SSW on the economy

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 platform names common-good balance sheets as one possible way to reach the sustainability goals. It lists values such as human dignity, solidarity, ecological sustainability, social justice, transparency and democracy. The SSW traces today's crises back to what it sees as a misguided development of the economic system. It wants to give regional answers and also calls for a different course at the federal and European levels. The platform claims to address all 17 goals.

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 platform counts electricity, water, heat, housing, local transit, waste disposal, health care, and savings and cooperative banks as basic services. State funding under the hospital financing law should rise substantially so that hospitals can invest; the SSW expects the federal government to fund hospitals adequately. Energy supply should be brought back under public control wherever feasible. The party rejects privatizing the savings banks. In addition, fiber connections (FTTH) with at least 100 Mbit should be available statewide.

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.

Structural aid should mainly benefit small and mid-sized businesses and take into account clusters such as energy, food, maritime industries, health and tourism. It should rest on close cooperation among companies, universities and public development agencies and be measured against the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Through the Bundesrat, the SSW wants to push for funding to continue after 2027; the federal government should not rely on EU funds alone. Research funding should be unbureaucratic, fast and permanent. An active shipyard policy is meant to secure shipbuilding and jobs, and the federal government should support the development of low-emission ships.

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.

Hamburg and neighboring municipalities are to plan land use and settlement jointly and sparingly. A mobility alliance of the two states is to bring investment funds to the north; the platform names swift construction of the A 20 highway, more S-Bahn commuter rail lines and bike routes to Hamburg, and park-and-ride and bike-and-ride facilities. Ports on the Elbe and the German Bight are to cooperate more closely than before to keep jobs. On renewable energy, the SSW wants joint research, marketing and the attraction of companies in the sector. Attending school in the other state is to be possible without difficulty.

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.

Businesses are to be supported in going digital and in shifting toward more climate-friendly operations. Industry is to grow as a driver of research and development, and economic cooperation with Denmark and other Nordic countries is to be expanded. The platform calls for more innovation consulting, research funding, new competence centers and non-university institutes, with a focus on the university locations of Flensburg, Heide, Lübeck and Kiel. The maritime sector is to be strengthened as a brand for the state. Shipyards that want to build low-emission ships, such as Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, are to get help with research and development.

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 extended program is meant to strengthen tourism infrastructure, projects by individual businesses, non-investment projects and rural tourism. The platform argues that public investment often triggers private investment in restaurants and hotels. Funding is to support energy upgrades of tourist facilities and cross-border networking. The state's linguistic and cultural diversity is to be made more visible. The World Heritage sites of Lübeck and the Wadden Sea are to be developed further as travel regions.

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.

Germany's Supply Chain Act requires larger companies to watch for human rights and certain environmental standards among their suppliers. The SSW considers these rules inadequate and calls for a more far-reaching legal framework for globally producing firms. Human rights and environmental standards are to be met in production. Companies that receive public contracts or supply public bodies are to make corresponding commitments.