolerated status.

The SPD wants language courses for all immigrants. It should not matter where someone comes from. It should not matter if someone may stay. People with tolerated status should get work permits more easily. Families should be able to join them more easily.

The SPD commits to the humanitarian reception of refugees in Thuringia and wants binding minimum standards for shelters that apply statewide. Everyone is to be treated fairly and with dignity, regardless of their chances in the asylum process.

The SPD wants Thuringia to take in refugees. Everyone should be treated fairly. Shelters should follow the same rules everywhere. The rules should make sure people live in dignity. Sick and very vulnerable people should get special help.

The SPD wants to create a state office for migration and integration that brings expertise together in one place. According to the platform, this should also help attract skilled workers to the labor market. Municipal immigration offices are to become integration and service agencies.

The SPD wants a new office for migration and integration. The expert knowledge should be in one place. This should also help find skilled workers. Local immigration offices should offer more service. They should help people settle in.

The SPD wants to coordinate the recruitment of skilled workers from abroad through one central body and will develop the Thuringian agency for skilled-worker recruitment for this purpose. Qualifications are to be recognized more easily. State subsidies for recruitment are to go only to companies with a collective agreement and integration programs.

Thuringia needs more skilled workers. The SPD wants to bring in skilled workers from abroad. One central office should organize this. Foreign degrees should be accepted more easily. Only companies with a collective wage agreement get state money.

The SPD wants to simplify the rules on entry, residence and registration for students and researchers from abroad, including through federal initiatives. Graduates are to get more time after finishing their degree to find a job or take the next step in their academic qualification.

The SPD wants to make things easier for students from other countries. This also applies to researchers. The rules for entering and staying should become simpler. After graduating, they should have more time to look for work.

The SPD wants to make Thuringia an inclusive state and implement the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Accessibility is to apply in all areas of life, and local social infrastructure is to be geared toward participation.

People with disabilities should be able to take part everywhere. The SPD wants to remove barriers, in buildings and on the internet. Support should be close to home. The rights of people with disabilities should be written into Thuringia's constitution.

The SPD wants every law, regulation and budget expenditure to undergo a mandatory review of its effect on gender equality. Further steps include a separate state parliament committee on equality and a pilot project on gender budgeting.

The SPD wants to check every new law. The question is: does it help equality between women and men? The state parliament should again have its own committee for this. Public offices should offer free period products.

The SPD wants women to be represented in Thuringia's state parliament in line with their share of the population. To achieve this, it plans a parity law that stays within the legal framework.

There are fewer women than men in the state parliament. The SPD wants to change that. Half of the members should be women. The SPD wants to make a new law for this.

The SPD wants to secure funding for women's shelters permanently and make them a mandatory task for counties and independent cities. The Istanbul Convention on protecting women from violence is to be implemented more vigorously in Thuringia.

Women's shelters protect women from violence. The SPD wants them to always have enough money. Cities and counties should have to provide women's shelters. There should also be programs for offenders, so they do not become violent again.

The SPD wants to require publicly funded hospitals to offer abortions and to set up a state information portal. At the federal level, it advocates removing Section 218 from the Criminal Code.

Women should get information about abortion more easily. The state should set up a website for this. Hospitals that get public money should have to offer abortions. The SPD wants abortion to be removed from criminal law.

The SPD wants to make International Women's Day on March 8 a statutory public holiday in Thuringia. It is meant to draw attention to the fact that, in the party's view, gender equality has not yet been achieved.

March 8 is International Women's Day. The SPD wants this day to be a public holiday in Thuringia. The day should show: women and men are not yet equal.

The SPD wants to give the state program for acceptance and diversity more money, update it, and appoint a state commissioner for anti-discrimination and queer people. It also plans measures against anti-queer violence and services in health care, nursing care and for refugees.

The SPD wants to protect and support queer people better. Queer means, for example, lesbian, gay or trans. The state program for this should get more money. Police and courts should have fixed contact persons. No one should be treated worse in nursing care either.

