SSW: program for the 2022 Schleswig-Holstein state election

The SSW wants to implement the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals and sees the Economy for the Common Good as an approach that can help. In the party's view, economic activity should focus on the well-being of people and the environment and not on profit alone.

The United Nations has 17 goals for a better world. The SSW wants to reach these goals. Business should not only look at profit. It should also be good for people and nature.

The SSW wants to stop further privatization of basic services. County hospitals and savings banks should stay public, and energy supply should return to public ownership where possible.

Power, water, heat, buses and trash pickup matter to everyone. The SSW wants the state to stay in charge of them. Private companies should not take over these tasks. County hospitals and savings banks should also stay public.

The SSW wants regional structural aid to continue beyond 2027 and calls for additional federal money for this purpose. Research and development as well as the maritime economy, including shipyards, should receive more support.

Weaker regions get money from the EU. This help is safe until 2027. The SSW wants it to go on after that. The federal government should also give its own money. Research and shipbuilding in the state should get more help.

The SSW wants closer cooperation with Hamburg and the other northern German states, for example on spatial planning, business development, transportation, education and ports. This is meant to make the metropolitan region more competitive and ease daily life in the area around Hamburg.

Schleswig-Holstein should work more with Hamburg. This covers transportation, schools, ports and planning. Children should be able to attend a school in the other state easily. Both states should jointly seek money for roads and rail.

The SSW wants to support small and medium-sized businesses, including through less red tape and fair competitive conditions. It also backs a sustainable industrial policy, more knowledge transfer from research, and an active shipyard policy.

The SSW wants to help small and mid-sized companies. They should have less paperwork. Researchers and companies should work together more closely. Shipyards should get help too. Shipyards are places where ships are built.

The SSW wants to continue the special tourism funding program beyond 2025. Funding is to focus on sustainability, energy-efficient infrastructure and better access to inland destinations.

The state gives money for tourism. The SSW wants this to continue after 2025. Tourism should be kind to the environment. Inland vacation spots should be easier to reach by bus and train.

The SSW wants stricter legal requirements for companies that produce worldwide and sell in domestic markets. It considers the existing Supply Chain Act insufficient. For public contracts, companies are to commit to human rights and environmental standards.

Many companies make goods in other countries. The SSW wants stricter rules for them. Companies should respect human rights and protect the environment. The SSW says today's law is not enough. The government should also check this when it buys things.

The SSW wants to revive the Tariftreuegesetz (law tying public contracts to collectively agreed wages), which was repealed in 2019. Public contracts should again be linked to fair pay, good working conditions and sustainability.

The state hands out contracts to companies. In the past, these companies had to pay fair wages. This law was dropped in 2019. The SSW wants to bring it back. It should also apply to towns and cities.

The SSW wants to improve the labor market across the German-Danish border: gaps in social law for commuters are to be closed, advice services expanded and vocational qualifications mutually recognized. A joint economic development strategy for the border region is to be added.

Many people work on the other side of the border. The SSW wants to make that easier. They should get more advice. Gaps in social insurance should be closed. Job training certificates should count in both countries.

The SSW calls for a minimum wage of 13 euros per hour that is enough to live on and protects against poverty. Exemptions for certain groups are to be removed.

The SSW wants a higher minimum wage. It should be 13 euros per hour. It should apply to everyone. There should be no more exceptions.

The SSW wants a law that allows temporary agency work and contracts for work (Werkverträge) only in exceptional cases and prevents abuse. Mini-jobs are to be reduced where they displace regular jobs or where conditions are unacceptable.

The SSW wants to strongly limit temp work and outsourcing contracts. They should only be allowed as an exception. There should also be fewer mini-jobs. Instead there should be more regular jobs with social insurance.

The SSW wants Schleswig-Holstein to set up a pilot project on an unconditional basic income. The aim is to examine whether it could answer future challenges in social and labor market policy.

The SSW wants to test a basic income. That is money from the state for everyone, with no conditions. The state should start a trial. The SSW wants to see if the idea helps.

The SSW wants to expand help for people with addictions, homeless people, and people with mental illness according to need, and to prevent cuts at their expense after the pandemic. The Finnish "Housing First" approach is to be used against homelessness.

The SSW wants more help for people in need. This includes people without a home or with an addiction. People with mental illness should also get more help. The state should not cut spending here.

The SSW wants the federal government, the Federal Employment Agency, and the state to focus more on active labor market policy and give jobless people individual advice. The program argues that work secures participation and self-determination.

The SSW wants better help for people without work. Everyone should get personal advice. There should be fitting courses and retraining. Young people should also get help starting a job.

The SSW wants to strictly enforce the duty of companies to employ people with disabilities and to raise the compensatory levy. The state, as an employer, is to hire more people with severe disabilities.

The SSW wants more jobs for people with disabilities. Companies must hire such people. Those that do not should pay more. The state itself should hire more people with disabilities.

The SSW wants to raise Kindergeld (child benefit) and adjust it to the rising cost of basic needs. It also wants the benefit to no longer be deducted from Hartz IV welfare payments.

The SSW wants higher child benefit. It should rise along with prices for everyday needs. Families on Hartz IV welfare should keep the child benefit on top. Today it is deducted from their payments.

The SSW wants collective bargaining agreements to apply everywhere and employees to have more say, especially when new technologies are introduced. It also calls for a right to continuing education, a right to return from part-time to full-time work, and legal rules for new forms of work.

The SSW wants union wage agreements to cover all workers. These agreements set pay and hours for many companies. Workers should have more say at work. Everyone should have a right to further training. Part-time workers should be able to go back to full-time.

