The association of the Bavarian metal and electrical industry gave the CSU a generous Christmas present: 390,000 euros were received by the Bavarian government party on December 23. The association saved the CSU the annual balance for large donations of at least 50,000 euros, which must be reported immediately to the President of the Bundestag. In addition to the association, Munich entrepreneur Georg Nemetschek already contributed 95,000 euros to the CSU balance sheet in March - so the party received a total of just under half a million euros in large donations.
The association's contribution only became known during the course of Monday, when the Bundestag updated the information on its website. Until then, the CSU had even been behind the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany ( MLPD ) in the ranking of large donation recipients with a total of 110,055 euros.
The MLPD benefited from the donations of two private individuals. The Eisenach Opel employee Fritz Hofmann donated 60,000 euros to her. The money came from the inheritance of his late parents, it said in a statement from the MLPD in April. "I was asked why I don't make a good living from the money," Hofmann was quoted as saying. A donation to the MLPD is "the best investment I can imagine", after all, capitalism should be overcome. The trade unionist Kai Müller-Horn from Düsseldorf contributed the remaining 50,055 euros.
Total donations decreased
Individual donations of more than 50,000 euros only make up a small proportion of income for larger parties. In 2017 alone, the CSU generated around 43 million euros, the majority of which came from state party funding and membership fees. It is the same with the other parties represented in the Bundestag (the latest available figures on the total income of the parties can be found here). More recent information will only be available after all annual reports for 2018 are published in the coming year.
Until then, the large donations are at least an indicator of how helpful the particularly financiers are. In this regard, 2019 was a worrying year for the nationwide parties: the total amount of large donations fell from around 3.1 million to 1.8 million euros.
One reason for the decrease in the total: The car maker Daimler no longer transferred large donations in 2019. In 2018, 100,000 euros each went to the CDU and SPD. Last April, however, the group announced that it would no longer donate to parties. With regard to the statistics since 2009, it is striking that election years mean a significant leap upwards - and that 2019 was the worst year since 2015 with 1.8 million.
An overview of the most important findings from the donation list of the Bundestag:
- The CDU has to put up with the biggest damper: from around one million euros in 2018, it fell back to 335,002 euros. Susanne Klatten and Stefan Quandt from the family of BMW heirs each transferred 50,001 euros, another 55,000 euros came from the Association of the Metal and Electrical Industry in North Rhine-Westphalia, where the CDU governed with the FDP.
The Berlin contractor Klaus Groth was even more generous with 100,000 euros in the past. However, the total amount can still change: Last year, the CDU notified the President of the Bundestag on December 31 of a considerable donation from Südwestmetall, the association of the metal and electrical industry in Baden-Württemberg (EUR 150,000). - As in the previous year, the energy group Evonik awarded the CDU and SPD a donation of 80,000 euros each. In total, the Social Democrats raised 156,600 euros through large donations - in addition to Evonik, they owed this to the Brandenburg artist and entrepreneur Rainer Opolka.
- The FDP made up some places at the end of the year: it received € 100,000 from WI Bad Wörishofen GmbH in mid-December, € 60,000 from the Bavarian Metal and Electrical Industry Association at Christmas, and € 100,000 from Südwestmetall on December 27th.
- In terms of large donations, the Greens had a similar year to 2018 - they received 120,000 euros from the founder of Baden-Württemberg, Frank Hansen, who had already supported them with 100,000 euros in 2017. The Berlin investor Antonis Schwarz contributed 65,000 euros - and the Greens also received 50,001 euros from the Bavarian Metal and Electrical Industry Association.
- The pro-European party Volt , which was founded in 2017, appears in the statistics for the first time.
- The left rejects donations from companies and associations, but was pleased to receive a donation of 60,000 euros from a Dresden resident.
- As in the previous year, the AfD received - at least officially - no individual donation of more than 50,000 euros.
- The Südschleswigsche votersverband (SSW) plays a special role in statistics: the party of the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein receives regular allocations from the Ministry of Culture in Copenhagen. In 2019 it was just under 492,000 euros - a few thousand euros more than in 2018.
In view of the numbers, the anti-corruption organization Transparency Germany demanded tougher rules. "Lowering the publication threshold for party donations in particular is essential to combat donation denominations," said chairman Hartmut Bäumer. In addition, income from sponsorship would have to be treated like donations. Germany must finally take the issue seriously and follow European standards. "It is a sign of poverty that despite the criticism of the Council of Europe against corruption (GRECO) group in Germany, there has been no movement," said Bäumer.