The SPD wants to create an anti-discrimination law for Thuringia that also protects against unequal treatment by government bodies. This is meant to close gaps left by the federal General Equal Treatment Act (AGG).

The SPD wants a new law against discrimination in Thuringia. Discrimination means: someone is unfairly treated worse. The law should also apply when public offices treat someone unfairly. The SPD thinks the current federal law is not enough.

The SPD wants to strengthen municipalities and their Stadtwerke (municipal utilities) as carriers of the energy transition and have energy generated, stored and traded locally. Planning for generation plants, storage and grids is to become simpler and clearer. In the party's view, this lowers costs permanently and boosts competitiveness.

The SPD wants to strengthen city-owned utilities. Energy should be made and stored locally. New plants and power lines should be easier to plan. The region should use more of its own green power. This should lower costs.

The SPD wants to cut heating energy use through renovation and modern technology and cover it with renewables. Buildings in Thuringia are to be climate-neutral by 2040. Heating is to remain affordable for all income levels.

The SPD wants buildings to need less energy for heating. By 2040, buildings should no longer harm the climate. Heating should stay affordable for everyone. People who replace their heating system should get money from the state.

The SPD wants to revise the state climate law, back the goal of greenhouse gas neutrality with concrete steps and introduce an annual greenhouse gas budget in the long term. Climate action is to be socially balanced; among other things, the party calls for a social climate payment from the federal government.

The SPD wants to change Thuringia's climate law. The law should name exact steps for fewer greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases make the Earth warmer. People with little money should get relief when it comes to climate action.

The SPD wants to speed up the expansion of renewable energy, especially near industrial plants with high energy demand. Energy is to be produced regionally and in a decentralized way where possible; municipalities are to get money and advice for this, and citizens are to be able to take part through cooperatives.

The SPD wants more power from wind and sun, and faster. Power should be made where people need it. Towns and cities should get money and advice for this. Citizens should be able to produce energy together.

The SPD sees municipal utilities as a mainstay of the energy transition and wants to give them and the municipalities more support for local and district heating. New heat sources from renewable energy are to be tapped, including deep geothermal energy.

The SPD wants to give municipal utilities more support for heating. Municipal utilities are city-owned companies for power and heat. Heat should come from renewable sources more often. This includes heat from deep in the earth.

The SPD wants to pass a Thuringian solar expansion law and advance the use of solar energy. A state program is to open up more areas for photovoltaics, mainly on roofs, on facades and in combination with farming.

The SPD wants a new law for solar energy in Thuringia. There should be more solar panels, mainly on roofs and walls of buildings. Panels should also be possible on fields. Large solar parks should be built mainly next to roads and rail lines.

The SPD commits to expanding wind power, which it regards as the most important renewable energy source in Thuringia. It rejects blanket bans, for example on turbines in forests; new turbines are to meet high environmental and nature conservation standards.

The SPD wants more wind turbines in Thuringia. The party sees wind as the most important renewable energy. It rejects a general ban on wind turbines in forests. Nature should be protected when turbines are built.

The SPD wants to generate more green electricity, mainly from wind, and to designate 2.2 percent of the state's land for wind power. The expansion is to happen in dialogue with local residents, and municipalities and residents are to share in the revenue.

The SPD wants more electricity from wind. For this, 2.2 percent of the land in Thuringia should be set aside for wind turbines. Local people should have a say. Towns and residents should get a share of the profits.

The SPD wants to turn Thuringia into a hub for electricity storage and to build up its own production of green hydrogen. The state is to be connected to the national hydrogen core network, which the program describes as a key industrial policy decision.

The SPD wants more storage for electricity in Thuringia. That way there is power even without wind or sun. Thuringia should also make green hydrogen. This is a gas produced with green electricity. Thuringia should be connected to the big hydrogen network.

The SPD calls for a temporary Brückenstrompreis (bridge electricity price) to support energy-intensive companies during the energy transition and to relieve consumers. For low-income households it backs a bonus for replacing heating systems and wants to rely more on support than on obligations in heating.