The SSW names a solidarity-based welfare state on the Scandinavian model as its guiding vision, in which those with greater means contribute more. For the party, this includes good education for all children, good working conditions and support for all regions.

The SSW wants a strong welfare state like in Scandinavia. People who have more should give more. Weaker people should get help. All children should get a good education. All regions of the state should get support.

The SSW wants to give tax advantages to private retirement saving through securities. It proposes a private retirement account with tax-free returns and a substantially higher saver's allowance.

Many people save for old age on their own. The SSW wants to help them. There would be a special account for retirement savings. Gains in this account stay tax-free until retirement. Savers should also pay less tax on gains in general.

The SSW wants the statutory pension, as the main pillar of retirement provision, to be designed in a socially fair way to prevent old-age poverty. In the long run, everyone who works would pay into one shared pay-as-you-go system.

The SSW wants to change the pension system. Everyone who works should pay into it. That includes self-employed people. People who earn a lot should pay more. This should mean fewer poor older people.

The SSW supports the debt brake but wants to add a rule that allows for investment. It also wants to revive the federal debate about a joint fund to pay off the old debts of the federal government, the states and municipalities.

The state may only take on a little new debt. This rule is called the debt brake. The SSW wants to keep the rule. But there should be an exception for investments. Also, all levels of government should pay off old debts together.

The SSW wants to reduce social insurance contributions for low incomes and raise the basic income tax allowance. The aim is to make work pay more.

People with low pay hand over a lot for social insurance. The SSW wants to lower these payments for them. Their income tax should go down too. A larger part of their pay should be tax-free.

The SSW wants to introduce a wealth tax, raise tax rates on very high incomes and profits, and tax large inheritances more heavily. It justifies this with a fairer sharing of burdens and the costs of the COVID crisis.

Very rich people should pay more tax. The SSW wants a tax on large fortunes. Very high incomes should also be taxed more. People who inherit a lot should pay more too. Ordinary citizens would get tax-free allowances.

The SSW calls for a tax on all securities trades, ideally across the EU. If no European solution is reached, Germany should introduce the tax on its own.

People who trade stocks and other securities should pay a tax on it. Ideally this would apply in the whole EU. If that fails, Germany should bring in the tax alone. Small savers would pay nothing on up to 3,000 euros a year.

The SSW wants multinational corporations to pay taxes where they generate their revenue and wants tax loopholes closed. Tax evasion should be pursued more vigorously and tax investigation units given more staff.

Big companies often move profits to countries with low taxes. The SSW wants to stop this. Companies should pay tax where they sell. More experts should uncover tax fraud.

The SSW wants to reform the property transfer tax through an initiative in the Bundesrat. The goal is relief mainly for first-time home buyers and families.

People who buy a house or apartment pay a tax. It is called the property transfer tax. The SSW wants to change this tax. Families should pay less. So should people buying for the first time.

The SSW speaks of a human right to housing and wants the state to help municipalities build public and social housing. This includes more investment, a housing protection law, an optional charge on tenants who no longer qualify for subsidized housing, and support for municipal housing companies. Young families buying a first home should get relief from the real estate transfer tax.

The SSW wants more affordable homes. The state should help cities and towns build them. Towns should be able to step in fast when housing conditions are very bad. Homeless people should get a home without conditions. Families should pay less tax on their first own home.

The SSW wants to replace joint tax splitting for married couples with a family-based splitting model. The tax code should reflect today's variety of family arrangements instead of mainly favoring marriage.

Married couples often pay less tax today. This is called spousal splitting. The SSW wants to change that. The tax benefit should apply to all families. Families today live in many different ways.

The SSW wants to combine benefits that counter poverty and child poverty and make them available online, arguing that applications are too complicated for many families. Children should also get free access to sports and cultural activities.

The SSW wants to make help for poor families simpler. The different kinds of help should be combined. Families should be able to apply online. Children should get sports and culture for free.

The SSW wants young people to have more say in schools, leisure facilities, universities and municipalities. Decisions that affect them should be made together with them.

The SSW wants children and young people to have more say. This applies to schools, leisure facilities and universities. Towns should also ask young people for their views. Children should be able to reach a complaints office easily.

The SSW calls for support for children and young people who fell behind because of the pandemic. If federal funding is not enough, the state should launch and pay for its own programs.

Many children missed out during the COVID period. The SSW wants to help them. There should be help with learning and with mental health. More sports and leisure activities are also planned. If federal money is not enough, the state should pay.

The SSW wants to phase out daycare fees and guarantee every child a place. At the same time, more places are to be created and the quality of early education improved.

The SSW wants daycare to cost nothing. This should happen step by step. Every child should get a place. Meals in daycare should also be free and healthy.

The SSW wants to improve the finances of single parents and young families and make benefits easier to access. The platform cites the heavier burden on single parents and says applications are too complicated for many families.

The SSW wants to help single parents and young families. Single parents with low pay should not lose housing benefit. People buying their first home to live in should pay less tax. Applying for family benefits should become easier.

The SSW wants to give Frisian the same legal status as other school languages and expand teaching in North Frisia and on Helgoland. Frisian teachers are to get a job guarantee and a bonus, and teaching materials are to be free. The party argues that the Frisian ethnic group runs no schools of its own.

The SSW wants more Frisian in schools and kindergartens. Frisian should be a normal school subject. Teachers of Frisian should be sure to get a job. Learning materials should be free.

