During the presentation of their campaign manifesto on Wednesday, the Democratic Party (DP) defined their six “issues of the future": housing, purchasing power, energy, work, family life, and education. Party officials acknowledged that they will have to fight for every single vote along the way if they want to achieve progress in these areas.
According to DP secretary general Carole Hartmann, people fear for their future, most notably due to inflation, housing, and uncertain prospects for their children. The party’s campaign slogan ‘No bei dir’ (‘Close to you’), already used for the municipal elections earlier this year, should therefore be seen as a commitment, promise, and programme, said Hartmann.
There are six priorities that are close to the people, elaborated DP president Lex Delles. At a time of a housing crisis, a national citizens’ fund should enable a collective effort to create more homes, he said. He therefore pleaded for innovative concepts, such as ‘hire purchase’, which allows tenants to eventually buy the home they rent.
“When I listen to the other parties, I get the feeling that they want to turn back the clock on emancipation with conservative family policies”, Delles argued. When it comes to balancing work and family life, the DP believes it should not be one or the other. A next step in family policy would therefore be the extension of parental leave to up to three months. In addition, a right to part-time work should be introduced for parents of children under the age of 13.
For the DP, a regular adjustment of the tax scale to inflation and a reduction in taxes is a top priority for the next legislative period. The party intends to achieve greater tax justice by individualising taxation. The way people live together, whether they are married, in a civil partnership, or in a relationship, should no longer be a criterion for taxation in the medium term, according to the party president.
On the labour front, greater flexibility should be introduced through the concepts of annual working hours and time savings accounts, said DP officials.
Delles underlined that climate policies imposed by “any means necessary” will not work and that civil engagement is required to make progress. If households cannot afford photovoltaic installations, they should be pre-financed by the state, he said. He further argued that such installations should also be installed along motorways and railway lines.
At the end of the presentation, Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, the DP’s national lead candidate, stressed that the DP unites a variety of positions: “The DP is a social party, nobody has a monopoly on social policy in this country.” He referred in particular to parental leave and the fact that every child should have the right to a place in a nursery.
“And we are also an ecological party”, continued the PM while describing the party as defined by active civil engagement in climate policies, by the “photovoltaic offensive”, and by free public transport. “And, as I don’t say often enough, the DP is a liberal party, standing in for tax breaks for the middle class and strong companies”, adds Bettel.
The head of the DP list warned voters that certain parties will likely be making many promises during the election campaign. Some of the front-runners will try to outbid each other with unrealistic demands, he noted. But, this should not be happening during an election campaign, concluded the PM.