The SPD wants a bridge electricity price. This is a cheaper power price for a limited time. It should help companies that use a lot of power. Households with little money should get a bonus for replacing their heating. Advice on saving electricity should also stay.

The SPD wants to implement higher animal welfare standards in Thuringia quickly, practically and durably. It also backs a mandatory animal welfare label on animal products to give consumers guidance.

The SPD wants farm animals to be treated better. The new rules should come fast and last. Meat and other animal products should carry a label. The label shows how the animals lived. It should be required.

The SPD wants to prevent flooding by developing floodplains so that more water is retained across the landscape. It sees active water management as a public task, including preparing for longer droughts.

The SPD wants better protection from floods. Land along rivers should be able to hold more water. The state should actively manage water. There should also be plans for dry periods. A plan for this should be ready by 2029.

The SPD wants to preserve forests, improve their condition and develop sustainable, close-to-nature forest management. It rejects selling state-owned forest. Hunting is to be guided more by the condition of the forest.

The SPD wants to protect and improve forests. Forest owned by the state should not be sold. Private forest land should also be put to better use. Hunting should depend on how healthy the forest is.

The SPD wants to slow the loss of species and habitats with concrete measures and preserve valuable landscapes. In the Southern Harz, natural gypsum mining is to end and a cross-state biosphere reserve is to be created.

The SPD wants to better protect animals, plants and landscapes. In the Southern Harz, mining of natural gypsum should stop. A large protected area should be created there. Farmers should get enough money when they protect nature.

The SPD wants a circular economy in which resources are reused instead of thrown away. The focus is on less waste, recycling and repair; single-use packaging should ideally no longer be produced at all.

The SPD wants less to be thrown away. Things should be repaired and recycled. This is called a circular economy. There should be far less single-use packaging. Waste fees should be affordable for everyone.

The SPD wants to restructure Thuringia's forests ecologically so they can better withstand climate change and pests. Dedicated programs are to support private forest owners and municipalities as well as the state forestry agency.

The SPD wants to change the forests in Thuringia. The forests should cope better with heat and pests. There will be money for the state, towns and private forest owners. Part of the money should come from wind turbines in the forest.

The SPD wants to limit the use of new land and present a master plan by 2027 that aims for net-zero land consumption. It cites the loss of biodiversity, grassland and farmland through soil sealing as the reason.

The SPD wants less land to be built over. There should be a plan for this by 2027. The goal is that, on balance, no new land is used up. In towns, old buildings should be torn down or renovated first. New housing areas come only after that.

The SPD wants to orient EU farm policy toward the common good and pay farmers far more for what they do for nature and the climate. Organic farming is to be funded so that Thuringia first reaches its 10 percent target and then the national 30 percent target.

The SPD wants to change subsidies for farmers. Those who protect nature and the climate should get much more money. Organic farming should grow. First to 10 percent in Thuringia. Then to 30 percent.

The SPD wants to actively prevent speculation in agricultural land. Compensation for built-on land is to become binding and no longer come mainly at the expense of farmland. The goal is that, on balance, no additional land is sealed.

The SPD wants to protect farmland. No one should speculate with land. Speculating means buying land only to sell it at a higher price. When land is built on, other land should be freed up. Farmland should no longer be lost for this.

The SPD wants to substantially strengthen farmers' position vis-à-vis food retailers and make realistic producer prices possible. Regional economic cycles are to be promoted through value-creation centers and shared infrastructure.

The SPD wants to make farmers stronger against supermarkets. Farmers should get fair prices. More products from Thuringia should be sold locally. Farmers should share storage and processing sites. Local slaughterhouses should stay open.

The SPD wants to substantially reduce pesticide use and support farms in this with money and scientific guidance. Fertilizers, especially mineral fertilizers, are to be reduced as well.

The SPD wants fewer pesticides on fields. Farmers should get money and advice for this. Fertilizer use should also go down. Especially artificial fertilizer.

