Preamble
Municipal politics is more than administration. In the municipality, it is decided whether politics takes place close to people’s everyday lives or distances itself from them. For us, left‑wing municipal politics means: not talking about people, but listening to them and shaping municipalities together with them.
Our political approach is social, because it combats poverty, housing shortages, and poor working conditions. It is democratic, because it involves people on the ground instead of making decisions over their heads. It is emancipatory, because it shows: change is possible — if we do it together.
The goal of our municipal politics is to improve the living conditions of working people and those who are disadvantaged. We are committed to ensuring that public responsibilities remain in public hands — from energy to housing, from transport to health and care. We want to make municipalities places of participation and co‑determination.
Housing and rent
Rents in the Grafschaft are too high.
The need for (affordable) housing is enormous. According to the GN, in Nordhorn alone around 250 apartments would have to be built every year. To achieve this in a socially just way, GeWo as well as the Bauverein Bentheim must be supported.
At the district level, a housing cooperative should be founded that organizes social housing beyond the areas of Nordhorn and Bentheim.
Housing exists to serve the people who live in it, not the profits of a few. Because of this — and due to the high demand — social housing must be planned with a focus on building entire neighborhoods. Large housing complexes that are modern and tailored to the needs of socially diverse residents create more quality of life for people in the Grafschaft without overburdening them financially.
Regenerative energy supply must be considered just as much as the everyday needs of the residents.
Social housing must be prioritized. Temporary social obligations for investors are merely an attempt to exploit working people in the Grafschaft while selling it to them as social policy. The only party truly benefiting from socially‑bound housing is the investor.
To counter homelessness in the Grafschaft, we support Housing First projects. Existing projects — such as the Kolpinghaus Nordhorn — currently fail in their mission to support homeless people, as affected individuals report.
Care and health
We demand residential housing for nursing trainees. Nursing training places people in the Grafschaft who live in rural areas in front of challenges they cannot overcome. With the current public transport system, it is not possible to complete the training. To ensure that people still choose a nursing career, this barrier must be removed.
To improve healthcare in the Grafschaft, we believe that concepts such as cooperative health centers should be tested to make the region more attractive for doctors. To ensure healthcare in rural areas, transport services or mobile medical practices must be expanded.
Furthermore, we call for regular expert lectures presenting new medical findings — both to educate the general population and to support professional staff.
We demand that access to pregnancy terminations (abortions) be organized within the Grafschaft.
As the left we stand for:
- Cooperative health centers to increase the attractiveness of the Grafschaft for doctors, therapists, etc., and to reduce barriers to healthcare
- Mobile medical practices for better rural healthcare
- Municipally organized public experct lectures
- Access to abortion in the Grafschaft
Education
The Grafschaft has managed to effectively transform our tiered school system into a multi‑class system. As the GN report, grammar schools in the Grafschaft are well staffed with teachers, whereas the other schools face shortages. The same applies on average to equipment and resources. The root of this difference is organizational: while grammar schools are funded by the district, the other schools are financed by the towns and municipalities. Different budgets lead to unequal education. The fact that these budgets are intertwined and sometimes compete — as seen in discussions about the district levy — only worsens the situation.
We demand that all schools be equipped and funded through the district.
We want free lunches in schools and daycare centers, as well as free loans of school materials.
We demand a massive expansion of German language courses. Sufficient daycare places must be created — both regular places and integrative places.
We call for well‑designed inclusion, developed by dedicated multiprofessional teams. For this to succeed, the public health office must urgently be strengthened so it can act quickly, initiate diagnoses, and help parents reach the right specialists.
- Free lunch in daycare centers and schools
- Free borrowing of school materials
- Free public transport for students and trainees
- Massive expansion of German courses; offering German courses in residential complexes
- When the proportion of children with a migration background reaches 25 percent, an additional educational specialist must be present in daycare groups and school classes
- Introduction of classroom assistance in schools
- Schools must be equally well equipped regardless of school type or municipality — therefore all schools should again fall under the responsibility of the district
Public Transport
(ÖPNV)
Public transport in the Grafschaft, as in many rural areas, is at best inadequate. It is barely affordable, and the times during which one can be mobile are severely limited. Anyone in the Grafschaft without a car is left stranded.
The climate crisis requires a shift in our mobility, and this shift means not only more e‑mobility but also less individual car traffic. It must be worthwhile for people to leave their cars at home — or not to own one at all.
We demand: more public transport for less money!
To make this efficient in rural areas, we call for the development of an app that enables residents to use public transport flexibly. This app will replace and improve the current on‑call bus system.
We also demand higher frequency of services. Good intervals on the main routes must be complemented by a flexible system that leaves no one behind — even on Sundays. Ideally, public transport is financed through a levy and therefore free of charge. A transitional measure on the way there is free tickets for students, trainees, and senior citizens.
As the Left, we stand for:
- A bus stop must be reachable for every resident within an acceptable distance (e.g., 1,000 meters) and must be barrier‑free
- Every bus line must be operated with a regular interval (e.g., hourly)
- Routes that are only used for specific purposes (e.g., school transport) must be served through other methods (call taxis, community buses, digital on‑demand systems)
- Sufficient capacity for bicycles, wheelchairs, and strollers in buses and trains
- Expansion of operating hours in the evening and on weekends