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Pure Haseloff
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The license fee can be increased by 86 cents per month.
The Federal Constitutional Court decided that morning.
Eight months earlier, the CDU Prime Minister in Saxony-Anhalt, Reiner Haseloff, withdrew the bill from the vote in the state parliament after it became apparent that there would be no majority for him.
"We respect this decision," Haseloff said of the court's decision. But there were good reasons not to agree to the relevant contract. Now there must be a new agreement procedure at the state level. "The fact is that the state of Saxony-Anhalt has not approved the state treaty." Haseloff said the burdens from the corona pandemic must play a role in the future setting of the fees.
After the decision, Haseloff sees a »dilemma situation«, »that one can take note of this financial requirement and actually only agree if one wants to act in conformity with the constitution as a parliamentarian." A freely elected member of a parliament is, however, only obliged to his conscience and has to make his own assessment. A state government is not mandated to exert unrestricted influence on parliament "until it finally approves" so that the financial needs are covered.
This dilemma situation has remained constitutionally unresolved, criticized Haseloff.
He described this as a "democracy problem" and said that the court had unfortunately not given any advice on how this could be avoided in the future.
It could therefore be that the situation arises again that a parliament with freely elected members makes a different decision than that presented by an authority to determine the financial requirements.
"Something similar can happen again and again in the future."
A freely elected MP could "already have doubts" as to whether the recommendations of the commission for determining the financial needs of the broadcasting corporations (KEF) should always be followed.
"Clear slap in the face for the Kenya coalition"
Most of the parties welcomed the judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court - and handed it out against the CDU.
"The CDU has immensely damaged the broadcasters but also the state of Saxony-Anhalt with their irresponsible and unauthorized actions to reject the adjustment of the broadcasting fee," said the Green parliamentary group leader in Saxony-Anhalt, Cornelia Lüddemann, after the decision. "I very much welcome the fact that the Federal Constitutional Court has ruled in favor of the broadcasters and thus ensures their independence."
The left also supported the decision from Karlsruhe - and against the state government. "The judgment published today is a clear slap in the face for the still executive Kenya coalition in Saxony-Anhalt," said left parliamentary group leader Eva von Angern. "The verdict once again makes it clear that the coalition of the CDU, SPD and Greens committed a breach of the constitution, just to fool people into thinking that an increase in the broadcast license fee of 86 cents could be prevented."
But not everyone supports the court's decision. The parliamentary managing director of the FDP parliamentary group Marco Buschmann sees the decision as a weakening of the state parliaments. It is not the job of politics to evaluate legal decisions of the constitutional court. "It is noticeable, however, that the decision removes the power of the state parliaments to a certain extent and massively strengthens the commission for reviewing and determining the financial needs of the broadcasters, the KEF," Buschmann told SPIEGEL. “It is practically impossible to deviate from their recommendations. It remains to be seen whether this will strengthen the acceptance of the system in the long term. "
The AfD was even more critical.
"The judgment of the Federal Constitutional Court is deeply undemocratic because it undermines the co-determination of the states in setting the contribution," said party chairman Tino Chrupalla.
It is time to transform public service broadcasting into a payment model.
"Every citizen should be free to decide whether he wants to subscribe to the program in whole or in part," said Chrupalla.
mfh / muk