The SPD does not rule out growing genetically modified plants from the start. It argues that agriculture has to respond to changing climate conditions in order to maintain its yields.

The SPD does not say a flat no to genetic engineering in plants. The climate is changing. Plants must cope with drought and heavy rain. New technology can help with that, the SPD says. It wants to look at the matter carefully.

The SPD wants long-term funding for the Deutschlandticket (nationwide transit pass) and to keep its current price. People up to age 28 are to get a ticket for 28 euros. In the long run, children and young people are to ride public transit for free.

The SPD wants to keep the Deutschlandticket. It should not get more expensive. Young people up to age 28 should get a ticket for 28 euros. Later, children and young people should ride buses and trains for free.

The SPD wants every town and village in Thuringia to be connected to public transit every day. An integrated timetable, a statewide transit association and flexible on-demand services are meant to offer an alternative to the car.

The SPD wants a bus or train to run in every town every day. Timetables should fit together well. There should be one shared ticket system for all of Thuringia. In rural areas there should also be on-call buses and taxis.

The SPD wants to put disused rail lines back into service and quickly electrify main and branch lines. All regions of Thuringia are to be connected by rail, with commuter-rail frequency as the goal.

The SPD wants to use old rail lines again. More lines should get electric power for trains. Every region should have a rail connection. Trains should run as often as a commuter train.

The SPD wants to invest heavily in bike paths and give pedestrians more space. A speed limit of 30 km/h is to be the general rule in built-up areas. Municipalities are to receive a dedicated lump sum for bike path investments.

The SPD wants to build more bike paths. Walking should also become easier. In towns, cars should usually drive no faster than 30 km/h. Towns should get money for bike paths.

The SPD wants a fiber-optic network covering the whole state. Private providers are to be supported through advice for municipalities; where the market falls short, the Thüringer Glasfasergesellschaft (state fiber company) is to be funded. Mobile carriers are to be held more firmly to their rollout targets.

The SPD wants fast internet everywhere in Thuringia. That needs fiber networks. Private companies should build first. Where that is not enough, the state helps with money. The networks should belong to towns where possible. Cell phone coverage should also get better.

The SPD wants to curb the power of large platforms and backs non-discriminatory algorithms, free software and open standards. It regards data protection as a fundamental right, but the rules should not place excessive burdens on small and mid-sized businesses.

The SPD wants tighter limits on big internet companies. Computer programs should not treat anyone unfairly. Free software should be used more often. Data protection matters to the SPD. But small firms should not face too much red tape.

The SPD wants to create a cybersecurity center for Thuringia. All state bodies that protect IT systems are to coordinate there in order to better shield the state, businesses and the public from online attacks.

The SPD wants to start a center for cybersecurity. All offices that protect computer systems will work together there. This should reduce harm from attacks over the internet. Agencies should report security gaps to the makers right away.

The SPD wants to fully introduce electronic legal filing and electronic case files in Thuringia. Justice system IT is to get sufficient funding and specialist staff and be protected by a security drive.

Courts should work with digital files. The SPD wants to finish this in Thuringia. There should be enough money and IT experts for it. The data of the courts should be safe.

The SPD wants digital, user-friendly public administration at the state and municipal level. The state is to provide and pay for central online services for municipalities. By 2030, the most important administrative registers are to be modernized as fully as possible.

The SPD wants people to be able to file applications with offices online. The state should give towns the technology for this. Offices should be able to retrieve data from each other. People should be able to see who used their data.

The SPD wants to develop ethical standards for artificial intelligence in government agencies. Decisions made by AI are to be labeled and understandable. Citizens are to get a right to have such decisions reviewed by a human.

Offices should use artificial intelligence only under clear rules. People should be able to tell when a computer made a decision. Everyone should be able to ask a human to check the decision. The SPD wants to create a right to this.

The SPD wants more staff for the Thuringian police to improve its presence across the state. A steady 300 trainees are to be hired each year. Officers are to be better protected and police work made more attractive.

