What do the parties in Rhineland-Palatinate say on democracy and the state?

The AfD wants to make direct democracy easier at the state and local level. Fewer signatures would be needed for a state petition for a referendum, and votes on financial matters would be allowed. According to the platform, this lets every citizen influence politics directly.

The AfD wants citizens to vote on more issues. Fewer signatures would be needed for this. Citizens could also vote on money matters. This would apply in the state and in towns.

The AfD wants to stop giving taxpayer money to reporting offices for online content. In the platform's view, these offices serve to remove non-criminal statements from social media and thereby restrict freedom of expression.

Reporting offices take tips about posts on the internet. The AfD wants to stop state money for these offices. The party says they limit free speech. People should report criminal posts to the police.

The AfD wants to shield judges from political influence and abolish the justice ministries' power to issue instructions to public prosecutors. According to the platform, citizens should be able to rely on decisions being made solely on the basis of the law.

The AfD wants to separate judges and prosecutors from politics. Today the justice ministry can give prosecutors instructions. The AfD wants to end that. There would be new bodies for judges.

The AfD wants to turn the Verfassungsschutz (domestic intelligence agency), currently a department of the interior ministry, into an independent authority. In the platform's view, the state government uses it against opposition parties, so it lacks the necessary neutrality.

The Verfassungsschutz is an intelligence agency in the state. Today it belongs to the interior ministry. The AfD wants to make it a separate authority. The party says the government uses it against the opposition.

The AfD wants to change the state's flag regulation so that the federal flag flies permanently at schools and government offices. The rainbow flag would be banned on public buildings. The platform justifies this with state neutrality and a positive relationship to the nation.

The AfD wants schools and offices to always show the German flag. The state flag may be added. The rainbow flag would be banned there. The AfD says the state must be neutral.

The AfD wants the state to reimburse municipalities in full whenever it assigns them new tasks or expands existing ones. It accuses the state government of repeatedly ignoring this principle, which is anchored in the state constitution.

The state often gives towns and cities new tasks. The AfD says: Then the state must pay for all of it. This rule is called the connexity principle. It is already in the state constitution. The AfD wants to follow it strictly.

The AfD wants to cut the number of state ministries by two and reduce senior staff. The education ministry would merge with the ministry for science and health, and the integration ministry would be dissolved entirely. The aim is a leaner and cheaper administration.

Rhineland-Palatinate has ten ministries. The AfD wants to close two of them. The ministry for integration would go away completely. Two other ministries would become one. The AfD wants to save money on top staff this way.

The AfD wants to stop paying state money to politically active organizations, arguing that such funding distorts political competition. It also wants a public database showing who receives state grants, for what purpose, and how much.

Some groups get money from the state. The AfD wants to stop giving state money to politically active groups. It says this money distorts political competition. There would also be a public list. It would show who gets grant money from the state.

The CDU wants to use the Bundesrat to push for a mandatory year of community service. The program presents the plan in the context of the Bundeswehr and security preparedness.

The CDU wants a required year of service for the community. It plans to propose this in the Bundesrat. The Bundesrat is the body that represents the German states.

The CDU wants to appoint, for the first time, a state secretary for sports and volunteering in the State Chancellery. Both areas would thus be represented at the center of government and coordinated across ministries.

The CDU wants to create a new post in the government. A state secretary would look after sports and volunteering. A state secretary is a senior government official. This person would be the contact for clubs and towns.

The CDU wants to tackle red tape and digitalization together and have the administration act as a service provider. Rules are to be reviewed, scrapped or simplified, and responsibility for digital matters is to sit in one place within the state government.

The CDU wants fewer rules and less paperwork. Old rules should be checked and removed. People and firms can report annoying rules online. One single office in the government should handle digital matters. The state should trust people more.

The CDU plans a state acceleration law with fixed deadlines for all procedures. If an agency does not decide in time, the permit is to count as granted automatically.

The CDU wants permits to come faster. Agencies get fixed deadlines. If an agency decides too late, the request counts as approved. Everyone should see online how far their request is. Public contracts should also be awarded more simply.

