FAQ
Status: 10/12/2021 3:28 a.m.
In 2018 the Bundestag decided that the parties should receive more money from the state. The opposition factions consider this unconstitutional and have sued against it in Karlsruhe.
What exactly is Karlsruhe about?
The question is whether it is constitutionally permissible for the parties to receive more money from the state. The parties are largely financed by donations and contributions from their members. In addition, they receive grants from the state so that they can cope with their tasks. However, these are limited.
In mid-2018, the Bundestag decided, with the votes of the Union and the SPD, that the upper limit should be raised. In the past, the limit for the grants that all parties receive per year was 165 million euros. Now it is 190 million euros.
The grand coalition justified the increase primarily with the fact that the parties’ expenditures had increased in the course of digitization: for new technology, for better protection against hacker attacks and for additional personnel. However, the opposition considers the Union and SPD’s actions to be unconstitutional and has therefore sued the Federal Constitutional Court.
How did the opposition justify their complaints?
The main point of criticism is that the ruling factions have not justified carefully enough why the parties need more money from the state. The increase of 25 million euros was arbitrary, criticized the parliamentary manager of the Green parliamentary group Britta Hasselmann: “When we asked why it was 25 million euros and not 30 million or 17 million, there was no reaction at all. There was no objective reason. ”
The parliamentary groups of the FDP and the Left also consider the justification for the increase to be inadequate. The parliamentary manager of the FDP parliamentary group, Marco Buschmann, accuses the Union and SPD of having pushed the change in the law through the Bundestag three years ago at a rush hour. “She did it in a rush, which is against political hygiene – and what is worse – it is our firm belief that it is against the constitution.”
According to Buschmann, the public must be able to recognize that the parties are not making use of the state treasury on their own initiative. Exactly this impression arose due to a lack of sufficient justification. The AfD parliamentary group has filed its own complaint with the constitutional court. She also criticizes that the opposition did not have enough time to deal with the new regulation. This is a violation of the parliamentary participation rights of the opposition factions.
What is the likelihood that the opposition factions will be right?
That will only become apparent in the course of the negotiation. In any case, the Federal Constitutional Court takes the issue very seriously. You can see this from the fact that the court wants to negotiate for two days, which is rather unusual. One thing is clear: the legislature may not simply increase state subsidies.
According to the previous case law of the Federal Constitutional Court, an increase in state funds is only permissible if the circumstances of the parties have “changed radically”. Whether digitization has actually led to a radical change in the workload of the parties is likely to be one of the decisive questions that need to be clarified.
When can a judgment be expected?
A judgment will be made in the next year at the earliest. A decision was delayed because the negotiation had already been terminated twice, but had been postponed due to the corona pandemic. Now the hearing does not take place in the courtroom as usual, but in a large exhibition hall outside Karlsruhe, where there is more space for everyone involved.