The SPD wants more police officers in Thuringia. Every year, 300 new people should start training. Police should be present everywhere in the state. People who attack emergency workers should face tougher punishment. Police buildings should be renovated.

The SPD wants to make police work more attractive, including through free state-paid health care for all officers and a new system of allowances. It also wants more women in leadership roles and more recruits from diverse backgrounds.

The SPD wants more people to join the police. Officers should get free health care from the state. The extra pay for officers should get new rules. More women should become police leaders.

The SPD wants to equip the police better digitally and train them for online investigations. Investigators are to receive new technical and legal tools, and artificial intelligence is to be used under human oversight.

The SPD wants a more digital police force. There should be a degree program for IT investigators. The police should get new technology and new legal powers. They should also use artificial intelligence. But a person should check every decision a machine makes.

The SPD wants to make protecting women from violence a priority of police work. At the federal level it wants to push for harsher penalties for femicides, meaning killings of women because of their gender.

The SPD wants to protect women better from violence. The police should make this a main task. Femicides should be punished more harshly. A femicide is the killing of a woman because she is a woman. Police officers should learn more about this.

The SPD wants to turn the police ombuds office into an oversight authority under the Ministry of Justice. The program argues that when officers are reported, the police currently in effect investigate themselves. A study is also to examine anti-democratic attitudes and racism in the security agencies.

The SPD wants a new oversight body for the police. It should belong to the Ministry of Justice. Today the police look into complaints against officers themselves. The SPD wants to change that. A study should examine racism in the security agencies.

The SPD wants to provide more state money for the equipment, vehicles and stations of fire departments and rescue services. Volunteers are to be honored with a campaign and a bonus of 500 euros after ten years of active service.

The SPD wants to give fire departments more money. The money is for gear, vehicles and fire stations. Volunteer helpers should get a bonus. After 10 years of service they get 500 euros. A campaign should win young people for volunteer work.

The SPD wants to protect critical infrastructure better and make civil protection more capable. Protective measures are to be implemented by public and private operators alike, and the federal government is to contribute appropriately.

The SPD wants to protect important facilities better. These include power and water, for example. Public and private bodies should carry out protective steps. The federal government should share part of the task.

The SPD wants to close staffing gaps at prosecutors' offices and set up specialized units, for example for organized crime, internet crime and extremist offenses. Criminally obtained profits are to be confiscated more often.

The SPD wants to strengthen prosecutors' offices. There should be special units for serious crimes. These include organized crime and crimes on the internet. Extremist crimes are part of this too. The state should take away money from crimes more often.

The SPD wants crimes against people holding public office or elected mandates to continue to be prosecuted as a priority. It argues that these people have faced growing hostility and threats in recent years.

Politicians are threatened more often. The SPD does not want to accept this. Prosecutors should keep treating these crimes as a priority. There should also be advice for those affected.

The SPD wants to set up a volunteer office for the concerns of crime victims and establish a state fund for victim aid. Victims of crime are to receive protection and support and find their way to existing counseling services more easily.

The SPD wants to help crime victims more. One person should show victims where to get advice. This person works as a volunteer. There should also be a fund for victims. Victims get quick help from it.

The SPD wants a prison system that is secure, modern and geared toward reintegration. To that end, prison work is to become a more attractive career, and support for inmates during their transition to freedom is to be regulated in a dedicated law.

The SPD wants to modernize prisons in Thuringia. After prison, inmates should be able to live without crime. A new law should help with this. It covers support when inmates are released. Working in a prison should become better for staff.

The SPD wants to better equip the justice system's social services and the associations that provide independent offender support. According to the platform, this prevents new crimes and repeat imprisonment and thereby serves public safety.

Some people have committed a crime and live outside prison. Specialists and associations support them. The SPD wants more staff and better equipment for this work. The goal is fewer new crimes.

The SPD wants to continue the debate on constitutional reform so that young people can vote in state elections from age 16 and children's rights are written into the state constitution. Young people are also to have more of a say in municipalities and in state politics.

