Full Speed Ahead: Progress in 2022+ – A Decade for a Just Transformation

The new government must be a government of innovation that promotes technical innovations, leads by example and reforms the state itself. Accordingly, the debate between “more” and “less” state needs to be resolved – it should first and foremost focus on the question of the better, the faster, the social and the collaborative state.

• The culture of administration and digitalisation as important leverage to shape a socially acceptable form of climate policy
• Establishment of an international climate club (of the willing) and proposals to support countries in the global south on the path to climate neutrality
• Voting rights from the age of 16, an advisory council for future-related matters or an ombudsperson for future generations

Policies of innovation and renewal are only possible with massive investments: on the one hand, in the infrastructure that delivers the fundamental services that form the “basis of quality of life for all”; on the other hand, in an infrastructure for climate-neutral and environmentally sound economic activity. The goal must be to achieve equal living conditions in cities and rural areas.

• Increasing the financial leeway of the municipalities, for instance, by reforming tax splitting, introducing bonus systems with social and economic indicators, or taking over old debts of structurally weak regions
• Giving citizens on the ground more influence and a greater say by granting more direct influence in the form of committees that have the right to make proposals and which represent broad sections of regional society
• Investments in broadband and mobile phone networks, the infrastructure of charging points for electric vehicles, energy and power grids, fast and reactivated railway lines, and in networked forms of mobility

Today, Germany’s future will not any longer be solely determined by economic issues significantly linked to the combating of the climate crisis – but will also be determined by ensuring that political reforms do not divide society even further. Economic success, social cohesion, ecological politics, individual freedom – all these goals can only be reached if there is trust within society, if we push back against discrimination and racism, if we are open to different kinds of personal backgrounds and – on this foundation – if we discuss and accept shared ground rules.

• The welfare state must be scrutinised in terms of its financing, access, infrastructure and benefits, particularly regarding the pensions system, the labour market, and in terms of the care and health sectors.
• The introduction of the so-called equity pension scheme could be the herald of a paradigm shift that will bring dividends in the future. 
• Commitment to anti-discrimination measures and a liberal immigration law as well as a new concept of family that takes into account the diversity in German society