The SSW wants public schools in the border region and the Fehmarnbelt region to teach Danish or Frisian from the first year of school. In the party's view, multilingualism opens up opportunities for young people and strengthens the local economy.

Children in the border region should learn Danish or Frisian from first grade. This also applies to the Fehmarnbelt region. Vocational schools should offer these languages too. The SSW says more languages mean more chances.

The SSW wants to expand all-day programs and vacation care and significantly raise state subsidies for all-day schools. According to the platform, this promotes equal opportunity and makes work and family easier to combine.

The SSW wants more afternoon care. All schoolchildren under 12 should get an offer. There should also be care during school vacations. The state should pay more money for this.

The SSW wants to cut families' costs for learning materials, digital devices and school transportation as far as possible. According to the platform, education should not depend on parents' income.

The SSW wants school to cost families little. Books and materials should be free where possible. This also applies to tablets and laptops. The school bus should become free for older students too.

The SSW wants to achieve inclusion in schools through teams made up of different professions, while keeping special-needs centers (Förderzentren) where needed. Schools facing particular challenges are to get more staff.

The SSW wants all children to learn well together. Different experts should work together at schools. Special-needs centers should stay. Parents should have a choice. Schools with extra tasks should get more staff.

The SSW wants more money for vocational education and an overall plan that standardizes qualifications and eases transitions. Youth career agencies (Jugendberufsagenturen) are to exist permanently across the whole state.

The SSW wants to spend more money on job training. There should be one plan for all job training. Young people should get help when they move from school to work. Youth career agencies should exist everywhere for this.

The SSW wants to cut teachers' required teaching hours and relieve them through other professionals in schools. Open positions are to be filled with fully trained teachers.

Teachers have more tasks today than before. The SSW wants them to teach fewer hours. Other experts should help at schools. There should be more places to study teaching.

The SSW wants to make continuing education an equal pillar of the education system and draw more people into it. Grants for Volkshochschulen (adult education centers) and education facilities are to rise regularly.

The SSW wants more adults to keep learning. Courses should be affordable for people with little money. Adult education centers should get more money. This money should go up regularly.

The SSW wants to keep raising universities' core funding from 2022 and develop all locations in a balanced way. Universities are to complement each other in their profiles and become more international.

The SSW wants to give universities more money. All universities in the state should benefit. The universities should work well together. They should also work more with Denmark.

The SSW wants more permanent positions at universities and collective agreements for student employees. The program bases this on what it sees as the precarious situation of early-career researchers.

Many people at universities only have temporary contracts. The SSW wants more permanent jobs. Students who work at a university should get a collective agreement. A collective agreement sets pay and hours for many workers.

The SSW wants BAföG (federal student aid) to be paid regardless of parental income so that all students are supported equally. It also wants considerably more housing for students and trainees.

BAföG is money from the state for students. Today it depends on what the parents earn. The SSW wants to change that. All students should be able to get BAföG. There should also be more student housing.

The SSW wants schools to teach democracy more strongly and wants knowledge about Germany's four national minorities anchored nationwide in all areas of education. Education for sustainable development and STEM subjects are also to get more support.

The SSW wants students to learn more about democracy. People all over Germany should learn about the four national minorities. There should be teaching materials for this. Math, computer science, science and technology should also get more support.

The SSW wants better and permanent funding for arts and cultural education and wants it established as a field of its own in educational institutions. An overall "Education and Culture" strategy is meant to make projects sustainable.

Cultural education means learning theater, music, art and dance, for example. The SSW wants to spend more money on it. Schools and cultural programs should work together more. People of every age should be able to take part.

The SSW wants to make it easier to get treatment in the neighboring country and to choose a doctor there freely. Authorities and hospitals on both sides of the border are to work together more closely.

People in the border region should be able to see a doctor in the neighboring country more easily. German and Danish hospitals should work together more. This also applies to ambulance services.

The SSW wants hospitals to be publicly owned again in the long run, arguing that health care should serve the common good rather than profit. Investment funding for hospitals is to rise substantially.

The SSW wants hospitals to belong to the public again. This should happen in the long run. Health care should not be about profit. Hospitals should also get more money for buildings.

The SSW wants a Bürgerversicherung (single universal health insurance) that everyone in Germany pays into, instead of some groups being privately insured. Long-term care insurance is to become full coverage that pays all care costs with no co-payments.

The SSW wants one health insurance for everyone. All people should pay into it. Long-term care insurance should change too. It should pay all care costs. Nobody should have to pay extra.

The SSW wants to tackle staff shortages in care with a binding collective agreement for elder care at public-sector pay levels and legally fixed staffing ratios. This is meant to make the job more attractive and secure the quality of care.

The SSW wants better pay for care workers. One pay agreement should cover all of elder care. A law should set how many staff are needed. There should also be more training places.

The SSW wants to secure medical care close to home in the largely rural state of Schleswig-Holstein, including through incentives for doctors and more telemedicine. Hospices, maternity care, and prevention are also to be strengthened.

The SSW wants good doctors in the countryside too. Doctors should get benefits for working there. Treatment over the internet should be used more. Midwives and hospices should also get more support.

The SSW wants more support for people who care for relatives and an easier balance between caregiving and work. A "Vereinbarkeitsbudget" (work-care balance budget) modeled on Elterngeld (parental allowance) would replace lost wages.

The SSW wants to help people who care for relatives. They should get money to replace their wages. This would work much like the parental allowance. Advisers should also visit people at home.