Young people should be able to vote for the state parliament from age 16. Children's rights should be in Thuringia's constitution. Young people should also have more say in their town. A youth parliament should advise politicians.

The SPD wants to introduce a privatization brake. Public companies providing essential services could not be sold if a majority of citizens rejects the sale in a referendum. The aim is to put long-term interests ahead of one-time sale proceeds.

The SPD wants a brake on privatization. Privatization means the state sells a company to private owners. Citizens should be able to vote on it. If most people say no, there is no sale. This applies to companies that provide basic services for everyone.

The SPD wants to pass a Thuringian democracy promotion act that secures lasting funding for projects in democracy work and civic education. Civil society groups are to face less red tape and be regularly included in exchanges with the government and state parliament.

The SPD wants a law to promote democracy. Projects for democracy should get money safely and for a long time. Associations and initiatives should have less paperwork. They should talk with the government and parliament regularly. Schools should offer more teaching about democracy.

The SPD wants young people to be allowed to vote in state elections from age 16. The minimum age to run for mayor or district administrator is also to be lowered so that young people take part in parliamentary democracy early.

The SPD wants to lower the voting age. Young people should vote for the state parliament from age 16. Mayors and district heads should also be allowed to be younger. This lets young people have a say earlier.

The SPD wants to disarm right-wing extremists, deny them state funding and keep the domestic intelligence agency adequately equipped. To counter hate online, police and prosecutors are to get more staff so that criminal cases conclude quickly.

The SPD wants to act against right-wing extremists. They should not be allowed to have weapons. They should get no funding from the state. The domestic intelligence agency should have enough staff and means. Police and prosecutors should get more people to fight hate online.

The SPD wants to add staff at courts, prosecutors' offices and prisons rather than only replace those who leave. Judges and prosecutors are to be staffed ten percent above the staffing formula, and the service is to become more attractive.

The SPD wants more staff for courts and prosecutors. There should be 10 percent more judges and prosecutors than planned so far. Work in the justice system should be more attractive. For this there should be modern working hours. There should also be more training.

The SPD wants to secure justice system locations across the state and modernize them where needed. Technology for video hearings and video conferences is to be installed everywhere, and justice tasks are not to go to private providers.

The SPD wants to keep all justice locations. Courts should stay close to people. There should be technology for video hearings everywhere. Private companies should not take over tasks of the justice system.

The SPD continues to treat mergers of municipalities as a priority in order to strengthen administrations and pool financial resources. Merged municipalities and cooperation between local governments are to receive support.

Municipalities should be able to merge. Then the administration is stronger and has more money for big projects. The SPD wants to support these municipalities. Working together between municipalities should also get easier.

The SPD wants to strengthen children's and youth councils in municipalities and make them the norm at county level as well. Advisory councils of and for people with disabilities are likewise to be set up everywhere.

Children and young people should have a say in their town. The SPD wants to support councils for this, also in the counties. A council is a group that advises and helps decide. People with disabilities should also get such groups everywhere.

The SPD wants to protect volunteering in the state constitution and give municipalities a dedicated volunteering budget. A leave law is to release employees from work for volunteer activities. The platform argues that volunteering is under pressure, especially in rural areas.

Many people in Thuringia volunteer. The SPD wants to support them more. Volunteering should be written into the state constitution. Towns should get money for volunteers. A new law should give people time off work to volunteer.

The SPD wants to work for an EU that creates common rules for work, taxes and basic social security. Minimum social standards are to be secured and wage and social dumping stopped. The EU is also to protect democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

The SPD wants a social Europe. There should be shared rules for work and taxes. Nobody should have to work for dumping wages. Europe should protect democracy and human rights. This also applies at the EU's outer borders.

The SPD wants to deepen European cooperation in education, research, the labor market and culture. Barriers to working across borders are to come down, and vocational qualifications are to be recognized faster. Apprentices should also be able to take part in Erasmus+ more often.

The SPD wants more exchange in Europe. People should find it easier to work in other countries. Job qualifications should be recognized faster. Apprentices should also be able to go abroad. The state should support partnerships between towns more.

