What do the parties in Brandenburg say on the economy?

The AfD makes reindustrializing Brandenburg a priority and wants to secure existing industrial sites. A state initiative is meant to make trades and industrial jobs more attractive, including through free master craftsman training.

The AfD wants more industry in Brandenburg again. Training to become a master craftsman should be free. Starting a company should become easier. Steel plants in the state should stay.

The AfD wants to set up special economic zones where simpler administrative and legal rules apply to investors, founders and business owners. The platform points to Poland as a model.

The AfD wants to create special areas for business. Simpler rules for companies should apply there. Decisions should be fast and involve little paperwork. Poland already does this.

The AfD wants to preserve, extend and better connect hiking, cycling and themed routes and other tourist attractions. From 2025, the state budget is to include a dedicated tourism budget for districts and cities.

The AfD wants to do more for tourism. Hiking and bike trails should get better. Districts and cities should get their own money for this from 2025. Local restaurants should also get support.

The AfD wants Brandenburg to press the federal government to get the EU-wide ban on combustion engines lifted. It cites looming losses of jobs and prosperity and wants to advance e-fuel research in the state.

The EU has decided that new cars with gasoline or diesel engines will be banned. The AfD wants to overturn this ban. It fears that many jobs will be lost. Brandenburg should do research on e-fuels. These are fuels made artificially.

The AfD wants to provide targeted support for the video game industry in Brandenburg. It regards digital games as a cultural asset and as a sector with great potential for jobs.

The AfD wants to support companies that make video games. New companies should come to Brandenburg. This should create jobs. The AfD says games are also culture.

The BSW rejects privatization of essential public services and aims for long-term return to municipal ownership. Health care, housing, energy, water, and waste services should not serve profit-making.

The BSW wants key services to belong to the towns. These include water, energy, trash, housing, and health care. Private firms should not profit from them. The party wants to stop sales to private owners.

The BSW wants to break up market-dominating corporations and hand unavoidable monopolies to nonprofit providers. A future fund should support domestic companies and start-ups, and foreign trade policy should rely on trade with many partners rather than sanctions.

The BSW wants to limit the power of big corporations. Very large corporations should be split up. A fund should support new companies at home. Germany should trade with many countries and impose fewer sanctions.

The BSW wants to simplify procedures for businesses, reduce reporting and documentation duties, and digitize public administration faster. Founders should be exempt from regulations for a limited time so that Brandenburg becomes a location for start-ups.

The BSW wants less red tape for companies. Companies should have to write fewer reports. Public offices should work faster and more digitally. New companies should have fewer rules to follow for a while. This should bring more young companies to Brandenburg.

The BSW wants subsidies to go more to small and mid-sized businesses rather than mainly to large corporations. Funding programs should be merged and simplified. The money should help these businesses become more competitive and pay higher wages.

The BSW wants more support for small and mid-sized companies. Not only big companies like Tesla should get state money. There should be fewer separate funding programs. The companies should also use the money to pay higher wages.

The CDU wants Brandenburg to remain an industrial state and to strengthen its industrial core through competitive conditions and fast permitting. Key sites such as the PCK Schwedt refinery, battery production in Schwarzheide and the Eisenhüttenstadt steelworks should be secured and expanded.

Brandenburg should stay a state with lots of industry. Permits for factories should come quickly. Important plants should stay open. These include the refinery in Schwedt and the steel mill in Eisenhüttenstadt. Schwarzheide should build and recycle more batteries.

The CDU wants to reduce reporting and statistics obligations for businesses and introduce deemed approvals wherever possible. Starting a business and handing one over to a successor should become faster and easier.

Companies should fill out fewer forms and reports. If an agency does not answer in time, a request counts as approved. New companies should be easy to start quickly. Older businesses should find successors more easily.

The CDU wants to plan, permit and set aside suitable industrial and commercial land in advance to speed up new investments. In the program's view, the Tesla factory is a model for this approach.

The state should plan land for factories ahead of time. Then companies can build faster. Poor towns should get state money for this. The CDU names Tesla as a good example.

The CDU wants to simplify funding programs and public procurement law. It considers the procurement minimum wage unnecessary since the general minimum wage was introduced, and it rejects non-procurement criteria such as gender-equality rules because, in its view, they disadvantage small firms.

Brandenburg has a special minimum wage for public contracts. The CDU wants to end it. There is already a minimum wage for everyone. Other rules, like on gender equality, should not count for contracts anymore. Funding applications should be digital and simple.

The CDU wants to create a "Brandenburg Economic Council" as an advisory body to the state government. It would pool expertise from business, unions and academia.

The state government should get an economic council. It includes people from companies, unions and universities. The council should advise the government. It may also make proposals.

The CDU wants tourism development to be more closely tailored to demand, focusing on cycling, water-based, cultural and health tourism. For restaurants, it will push at the federal level for a 7 percent VAT rate on food services. It cites high energy and purchasing costs as the reason.

More visitors should come to Brandenburg. Cycling, water, culture and health are the focus. Restaurants should pay less tax on food. This tax should be 7 percent. Waterways and locks should be kept in good shape.

The CDU sees structural change as Lusatia's most important task and wants to be a reliable partner so that funding pledges turn into successful projects. Lusatia is to become Europe's first "Net-Zero Valley."

Coal mining in Lusatia is ending. The region has to change. The CDU wants to help Lusatia with this. Lusatia should become a center for climate-friendly industry.

The CDU wants a new state program, “Strong Villages in Rural Areas,” to support small municipalities with weak finances. It also proposes further steps for village development, such as village shops, better statistics on villages, and broadband coverage everywhere.

The CDU wants to help small villages with little money. There should be a new funding program. It is called “Strong Villages in Rural Areas.” Villages get one-time money for repairs or investments. Village shops and fast internet should also get support.

The CDU wants to develop the capital region more closely with Berlin and focus the joint strategic framework more on investments in the future. Electricity generated in the region should be used there, for example by data centers in areas with surplus power.

Brandenburg and Berlin should work together more closely. Brandenburg often makes more power than it uses. This power should stay in the region. So big data centers should be built there. A fast fiber network with Berlin should be built.

The SPD wants to bring new industrial companies to Brandenburg and to modernize existing ones and make them climate-neutral. To do this, the state's economic development agency would be strengthened. Small businesses, skilled trades and tourism would also continue to receive support.

The SPD wants to bring more industry to Brandenburg. Existing companies should become modern and stop harming the climate. The state should help companies more. Small companies and tourism should also get help.

The SPD wants to make planning and permitting procedures for the transformation of the economy much faster. To do this, agencies would get more staff, red tape would be cut and maximum deadlines would apply to permits.

Companies often need a permit from an agency. This often takes a long time. The SPD wants it to go faster. Agencies should get more staff. There should be fixed deadlines for processing.

The SPD wants to push at the federal level for master craftsman training to become free of charge. This would put the master qualification on an equal footing with a university degree. Skilled trades would also get support with digitalization and recruiting young talent.

People who want to become a master craftsman must pay for it. The SPD wants to end these costs. Studying at a university is free too. The state should also help the skilled trades in other ways.