The German lower house, or Bundestag, for the first time established a legal basis on Friday that regulates funding for party-affiliated foundations, with the new rules seen as disadvantaging the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.
All parties represented in the Bundestag have foundations close to them. These provide political education in Germany and abroad, conduct political research, offer advice and award scholarships to highly talented students. Financial support from the federal budget amounts to several hundred million euros annually.
The law stipulates that a foundation can only receive funding if the party it is associated with has been represented in the Bundestag at least three times in a row. The respective party must not be excluded from state party funding. The foundation must also guarantee that it actively supports the free democratic basic order and the idea of international understanding.
The law was passed with votes from the ruling coalition parties and the opposition conservative and hard-left parties. The AfD and all unaffiliated parliamentarians voted unanimously against the law.
The AfD protested vehemently against the law because it sees itself at a disadvantage under the new rules. The party is only in its second parliamentary term in the Bundestag, so its Desiderius Erasmus Foundation is not entitled to funding.
The legal regulation became necessary because the Federal Constitutional Court rejected the previous funding practice last February following an AfD lawsuit. The allocation of global grants in the federal budget did not fulfil the constitutional requirements, the judges ruled. The AfD wants to challenge the law in Germany's Constitutional Court.