The SSW wants people from countries outside the EU and stateless persons to be able to vote and run in local elections. The condition is that they live permanently in Schleswig-Holstein. In addition, municipalities should set up integration advisory councils.

Today, foreigners from countries outside the EU cannot vote in local elections. The SSW wants to change that. Anyone who lives permanently in Schleswig-Holstein should be allowed to vote. These people should also be able to run for office. Towns should get advisory councils for integration.

The SSW wants to set up a dedicated state ministry for integration and revise the Integrations- und Teilhabegesetz (Integration and Participation Act). Immigrants should find work more easily, learn German free of charge and have a political voice locally.

The SSW wants a separate ministry for integration. Integration means newcomers become a full part of society. They should learn German for free. They should find a job more easily. Towns should have advisory councils for integration.

The SSW rejects tightening asylum law and calls for a humanitarian right to stay that is set out in law. It opposes detention pending deportation and wants deportations halted during the winter months.

The SSW does not want stricter asylum law. Refugees should be able to get a firm right to stay. The SSW is against locking people up before deportation. No one should be deported in winter.

The SSW wants to let municipalities voluntarily take in more refugees than their quota requires. Refugees should get a legal entitlement to easily accessible support and free access to health services.

Towns should be allowed to take in more refugees if they want to. Refugees should have a right to counseling and mental health help. They should be able to see a doctor. A health card should make this possible. The federal government should pay more for this.

The SSW wants to promote exchange between cultures and religions in the state. It plans an intercultural round table, a cultural initiative with immigrants and support for joint projects by religious communities.

The SSW wants people from different cultures to talk more with each other. Religions should also exchange views. There should be a round table for cultural clubs. Religious communities should run projects together.

The SSW wants minority and regional languages to be visible and usable in everyday life. More bilingual signs are to be put up, and the languages are to be usable in court without disadvantages.

The SSW wants more signs in two languages. For example in German and Danish. People should be able to speak their minority language in court. This should not cost them anything.

The SSW wants to strengthen protection for Sinti and Roma at the European, federal and state levels. EU countries are to make binding commitments, and the federal government is to create an office against antiziganism. In the state, the minority's cultural work and educational support are to keep receiving funding.

The SSW wants to protect Sinti and Roma better. Antiziganism means hostility toward Sinti and Roma. There should be a federal commissioner against it. The EU should also do more. Helpers should support the minority's children in kindergarten, school and job training.

The SSW wants to make equal funding for the Danish minority's institutions permanent and secure it by law and contract. Municipalities, the state and the federal government are each to carry their share. In the party's view, this funding is a precondition for these institutions to exist.

The Danish minority has its own kindergartens, schools and care services. The SSW wants them to get as much money as others. Towns, the state and the federal government should pay for this. This should be firmly fixed in rules.

The SSW wants to secure women's shelters and counseling centers for women and girls and expand them according to need, in order to meet the Istanbul Convention. Support and counseling services for men are also to grow.

The SSW wants to keep and expand women's shelters. Women find protection from violence there. There should also be more counseling centers for women and girls. Men should get more counseling too.

The SSW demands that the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities be implemented consistently at every level of government, with those affected involved. This includes an allowance for deaf people, more accessible housing, and accessible medical practices.

The SSW wants more rights for people with disabilities in daily life. Deaf people should get their own allowance from the state. There should be more homes without barriers. Doctors' offices should be open to everyone too.

The SSW wants women and men to be paid equally for their work and aims to close the gender pay gap. People who have reduced their hours should get a right to return to full-time work. Gender quotas should also be met and more women brought into leadership positions.

The SSW wants equal pay for women and men. People who work part time should be allowed to go back to full time. The SSW says this helps many women. More women should become managers.

The SSW backs repealing Section 219a of the Criminal Code and wants to take abortion out of criminal law. The current rules would be replaced by a law on the Danish model that provides a general right to abortion until the end of the twelfth week. Mandatory counseling would be replaced by a voluntary service.

The SSW no longer wants abortion to be part of criminal law. Pregnant people should have a right to an abortion up to week 12. Denmark is the model. Counseling should be voluntary. Doctors should be allowed to inform openly about abortions.

The SSW wants to end legal disadvantages for lesbian, gay, bisexual, intersex and trans people. The Basic Law's ban on discrimination should be extended to cover sexual identity, and same-sex couples should have the same rights in matters of parenthood. It also wants a joint federal-state program against anti-queer violence.

The SSW wants equal rights for queer people. The constitution should clearly protect them from unfair treatment. Lesbian and gay couples should have the same rights as parents. There should be a program against violence toward queer people. Trans people should get better health care.

The SSW wants parliaments to have equal numbers of women and men and sees the way politics is organized as one cause of the imbalance. Lawmakers with a newborn should be able to hand their seat temporarily to the next person on the list. The state should also practice gender budgeting.

The SSW wants as many women as men in parliaments. Politics should fit better with family life. Lawmakers with a baby should be able to take a break. Another person from the party list takes over during that time. The state should spend its money fairly for all genders.

The SSW demands that everyone affected by violence get an enforceable nationwide right to help. Women's shelters and counseling centers for women should be adequately funded and expanded. The party also wants to expand and permanently secure services for crime victims.

The SSW wants this: Anyone who suffers violence should have a right to help. This should apply in all of Germany. Women's shelters and counseling centers should get enough money. There should be more protection services for men too. Victims of crime should get more help.

The SSW wants the state to actively promote participation for everyone and ensure no one is disadvantaged because of origin, gender, religion, age or sexual identity. It calls for actively anti-racist policy and backs the action plans against racism.

