Since the amount of the party funding adjustment was not sufficiently justified, the German Federal Constitutional Court has now declared the increase in funding for parties by EUR 25 million unconstitutional. The verdict was about a decision from 2018.
The coalition consisting of the CDU/CSU and the SPD then decided to increase this to 190 million euros per year. The parties justify this mainly with the growing challenges of digitization such as hackers, fake news and data protection on the internet. To cope with such tasks, more money is needed.
Opposition parties filed lawsuits
With its decision, the court in Karlsruhe agreed with 216 MPs from the Greens, the Left Party and the FDP – all opposition parties at the time. They had the constitutionality of the increase checked in Karlsruhe. Even though they themselves benefited from the increase, they found the substantial increase disproportionate.
The President of the Second Senate and Vice-President of the Court, Doris König, said an absolute upper limit on partial government funding should prevent citizens from getting the impression that the parties are improperly helping themselves out of the coffers. “Because such an impression can lead to a permanent loss of acceptance for this system,” the chairman argued.
The top of the Union faction reacted disappointed to the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court. “Of course I would have wanted a different result,” said the parliamentary manager of the CDU/CSU MPs in the Bundestag, Thorsten Frei (CDU), in Berlin on Tuesday. At the same time, he emphasized that the court had drawn a line, “that’s right. (…) And all parties, including the CDU, will now have to orient themselves on that. And we’re going to work with that.”
Does money need to be refunded now?
CSU regional group leader Alexander Dobrindt said the ruling means that the 100 million euros paid over the four years in question must be repaid. The CSU for this period is about four million euros. The party had already taken precautions in the event of such a ruling. The money was not spent in anticipation of such a decision.
According to SPD Secretary General Kevin Kühnert, the democratic parties in the Bundestag should talk about the new arrangement “soon” after the Federal Constitutional Court’s ruling on party financing. They should look together “what an appropriate, constitutional justification for the additional needs could look like,” Kühnert said in Karlsruhe on Tuesday. With the ruling, the old legal basis for party financing applies again. It is not yet entirely clear what this means in concrete terms for the funds already disbursed.
Source: Krone
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