Still no money for AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation

By Kai Rebmann

In the Bundestag, there is always talk of the self-proclaimed “democratic spectrum,” which includes all parties except the AfD and to which, as a matter of course, the SED heirs of the Left are supposed to belong. In recent years, the House has had to break with decades of parliamentary practice on several occasions in order to express its somewhat peculiar understanding of democracy:

A vice president of the Bundestag? Not for the AfD! Assumption of committee chairmanships? Not for the AfD! Age president of the Bundestag from the AfD parliamentary group? Not to be done with the “democratic spectrum”! Tax money for party-affiliated foundations? Basically yes, and not too scarce either, but not a cent for the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation (DES), which is close to the AfD!

In the spring of 2023, the latter even called the Federal Constitutional Court into action, which some observers claim is close to the CDU. Karlsruhe criticized the exclusion of DES from the federal government’s foundation funding, which has an annual volume of around 700 million euros. The CDU, CSU, SPD, Greens, FDP and Left Party prefer to divide this money among themselves.

The Federal Constitutional Court reminded the old parties that there must be “serious reasons” for exclusion from foundation funding. Even before that, the “democratic spectrum” had used ever new sleight of hand to keep the AfD-affiliated DES away from the publicly funded feeding trough.

After entering the Bundestag for the first time, they pointed out that the AfD had yet to establish itself as a stable force. This hurdle seemed to have been cleared by the second move in 2021 at the latest. So the 2022 federal budget received a note that grant money would not be disbursed to party-affiliated foundations if there were “doubts about their fidelity to the constitution.”

It is precisely this note that the Karlsruhe ruling is directed against – but rather for formal reasons. A “note” in the federal budget is not sufficient for such a measure, the judges said.

But the need that arose due to declining approval among the population made inventive people. And it is hardly just a coincidence that the new – and from the point of view of the old parties hopefully now also watertight – draft law on party financing was presented just three days after the disastrous state elections in Bavaria and Hesse for one or the other party.

It does not take an in-depth knowledge of political science to see through the perfidious game of the “democratic spectrum.” Rather, one has to ask how stupid the voters are being taken for and why the parties responsible for the present draft, do not at least make a little effort to disguise their motives.

Previously, a party-affiliated foundation could receive funding if the party in question was able to enter the Bundestag twice in succession, but now the 5-percent hurdle must be cleared three times in succession. In this way, the old parties gallantly skirt around the question of whether the AfD-affiliated Desiderius Erasmus Foundation gives rise to “doubts about loyalty to the constitution” – as is well known, the AfD is in the Bundestag for only the second time in a row.

Attentive readers will now refer to the FDP, which was kicked out of the Bundestag in 2013 and – like the AfD – has only been a member again since 2017. And this is where an exception applies, according to which it is sufficient if the party in question has already been represented in the Bundestag twice in succession in the past – which applies to the FDP, but not to the AfD.

The left will probably benefit from the same passage in the not too distant future. There is more and more evidence in favor of founding a Wagenknecht party in the spring of 2024. By then, at the latest, the faction status of the SED heirs would have been lost – and with it access to funding for their party-affiliated foundation.

Conclusion: Provided that the so-called “Foundation Financing Act” passes through the Bundestag, of which there is no doubt, and this time is also rubber-stamped by the Federal Constitutional Court, the “democratic spectrum” will have its peace – for the time being.

Because in two years at the latest, should the AfD enter the Bundestag for the third time in a row, the legal strategists of the old parties will have to put their heads together again.

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SPD leader Esken after election disaster on Anne Will: terminal loss of reality. AfD must stay outside

Contributions marked by name always reflect the opinion of the author, not mine. I value my readers as adults and want to offer them different points of view so they can form their own opinions.

Kai Rebmann is a publicist and publisher. He manages a publishing company and runs his own blog.

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