Status: 25.10.2022 09:01 a.m
Party-affiliated foundations are funded with millions from the federal budget. The Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which is close to the AfD, has so far received nothing. The party sees its right to equal opportunities violated. The Federal Constitutional Court is hearing about this today.
Currently, only the foundations of the CDU, CSU, SPD, FDP, the Greens and the Left Party receive money from the federal budget. According to the 2022 budget law, that is a total of around 600 million euros for this year. The Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which is close to the AfD, does not receive any money, as in previous years. The foundation is chaired by AfD politician Erika Steinbach, who was a former member of the CDU.
A special financing law for political foundations does not yet exist. Which foundations receive how much money is determined during the budget negotiations and then decided by the Bundestag. The budget law stipulates that the foundations only receive financial resources under certain conditions. So they must be constitutional.
According to the budget law, they must always offer the guarantee “that they are committed to the free democratic basic order within the meaning of the Basic Law and stand up for its preservation”. If there are doubts about the constitutional loyalty, no grants may be approved.
The Budget Committee of the Bundestag based its decision on a declaration from the foundations that had previously been funded in 1998. At the time, they had declared that funding should only be given if the party close to the foundation was elected to parliament in at least two consecutive federal elections .
AfD sees the right to equal opportunities violated
The AfD considers the procedure to be unconstitutional and therefore sued in Karlsruhe. She sees her right to equal opportunities for the parties violated and refers to a judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court from 1986 on political foundations. According to this ruling, it must be ensured that funding “takes appropriate account of all fundamental political trends in the Federal Republic of Germany that are permanently important. Only if state funding takes into account the plural structure of social and political forces will it do justice to the constitutional requirement that equals are unequal and to treat unequals…differently.”
The AfD argues that it has now achieved great political importance. Last year she entered the Bundestag for the second time. That is why the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which is close to her, must also be financially supported by the state.
Objective reason for the different treatment?
The parliamentarians of the other parties represented in the Bundestag, on the other hand, are of the opinion that the complaint by the AfD is unfounded. According to the Basic Law, parties have no direct right to have foundations related to them receive funding. In addition, there is a sufficient objective reason for the different treatment of the various foundations.
Today’s negotiation will presumably deal with two central questions: Is a special financing law needed for the decision on foundation funds, which sets clear criteria for the distribution? And can the AfD-affiliated foundation be funded by the state, even though there are connections to right-wing extremists and doubts about their loyalty to the constitution? A verdict is not expected for a few months at the earliest.