The CDU wants to recruit and keep more staff for the public service through a skilled-worker campaign. Pay and working conditions are to improve so that applicants do not choose other states, the federal government or the private sector instead.

The state lacks skilled staff. So the CDU wants to make public service jobs better. Civil servants and employees should get better conditions. Pay should keep up with other states. A new office in the governor's office will look after staffing.

The Greens want to develop the state transparency law further and create a lobby register requiring disclosure of meetings between interest groups and the government. Public data is to be free to use, and data protection and cybersecurity are to be strengthened.

The Greens want a lobby register. It shows which groups meet with the government. Government data should be free for everyone. The state should protect people's data better.

The Greens want a youth participation act that introduces a youth impact check for all laws and sets uniform rules for participation in municipalities. They stand by a voting age of 16 for state and local elections and want better funding for youth work.

Young people should have more say in politics. Every new law should be checked: What does it mean for young people? Young people should have fixed rights in every town. The Greens want voting from age 16. Youth work should get more money.

The Greens want to relaunch the reform of local government and create larger administrative units. The platform argues that the state's very fragmented municipal structure hampers digitalization, recruitment and efficiency. The division of tasks between levels of government is also to be reviewed.

Rhineland-Palatinate has very many small municipalities. The Greens say this slows down public offices. They want larger administrative units. Offices should work well with digital tools. Higher authorities should take over some tasks.

The Greens are pushing at federal level for a Demokratiefördergesetz (democracy promotion act) with permanent funding. Civic education is to be expanded from daycare through adult education. People who are active for democracy should get better protection and advice.

The Greens want a law to promote democracy. It should give groups steady funding. Children should learn about democracy starting in daycare. Adults should get offers too. People who are threatened should get help from the state.

The Greens call for proceedings to ban the AfD. The platform argues that the party keeps radicalizing and is part of a far-right network. In addition, new laws are meant to help remove enemies of the constitution from public service.

The Greens want a court case to ban the AfD. They say the AfD is getting more and more radical. Also, enemies of the constitution should not work for the state. The Greens want new laws for that.

The Greens want to make volunteer work simpler, more visible and safer. Associations are to get help with software, red tape is to be reduced and the Ehrenamtskarte (volunteer card) expanded. A dedicated contact point is planned for volunteers who are threatened.

Many people volunteer in clubs and associations. The Greens want to make their work easier. Clubs should get help with software. Volunteers who are threatened should have a fixed place to turn to.

The Greens want people without German or EU citizenship to be able to vote if they have lived in Rhineland-Palatinate for a long time. This would apply to local and state elections. The reasoning is that those who live in the state permanently should have a say.

Some people have lived in Rhineland-Palatinate for a long time. But they have no German or EU passport. The Greens want these people to be able to vote too. This would apply to local and state elections.

The Greens want more direct participation: lower hurdles for popular initiatives and referendums, advisory panels of randomly selected citizens for major reforms, and a state participation portal. Anyone submitting a petition with 1,000 co-signers should be allowed to speak before the petitions committee.

The Greens want citizens to have more of a say. Referendums should be easier to hold. Citizens chosen by lot should advise on big reforms. People with 1,000 signatures on a petition may speak in the committee. A petition is a request to parliament.

The Greens want to abolish the justice ministry's right to issue instructions to public prosecutors, citing the independence of the judiciary. The justice system is also to get more staff and work digitally. A specialized prosecutor's office for environmental crime is planned.

Today the justice ministry can give orders to prosecutors. The Greens want to end that. The justice system should be independent. Courts should get more staff and work digitally. A special prosecutor's office should handle environmental crimes.

The SPD wants to keep all court locations, equip courts and prosecutors' offices reliably and recruit new staff. The judiciary is to be digitalized further to speed up proceedings, including with artificial intelligence under human control.

The SPD wants to keep all courts in the state. The justice system should have enough staff and equipment. Courts should work more digitally. This should make cases faster. People, not computers, should still make the rulings.

