Status: October 12, 2021 01:04 p.m.
Before the Federal Constitutional Court, negotiations on the increase in state funding for political parties decided by the Union and the SPD have begun – according to constitutional judge Müller, this is “uncharted territory” for the court. The opposition had sued.
The Federal Constitutional Court has started a two-day negotiation in Karlsruhe on the financing of the political parties. A joint proposal from the parliamentary groups of the FDP, Left Party and Greens as well as a proposal from the AfD parliamentary group is being negotiated. They want to examine the increase in state funding for political parties decided by the SPD and the Union in 2018.
At that time, the Bundestag, with the votes of the Union and the SPD, decided to raise the absolute upper limit for state subsidies for all parties from 165 to 190 million euros. The parliamentary groups of the then black-red government majority argued in particular with higher spending due to digitization.
The Greens, the Left and the FDP see this as a violation of the constitutional principle of political freedom of the parties. The AfD parliamentary group also filed a complaint against the Bundestag because the grand coalition had passed the law in such a short time that there was no time to mobilize opposition movements in the population. All parties sent representatives to Karlsruhe for the negotiation.
Pau: “Completely arbitrary”
The Bundestag member of the Left, Petra Pau, accused the grand coalition of increasing the amount of party funding in 2018 “completely arbitrarily”. The highest German judges had emphasized in an earlier judgment that parties had to be remote from the state and that they were not allowed to decide on their own funding, said Linke representative Pau before the hearing of the Federal Constitutional Court.
The grand coalition, on the other hand, broke the custom of negotiating funding between all parliamentary groups, “and raised the amount completely arbitrarily without any objective justification,” said Pau.
Greens demand clear rules
The Greens also criticized the increase and hope for strict guidelines. “I expect the court to adhere to clear rules for party financing,” said Manuela Rottmann, the party’s representative before the Karlsruhe court. That is important so that democracy retains its approval.
The reason for such a request must be correct the moment a decision is made. “If we do it that way, the parties will always approach the state and raise more funds and then try to make it plausible in some way. It can’t be,” said Rottmann.
AfD accuses the SPD and Union of breaching the constitution
The deputy AfD federal spokesman Stephan Brandner also accuses the SPD and Union of having passed the party financing law particularly quickly so that there is less discussion about it. According to AfD representative Brandner in Karlsruhe, the “beating through in the boar gallop in the vicinity of the soccer world championship” was intended to remain under the public’s radar.
According to Brandner, the coalition factions “clearly” violated constitutional law on the matter. “Because the Federal Constitutional Court has set an upper limit – and it will be torn down.”
The Union defended against the increase in the ceiling for state subsidies. More funds would have to be invested in digital communication channels, said the CDU representative Ansgar Heveling before the start of the negotiations in Karlsruhe. At party conferences, for example, you have to ensure that the person who is entitled to vote is also the person who casts a vote. “It’s not even an email that you write.” Attacks from outside would also have to be fended off. “From my point of view, this confirms that it was right to raise the upper limit.”
A third of the party’s income is made up of grants
Government grants make up about a third of the parties’ income. The amount depends on the proportion of votes the respective party has in elections, the membership fees and mandate income, as well as donations.
There are two limits to this: First, a relative upper limit, which stipulates that parties are not allowed to get more from the state than they generate themselves. In addition, there is an absolute upper limit that is at stake in the current proceedings before the Federal Constitutional Court: It will be adjusted to the price trend, but should otherwise only be increased if the situation has “changed dramatically”.
This is precisely where the question arises, according to Federal Constitutional Court Judge Peter Müller, when there will be drastic changes in the situation that justify an increase in the upper limit for the state part of party financing – and how high the increase may be.
Legislation on your own behalf?
Because, in contrast to many laws, there are no opposing interests, because other parties have no disadvantages, there could be a case of legislation in their own right, said Müller. The two-day negotiations serve to “shed light on this constitutional uncharted territory”.
On the first day it should be about the legislative procedure and the formal constitutionality, on Wednesday mainly about the question of the extent to which the increase in the upper limit is compatible with the principle of the freedom of the political parties enshrined in the Basic Law.