The election campaign in Germany: what do the parties want?

With the Bundestag elections coming up on 23 February 2025, Germany’s political parties are in the midst of the election campaign, vying for voters with their manifestos. We briefly present their stances on the major issues.

Business and the economy

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) is in favour of a “Germany fund” that would finance power and heating grids, electric vehicle charging points and housing. The idea of a loan-financed fund, which could exceed the country’s debt brake (see below), is also supported by Alliance 90/The Greens - for example for the rail network and childcare facilities or to provide an incentive for investment. According to their manifesto,The Left plans to invest 20 billion euros per year in social housing. 

“Hard work must become worthwhile again,” is the slogan of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU). The Union believes that more flexible and simplified regulations and less bureaucracy are the way forward. All the other parties also see reducing bureaucracy as a priority. The Free Democratic Party of Germany (FDP) is demanding “far-reaching and structural reforms” to bring about a “genuine economic transformation”. Among other things, it wants to reduce corporate tax to below 25 percent.

The Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) wants to abolish the carbon price and subsidies for renewable energies and import more fossil energies. 

Taxes and the debt brake

All political parties promise to ease the financial burden on people. The SPD wants to achieve this for 95 percent of all taxpayers - among other things by raising the income threshold for the top rate of tax from 68,480 to 93,000 euros. The CDU and CSU intend to lower the rate of income tax. The top tax rate of 42 percent would only apply to people with high incomes. The Greens want to increase the basic tax-free allowance. The FDP has specified a minimum monthly income level of 1,000 euros for this allowance. 

The Alternative for Germany (AfD) supports lower taxes on income and higher tax relief for capital gains. It also wants to abolish the carbon levy, real estate tax and inheritance tax.

The SPD has raised the prospect of lower VAT on food, while the Left even wants to reduce VAT on basic foodstuffs to zero. The SPD, Greens, Left and BSW want to impose higher taxes on the wealthy. 

The Union and the FDP want to keep the “debt brake” in place - the cap that is enshrined in the Basic Law to limit annual new borrowing to a maximum of 0.35 percent of gross domestic product. The SPD wants to introduce exemptions for investments, while the Greens and the BSW also want to make such exemptions possible. The Left wants to overturn the debt brake.

The minimum wage and citizen’s benefit

Currently, the minimum wage in Germany is 12.82 euros per hour. The SPD, Greens, BSW and Left want to increase it to 15 euros. The CDU/CSU would prefer to see tax-free overtime payments. The Union wants to get rid of the ‘citizen’s benefit’, which is designed to provided a minimum standard of living for the unemployed and help integrate them into the labour market, and replace it with a “new basic benefit” that would focus on getting people into jobs. According to the Union, anyone who is not willing to work would not receive this basic benefit. 

The Left, on the other hand, wants to turn the citizen’s benefit into a “sanction-free minimum benefit” of 1,400 euros per month for single persons.

Pensions

Pensions in Germany are financed by the contributions that employees pay into the statutory pension insurance scheme and by government subsidies. The SPD and the Greens want to maintain the pension level at 48 percent of an employee’s average income. The Greens propose a citizen’s fund comprising loans and federal funds - for investments in sustainable projects. The revenues generated by this fund would then be used to boost pensions. The Union wants economic growth to keep pension levels stable.

The Left and BSW are calling for increases in the statutory pension, even if this means that contributions would have to rise. They want everyone to pay in - including civil servants, the self-employed, members of parliament and ministers. 

The Left wants to lower the retirement age from 67 to 65 - the SPD, Greens and the Union want to leave this unchanged. The FDP is demanding a “truly flexible retirement age”. It has also once again included its calls for an “individual equity pension” and a “retirement savings account for private pensions” in its manifesto.

Migration

The Union wants to immediately introduce a de facto ban on illegal migration. Anyone arriving from an EU or Schengen state to apply for asylum should be turned back at the border. The BSW and AfD follow a similar line. 

The SPD prefers to encourage migrants who have no right of residence to return home voluntarily. If they refuse, the Social Democrats are in favour of rapid deportations, especially in the case of criminals. The Greens wish to see a “fair, binding and solidarity-based distribution of refugees in Europe”. The FDP wants “orderly migration”, while the Left does not wish to impose any asylum restrictions.

Ukraine/Russia

The SPD intends to continue supplying weapons to Ukraine “with prudence and a sense of proportion” and “for as long as necessary”. However, it is against supplying the Taurus cruise missiles requested by Ukraine. By contrast, the Union has raised the prospect of this happening under certain conditions. 

According to the FDP’s manifesto, Ukraine should be provided with a wide range of weapons, including Taurus, so that it can defend itself against launch sites and supply lines on the Russian side. 

The BSW and AfD demand an end to military support for Ukraine and to the economic sanctions against Russia, and a return to Russian gas imports.

The armed forces and defence

The Union is in favour of reinstating compulsory military service, which was abolished in 2011, while the SPD prefers the idea of a “new, flexible military service”. The Greens want to make voluntary military service and reserve forces more attractive to a broad target group. The FDP plans to make “the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional armed forces in Europe”.

The BSW, AfD and Left reject the stationing of US intermediate-range missiles in Germany.