The SPD wants to offer the Thuringian family card permanently so that families can visit theaters, outdoor pools, museums and leisure facilities free of charge. In addition, a youth culture ticket would give young people free admission to cultural institutions until they finish their training or studies.

The family card should stay for good. With it, families can go to the theater, museum or pool for free. Young people should get a culture ticket. It gives free entry to cultural places. It is valid until they finish their training.

The SPD wants to make culture a mandatory task for municipalities and write it into the state constitution as a state objective. Thuringia is also to support a cultural state objective in the Basic Law, Germany's constitution.

The SPD wants to protect culture better. Cities and towns should have to take care of culture. Culture should be a goal in Thuringia's constitution. The SPD wants the same for Germany's constitution.

The SPD wants people working in the arts to be able to live from their work and is pushing for minimum fees, exhibition fees, and better social protection. Committees, grants, and commissions in culture and media are to be allocated on a gender-parity basis.

Artists should be able to live from their work. The SPD wants fair minimum fees. Artists should also get paid for exhibitions. Women and men should sit on juries equally often. They should get grants equally often.

The SPD wants to preserve Thuringia's theaters and orchestras and give them financial security through long-term agreements. Children and young people are to get free access to culture, and museums, music schools, and libraries are to be secured as well.

The SPD wants to keep all theaters and orchestras in Thuringia. They should get secure money for many years. Children and young people should enjoy culture for free. Museums, music schools, and libraries should stay too.

The SPD wants to preserve the memories of the persecuted and of prisoners and to expand the educational and research work of memorial sites. New ways of teaching history are meant to foster critical historical awareness.

Memorial sites remind people of crimes in history. The SPD wants to strengthen their work. The memories of the victims should be kept. New programs should explain the history to people.

The SPD wants to strengthen Thuringia as a media location and secure access for everyone to balanced, independent media. To that end, community media are to get more money and the boards of the public broadcaster MDR are to be made more diverse.

The SPD wants to strengthen independent media in Thuringia. Community media should get more money. These are stations where citizens make the programs themselves. More associations should have a say at the broadcaster MDR. Erfurt should stay a center for children's media.

The SPD wants to give the Verbraucherzentrale Thüringen (consumer advice center) more money so it can offer more counseling. At the federal level, it wants to push for collective rights of action for consumer organizations, because in its view the market fails to regulate itself in many areas.

The consumer advice center helps people who have problems with companies. The SPD wants to give it more money. Then it can advise more people, also in easy language and in other languages. Consumer groups should also be allowed to sue unfair companies.

The SPD wants to set up specialized teams operating across regions to monitor food and consumer goods. It argues that small-scale municipal structures cannot provide the necessary specialization for every task.

Public offices check food and other goods. There are more and more new products. The SPD wants special inspection teams for several regions. They have expert knowledge that single counties lack.

The SPD wants to draw up a long-term plan for sports in Thuringia together with organized sports bodies. Funding for grassroots sports from state lottery surpluses is to stay and, where possible, be supplemented by other sources. Allowances for volunteers and coaches are to rise regularly.

The SPD wants to make a plan for sports in Thuringia. Sports clubs will help write it. Today, sports get a lot of money from the lottery. The SPD will check if more money can come from other sources. Helpers in sports will get more money on a regular basis.

The SPD wants to set up a special investment program for sports facilities worth 20 million euros a year. More money is also to go to school gyms, and funding for municipal swimming pools is to be secured so that all students can get swimming lessons.

The SPD wants to give more money for sports facilities. There will be 20 million euros every year. School gyms will get 10 million euros. Swimming pools should stay open. Then all children can learn to swim.

The SPD wants to support elite athletes with state scholarships and stronger sports high schools. Professional and top-level clubs are to receive an annual funding budget. Disability sports are to be supported on an equal footing.

The SPD wants to support top athletes. They should get money from the state. Professional clubs should also get money every year. Sports for people with disabilities should be just as important. The SPD is against doping.