The SSW wants all people to have equal rights. No one should be treated worse because of skin color, origin or religion. The state should do more against racism. There should be more counseling centers.

The SSW wants Jewish people to live safely and practice their faith without fear. The office of the state commissioner for Jewish life and against antisemitism should continue, and educational work against antisemitism should be strengthened.

The SSW wants Jewish people to live in safety. They should practice their faith without fear. The state should keep a commissioner against hatred of Jews. School classes should keep visiting memorial sites.

The SSW wants to promote renewable energy and relies on incentives rather than rules. It rejects a solar mandate for all private homes and wants to give more financial support for solar panels instead.

The SSW wants more power from wind and sun. But it does not want mandates for this. No one should be forced to put solar panels on their house. Instead, there should be more money to help. The state should tell people about this help.

The SSW wants to extend EU emissions trading to further sectors and, if possible, worldwide. The costs of climate action should fall mainly on industry and large corporations, not on private households.

In the EU, companies must buy permits for their CO2 emissions. This is called emissions trading. The SSW wants to make this system bigger. It should cover more sectors and more countries. Mostly big companies should pay for climate action.

The SSW wants the state's energy supply to be climate-neutral by 2035 and the coal phase-out moved forward, ideally to 2030. Coal and gas power plants are to go offline in step with the growth of renewables.

The SSW wants electricity and heat that do not harm the climate. This should be reached by 2035. Coal power plants should close by 2030 if possible. Heat pumps should replace oil and gas heating. Protecting the coasts should become more important.

The SSW wants to speed up wind power expansion onshore and offshore again and make the state a pioneer. Citizens and municipalities are to share more in the revenues in order to build acceptance.

The SSW wants more wind turbines on land and at sea. Old turbines should be replaced by stronger ones. Citizens should get a share of the profits more easily. Towns should also get more money from wind farms.

The SSW wants more solar installations, mainly on rooftops: public and commercial buildings are to be fitted with them when built or renovated, and private roofs are to get more subsidies. Clear rules are to apply to ground-mounted solar parks.

The SSW wants more solar panels on roofs. The state should lead with its own buildings. Business buildings should also get solar panels. Private homeowners should get more support. Solar parks should first go on land that is already built on.

The SSW wants to update the state's hydrogen strategy and greatly expand research on green hydrogen. Hydrogen from fossil sources is not to be produced in the state; sector coupling and storage technology are to advance as well.

Green hydrogen is made with power from wind and sun. The SSW wants much more research on it. There should be no hydrogen from gas or coal in the state. Power storage should also get better. Universities and companies should work together on this.

The SSW wants to speed up grid expansion and spread its costs across all of Germany so that people in Schleswig-Holstein do not pay a disproportionate share. Renewable electricity is to get consistent priority for grid feed-in, and self-consumed green power is not to carry extra charges.

New power lines should be built faster. Everyone in Germany should share the costs. The SSW says people in the north pay too much today. People who use their own green power should not pay extra for it.

The SSW stands by the nuclear phase-out and rejects classifying nuclear energy as sustainable in the EU taxonomy. The search for a final repository is to run nationwide, on scientific criteria and with broad public participation.

The SSW is against nuclear power. Nuclear waste needs a safe place deep underground. The search should cover all of Germany. Science should decide, not politics. People should be informed early and have a say.

The SSW wants to permanently rule out underground CO2 storage (CCS) and fracking in the state and build no infrastructure for liquefied natural gas. In the party's view, these technologies prolong fossil fuel use and endanger groundwater.

CCS means pressing the gas CO2 into the ground. Fracking uses chemicals to get oil and gas out of rock. The SSW wants to stop both for good. It also wants no facilities for liquefied natural gas. Groundwater should stay protected.

The SSW wants nature conservation planned across state lines, especially for the Lower Elbe. It rejects further dumping of Hamburg harbor sludge in the North Sea, a sludge landfill next to the Wadden Sea, and any further deepening of the Elbe.

Hamburg dumps mud from its harbor into the North Sea. The SSW wants this to stop. It also wants no mud landfill next to the Wadden Sea. The Elbe river should not be made deeper again. The states should plan nature protection together.

The SSW wants to reduce land consumption in order to protect habitats and biodiversity. To do so, the state strategy is to be implemented effectively and Section 13b of the Federal Building Code is to be amended at the federal level.

The SSW wants less natural land to be built on. That way animals and plants keep their habitat. One section of the building law should change. Before building, the effect on the environment should be checked more closely.

The SSW wants to increase the share of forest in Schleswig-Holstein and better protect forests, peatlands, lowlands and grassland. The platform justifies this with their importance for ecosystems and as carbon sinks.

Schleswig-Holstein has little forest. The SSW wants more forest in the state. Forests, peatlands and meadows should be better protected. They store CO2 and help the climate. Citizens should be able to help protect nature too.

The SSW wants to reduce waste and conserve resources. Reusable and deposit systems are to grow, single-use plastic is to disappear, and building materials are to be recycled in the construction industry.

The SSW wants less trash. There should be more reusable containers and deposits. Single-use plastic should no longer exist. Old building materials should be used again. This saves sand and gravel.

The SSW wants to stop plastic from entering waterways and to upgrade wastewater treatment plants for that purpose. The pilot project on the Schlei inlet is to be made permanent and serve as a model for other coastal waters.

The SSW wants no plastic in rivers, lakes and the sea. Sewage plants should get better filters. The filters should also catch very small bits of plastic. A protection project at the Schlei inlet should continue for good.

