Interview by
Claudia Tieschky
Every time there is a dispute about the broadcasting tax, it is about him – or about the group of 16 independent experts, of which he has been chairman for twelve years. Heinz Fischer-Heidlberger, 69, has been speaking for KEF since December 2009, the commission to determine the financial needs of broadcasters, of which he has been a member since the beginning of 2007. Every four years it determines the contribution so that ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio can fulfill their mandate. The former President of the Bavarian Supreme Audit Office and the other experts never give the broadcasters as much as they want. And according to the case law of the Federal Constitutional Court, the states are only allowed to deviate from this in extreme exceptional cases. Result: Every time there is a dispute after the KEF recommendation for the new contribution. Fischer-Heidlberger, who stops at the end of the year, has never been impressed by this.