The SPD wants to support the state's regions in a targeted way to reduce disparities and secure equal living conditions in urban and rural areas. To this end, the state development program is to be updated, including new large commercial and industrial sites.

The SPD wants people to live well everywhere in the state. Weaker regions should get targeted help. To do this, it will revise the plan for the state's development. There should also be new large sites for companies.

The SPD wants to review all funding programs for municipalities and handle applications in a lean, fully digital way through a central platform. Municipalities are to get more leeway, including through an experimentation clause and more lump-sum grants.

Towns get money from the state through funding programs. The SPD wants to make the applications simpler. Everything should run digitally through one platform. Towns should also be allowed to test departing from rules.

The SPD wants to turn funding for inter-municipal cooperation (IKZ) from a pilot project into a permanent offer. Municipalities are to pool resources and build shared structures because, in the party's view, many tasks can no longer be handled alone.

Towns should work together more. The SPD wants to support this with money for the long term. Towns can then share computer systems, for example. The SPD says many towns can no longer manage their tasks alone.

Municipalities are to be allowed to deviate from state rules within a legally secure framework in order to test simpler ways of carrying out their tasks. Simplified procedures are to be tried out in model areas and adopted generally if they succeed.

Cities and towns should be allowed to try new things. To do so, they may depart from some state rules. This is called an experimentation clause. What works well should later apply everywhere.

The SPD wants to launch a relief dialogue between business and the administration and create a central reporting office for red tape. Citizens and companies are to be able to flag cumbersome procedures there. A participation portal is also meant to strengthen public involvement in political decisions.

The SPD wants to set up an office for reporting red tape. Red tape means many forms and rules. Citizens and companies can report problems there. The administration, companies and towns should talk together about making things easier. There should also be a portal for having a say.

The SPD wants to secure good working conditions, fair pay, training and modern equipment in the public service. Collective pay agreements for state employees are to be applied promptly to civil servants as well. The party wants to keep investing in training and further education.

The SPD wants good jobs in the public service. Staff should be paid fairly. Pay raises for employees should also apply to civil servants. The state should keep spending money on training.

The SPD wants to bring civic education closer to people's daily lives and give the state agency for civic education reliable funding. Networks and campaigns for respect and against racism, discrimination and hate speech are to be continued and expanded.

The SPD wants more education about democracy. It should come to where people are, for example at work. The state agency for civic education should get steady funding. Campaigns against hate and racism will go on.

The SPD wants to expand political work against right-wing extremism, prevention programs and support for initiatives. It invokes a democracy able to defend itself, protecting its values through the rule of law and an active civil society.

The SPD wants to do more against right-wing extremism. There should be more prevention. Groups working against it will get more help. The state's commissioner against antiziganism stays. Antiziganism means hostility toward Sinti and Roma.

The SPD wants to trial citizens' assemblies and make funding for pro-democracy organizations more reliable. Volunteers and local elected officials are to be better protected against hostility, threats and violence.

The SPD wants to try out citizens' assemblies. There, citizens make proposals for politics. Groups working for democracy should get funding more easily. Volunteers and local officials should be better protected from threats.

The SPD wants to keep supporting volunteer work and relieve clubs of red tape, including through uniform funding rules and a digital funding portal. The state's volunteering office is to become a state coordination office for volunteering and citizen participation.

Many people in Rhineland-Palatinate volunteer. The SPD wants to make their work easier. Applying for funding should be simpler and digital. An office in the state chancellery helps with all questions about volunteering.

The SPD wants young people to be allowed to vote in state elections from age 16. This is meant to give them an effective part in forming political opinion.

The SPD wants to lower the voting age. Young people should vote for the state parliament from age 16. That way they can take part in politics.

The SPD wants to modernize the state constitution, in particular its reference to the "moral law" (Sittengesetz), which the party considers outdated. At the federal level it wants to push for an expansion of Article 3 of the Basic Law. The aim is clear, up-to-date protection of fundamental rights for everyone.

The SPD wants to update the state constitution. It mentions a "moral law". The SPD thinks this is outdated. The national constitution should change too. Article 3 should name more people it protects. Article 3 is about equality for all people.