The SSW wants to end oil extraction in the Wadden Sea and rejects any extension of its operating period. It also wants the "Strategy for the Wadden Sea 2100" implemented and an end to dumping Hamburg harbor sludge in the North Sea.

Companies drill for oil in the Wadden Sea. The SSW wants this to stop. The permit should not be extended. Sludge from Hamburg's harbor should no longer be dumped in the North Sea.

The SSW wants old munitions from the World Wars recovered from the North Sea and the Baltic Sea and disposed of safely. Besides the state, the federal government in particular should contribute quickly.

Old bombs and shells from the World Wars lie in the North Sea and Baltic Sea. The SSW wants them taken out and safely destroyed. The state and the federal government should do this together. The federal government should help fast.

The SSW wants as little fertilizer as possible to reach groundwater and surface water. To that end it calls for a modernized fertilizer ordinance and rules for cutting nutrient surpluses.

The SSW wants to protect water better. Less fertilizer should get into rivers, lakes and groundwater. There should be new rules for that. The equipment needed should be affordable for farmers.

The SSW wants to pay farmers for nature and environmental protection measures and to strengthen contract-based conservation. Grassland, lowlands and peatlands are to function better as carbon stores, and biodiversity is to be given more weight.

Farmers should get money when they protect nature. Meadows and peatlands should be better protected. They store CO2 and so help the climate. Insects should get more protection too.

The SSW opposes the use of glyphosate in both farming and private gardens. It also wants fewer antibiotics, hormones and drugs used in livestock farming in order to prevent resistance.

Glyphosate is a weed killer. The SSW wants nobody to use it anymore. Farm animals should get fewer antibiotics. Antibiotics are drugs against bacteria. They should keep working for people.

The SSW calls for a reform of EU agricultural payments that puts social criteria as well as environmental, climate and animal protection at the center. The goal is small-scale, sustainable farming that farms can make a living from.

The EU gives money to farmers. The SSW wants to change these rules. The money should be tied more to protecting the environment, animals and social rules. Farmers should be able to live from their work.

The SSW wants farm products to be processed and marketed more within the region and wants to reduce the transport of food and live animals. High-quality food is to be affordable for everyone, and minimum standards are to apply in meat production.

Food should be processed and sold more in the region. Live animals should not be moved so far. Good food should be affordable for people with little money too. Meat plants should have fair pay and working conditions.

The SSW wants to secure small-scale fishing in Schleswig-Holstein as a traditional trade while protecting fish stocks. Catch quotas are to be science-based and better monitored; the party rejects industrial overfishing.

The SSW wants to keep the small fishing businesses in the state. At the same time, enough fish should stay in the sea. Catch limits should be based on research. Heavy trawl nets should not be used in sensitive areas.

The SSW wants to greatly expand the local transit network and gradually make it cheap or free to use. A statewide ticket should come in the short term; the party opposes pushing up fuel prices through taxes.

The SSW wants more buses and trains. Riding should become cheap, and later maybe free. Soon there should be one ticket for the whole state. Driving should not keep getting more expensive through taxes. Many people in rural areas still need their cars.

The SSW wants heavy investment in expanding and electrifying rail lines and wants the federal government held responsible for it. Rail is to become an alternative to the car and carry more freight.

The SSW wants to put a lot of money into rail. More lines should get electric power and a second track. More goods should travel by train. The federal government should pay for this.

The SSW wants to expand local public transit, make it cheaper for certain groups and introduce a single fare system for northern Germany. The platform treats mobility as a basic need that should not be restricted.

The SSW wants more buses and trains. The federal government should give more money for this. Commuters, students and trainees should travel more cheaply. There should be one shared ticket system for all of northern Germany.

The SSW wants to expand the bike path network in cities and rural areas and better link cycling, walking and public transit. This is meant to further reduce car traffic; the platform cites Copenhagen as a model.

The SSW wants more and better bike paths. This also applies in the countryside. Bikes, buses and trains should fit together better. Cities should have more parking spots for bikes.

The SSW wants to quickly renovate the Kiel Canal, link ports better to rail and reduce pollution from ships. To do so, the platform relies on alternative propulsion and shore power.

The SSW wants to modernize shipping. The Kiel Canal should be repaired quickly. Ships should give off less exhaust. In port, ships should get electricity from land.

The SSW wants to give priority to maintaining and repairing existing roads while still carrying out planned major projects such as the A20 and the widening of the A7. The platform calls roads essential for the economy and tourism.

The SSW wants to fix damaged roads first. That matters more to it than new roads. Some big projects should still go ahead. These include the A20 highway and a wider A7 up to Denmark.

The SSW calls for a maximum speed of 130 km/h on the autobahn. The platform justifies this with greater road safety and a contribution to climate protection.

The SSW wants a speed limit on highways. No one should drive faster than 130 km/h there. This should make roads safer. It should also help the climate.

The SSW wants to shorten planning procedures for roads and rail without restricting rights to participate and to sue. To that end, planning law is to be streamlined, procedures digitized and agencies given more staff.

The SSW wants roads and rail lines to be planned faster. The rules for this should become simpler. But citizens should have a say early on. The right to go to court should stay. Planning offices should get more staff.

The SSW wants to add rules for digital teaching to the school act and include digital devices in free learning materials. Media educators and community media are to promote media literacy.

Schools work more and more with computers. The SSW wants clear rules for this in the school law. Students should get tablets or laptops for free. Experts should teach how to use media well.

The SSW counts fast internet as a basic public service and wants a legal right to it. The fiber optic rollout should be pushed forward, aiming for statewide coverage by 2028. The party sees large gaps remaining, especially in rural areas.

