Status: 10/25/2022 10:18 am
The FDP wants a law to prevent the AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation from being funded from federal funds. She calls for fixed criteria for funding – including a commitment to the free-democratic basic order.
The FDP is demanding that state subsidies for the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which is close to the AfD, be prevented by law. No money from federal funds should be used to “promote right-wing cadre schools,” said the parliamentary director of the FDP parliamentary group, Stephan Thomae, the editorial network Germany.
Thomae explained that it was “not plausible for the citizens to use tax money to support forces that are torpedoing our free and democratic basic order”. The FDP politician called for “a foundation law with fixed criteria”. This should “verifiably bind the work of the political foundations to the free-democratic basic order”.
At least three full electoral terms in the Bundestag
Thomae also called for the law to stipulate that a foundation only receives funding if the party close to it has been represented in the Bundestag for at least three full electoral periods. The foundations close to the Greens and Left only received state funds twelve or 15 years after they first entered the Bundestag, said the FDP politician. The AfD has been a member of the Bundestag for five years.
The Bundestag decides on grants to the political foundations as part of the budget deliberations. According to the 2022 budget law, only those who advocate the maintenance of the free-democratic basic order should be funded.
Exact regulation is missing so far
A precise legal regulation for the financing of party-affiliated foundations does not yet exist. According to a judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court in 1986, however, it must be ensured that “all permanent, important political trends in the Federal Republic of Germany are adequately taken into account”. So far, only the other six party-affiliated foundations have received so-called global grants from the federal budget – this year a total of 148 million euros.
AfD sues in Karlsruhe
The AfD feels that its right to equal opportunities has been violated and has therefore filed an organ dispute with the Federal Constitutional Court, it sees its right to equal opportunities violated. Oral negotiations will be held on the AfD lawsuit in Karlsruhe this morning.
In August, the AfD failed with an urgent application in Karlsruhe, with which they wanted to obtain immediate grants for the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation before the final decision was made.