The SSW wants fast internet for everyone. People should have a right to it. By 2028 there should be fiber optic everywhere. Fiber optic is a very fast internet line. The federal government should help towns with the rollout.

The SSW wants every dealing with public authorities to be possible online as well. People should remain able to encrypt private data and communication, and net neutrality should be preserved.

The SSW wants people to handle all government paperwork online too. People may keep encrypting private data. That means strangers cannot read it. All data on the internet should be treated the same.

The SSW wants administrative processes at all levels of government to be largely digitalized in order to improve service and transparency. Handling of personal data for public tasks is not to be handed over to private actors.

Government offices should do more online. That should make service better. People's data must stay protected. Private companies should not handle this data for the government.

The SSW wants to strengthen the state police with more positions, good equipment and adequate pay in order to attract recruits. At the same time, the force should in the long run consist of equal numbers of women and men and hire more people with a migration background. The work of the state police commissioner should continue.

The SSW wants more police officers in the state. They should be paid well and have good equipment. As many women as men should work in the police. More people with foreign roots should work there too. The complaints office for the police should stay.

The SSW wants to make it harder to obtain gun licenses and firearms and to monitor gun ownership more effectively. To prevent crime, the party also relies on exit programs, civic education and better rehabilitation of offenders.

The SSW wants stricter rules for guns. It should be harder to get a gun. The authorities should check gun owners better. Programs should help people leave extremist groups. Offenders should get better help to live without crime.

The SSW wants knowledge of minority languages to count more clearly as a preferred criterion when state agencies in the Schleswig region hire staff. To that end, employees' language skills are to be recorded.

Some people speak Danish or Frisian. This should be an advantage when they apply to state offices in the north. The offices should write down who speaks which language. Then they can take it into account for new jobs.

The SSW wants to anchor the protection and promotion of minorities in the Basic Law, Germany's constitution. At the federal level, national minorities and ethnic groups are also to get a collective right to sue. The state is to implement European minority agreements in line with the minorities' demands.

The SSW wants to write minority protection into the German constitution. Minorities should also be able to go to court as a group. They would not have to be affected themselves.

The SSW wants to strengthen the public sector in the competition for skilled workers. Civil servants should again receive a Christmas bonus or a special payment, along with more flexible working hours and a free choice of health insurance.

The state needs good people in its offices. The SSW wants to make these jobs more attractive. Civil servants should get a Christmas bonus again. Working hours should fit family life better. Civil servants should be free to choose their health insurance.

The SSW rejects merging Schleswig-Holstein with Hamburg or other northern German states. The state is to keep its independence and identity; in the party's view, a merged 'Nordstaat' would be remote from citizens.

Some people want to merge Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg into one state. This is called a Nordstaat. The SSW is against it. It says the state should stay independent. That keeps politics close to the people.

The SSW wants all state laws and regulations to be reviewed for their effects on young people. The reason given is that minors are barely represented in politics and have no direct influence.

The SSW wants a youth check. An independent office would review new laws. It would ask: What does this law mean for young people? Young people can hardly take part in decisions themselves.

The SSW wants to create an additional work-free public holiday in Schleswig-Holstein, State Constitution Day. The program lists this in the context of civic education.

The SSW wants a new holiday in Schleswig-Holstein. It should be called State Constitution Day. People do not have to work on this day.

The SSW wants more positions and better resources for the justice system and its full digitalization. In the party's view, judicial independence must not suffer from political interference. Restrictions on civil liberties in favor of the security authorities should be allowed only if they are strictly necessary and suitable.

The SSW wants more staff for courts and prosecutors. The justice system should work digitally. Courts should stay independent from politics. Prisons should also be modernized and get more staff.

The SSW wants to broaden democratic participation. Citizens should be able to file a constitutional complaint themselves over fundamental rights in the state constitution, and a democracy promotion law should provide lasting support for civil society organizations. The party also wants to give volunteering more recognition and to examine citizens' councils.

The SSW wants people to have more of a say. They should be able to go to the state constitutional court if their basic rights are violated. Groups that work for democracy should get lasting funding. Volunteers should get more benefits. The party wants to look into citizens' councils.

The SSW calls for an EU minority policy of its own, with a commissioner responsible for it. The federal and state governments are to implement the demands of the Minority SafePack Initiative, an initiative by European minority organizations.

The SSW wants the EU to do more for minorities. The EU Commission should have its own person in charge of this. Minority groups from across Europe have made joint demands. The federal and state governments should carry out these demands.

The SSW wants checks at the German-Danish border to end as soon as possible so that everyday life in the border region returns to normal. As long as pandemic-related checks remain, both countries should coordinate them and communicate them openly.

The SSW wants to end checks at the border with Denmark. This should happen as soon as possible. Until then, Germany and Denmark should use the same rules. That helps people who cross the border every day.

The SSW rejects a single European state with a central government and wants an EU based on cooperation that respects national and regional particularities. At the same time, the EU is to become more social and protect workers' rights.

The SSW does not want one big European state. Countries should work together in the EU. The EU should respect regions and their differences. It should become more social and protect workers.

The SSW wants better coordination of EU fund administration in the state and more funding from Brussels. The state is not to lose out in the EU's recovery programs.

The EU gives money for projects in the state. The SSW wants to bring more of this money to Schleswig-Holstein. There should be advice on applications. The state should also help with money when projects start.

The SSW wants to tie Schleswig-Holstein more closely to Denmark, the Nordic countries and the Baltic Sea region. The aim is a shared growth region with easier cross-border access to work, training and study.

The SSW wants to work more with Denmark and the Nordic countries. People should find it easier to work and learn across the border. Roads and rail lines across the border should get better. The state should also help shape policy around the Baltic Sea.

The SSW wants to expand cooperation among the North Sea states and develop Schleswig-Holstein's role in the North Sea Commission. Relations with the United Kingdom should continue and grow after Brexit. The party sees this as a strategic opportunity for the state.

The SSW wants more cooperation with the countries around the North Sea. This includes the United Kingdom after it left the EU. Schleswig-Holstein should do more in the North Sea Commission. There should also be more exchange with Friesland in the Netherlands.

The SSW wants to give young people in the EU better prospects. It calls for a European youth check on new legislation, larger and simpler exchange programs, and action against youth unemployment. In the platform's view, the coronavirus crisis must not be paid for by the young.

The SSW wants to do more for young people in Europe. The EU should check what new laws mean for young people. This is called a youth check. Exchange programs like Erasmus+ should grow and become simpler. Fewer young people should be out of work.

The SSW wants Danish and Frisian to appear more often in the media and sees the public broadcaster NDR as especially responsible. The minorities are to get a seat on the NDR broadcasting council. Geoblocking is also to end in areas where minorities live.

The SSW wants more Danish and Frisian on radio and TV. The broadcaster NDR should take care of this. The minorities should have a say on the NDR council. Programs from the neighboring country should be available without a block.

The SSW wants to give the organizations and institutions of the Frisian ethnic group more money on a lasting basis. Work on language and culture, so far done mostly by volunteers, is to become more professional. The federal government is to keep contributing to the new Frisian foundation.

The SSW wants more money for Frisian clubs and institutions. Today many people there work without pay. In the future there should be more paid experts. The federal government should keep helping to pay for the Frisian foundation.

The SSW wants to make more use of the state's experience in minority policy. The Flensburg network for minority issues is to become more visible, and minority policy is also to serve tourism. Schools are to teach more about the minorities.

In Schleswig-Holstein several minorities live well alongside the majority. The SSW wants to make this experience better known. Important offices on this topic work in Flensburg. They should be strengthened. Students should learn more about the minorities.

The SSW sees culture as a task for Europe as a whole and calls for a comprehensive European cultural initiative. EU cultural funding should rise substantially, and the federal government should support cross-border cultural work. The party points to Europe's diversity of regions, minorities and languages.

The SSW wants more cultural policy in Europe. The EU should give much more money for culture. The federal government should support cultural projects across borders. The party says culture connects people and strengthens peace.

The SSW sees culture as a core task of the community and wants to give cultural institutions lasting security and more funding. As many people as possible should have access to culture, especially in rural areas and the German-Danish border region.

The SSW wants to spend more money on culture. Theaters, museums and music schools should be able to plan safely. Everyone should be able to afford culture. Rural areas should have cultural offerings too. Cultural work with Denmark should grow.

The SSW wants to bring self-employed artists and cultural workers more fully into unemployment and pension insurance. Minimum wage compliance in publicly funded productions should be closely monitored, and funding bodies should have gender parity.

Many artists are self-employed. The SSW wants to protect them better when they have no work. They should also be better insured for retirement. Funded projects must pay the minimum wage. Funding boards should have equal numbers of women and men.

The SSW wants borrowing at all libraries in the state to be free of charge, following the Scandinavian model. Libraries are to be developed into community and cultural centers and given more funding.

The SSW wants borrowing books to be free in all libraries. That is how it works in Scandinavia. Libraries should become meeting places for people and clubs. They should get more money.

The SSW wants more support for children's and youth theater, independent theaters and museums. The state should take on more responsibility for its UNESCO World Heritage sites and add staff at the state office for monument preservation.

The SSW wants to strengthen theater for children and young people. Local museums should get more money. The state should pay more for its World Heritage sites. The office that protects historic buildings should get more staff.

The SSW wants to develop the state's memorial site strategy further and expand memorials as central places of remembrance. Memory of the crimes of National Socialism is to be kept alive and conveyed through new forms of educational work.

Memorial sites remind people of the crimes of the Nazi era. The SSW wants to expand these places. Young people and immigrants should learn more about this history. The years after 1945 should also be studied.

The SSW wants to continue and expand efforts to come to terms with colonialism in the state's history. Because Schleswig-Holstein is affected by both German and Danish colonial history, this is to be done together with Denmark.

The SSW wants to look more closely at the colonial history of Schleswig-Holstein. Colonial history means: European countries once ruled over other countries. Schools should teach this topic. Germany and Denmark should work on it together.

The SSW wants to develop and promote guiding principles for building culture that respect the character of towns and villages. The state is to support municipalities financially in doing so.

The SSW wants towns and villages to keep their typical look. The state should give municipalities money for advice from architects. Empty lots in cities should become nicer places. There should be funding for that.

The SSW wants to support professional and recreational sports and have sports facilities and swimming pools renovated through funding programs. Schleswig-Holstein should also get its own Olympic and Paralympic training center.

The SSW wants more support for sports. Gyms and swimming pools should be repaired. The state should give money for this. Schleswig-Holstein should get its own training center for Olympic sports.

The SSW wants esports officially recognized as a sport and written into the rules on nonprofit status. This is meant to open the way for public funding and professional structures.

Esports means people compete in computer games. The SSW wants esports to count as a real sport. Then clubs can get money for it. The state should keep supporting esports.