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Foundation director Erika Steinbach, here at the AfD party conference in Augsburg 2018
Photo: Matthias Balk / dpa
There is trouble in the traffic light coalition about the funding of political foundations.
The SPD, Greens and FDP had agreed not to give the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which is close to the AfD and extremely right-wing, any budgetary funds so that they could not use state funds to spread anti-democratic content.
The AfD is suing on behalf of the foundation, which is headed by the former CDU member of the Bundestag and today's AfD woman, Erika Steinbach.
It is about up to 70 million euros per year, plus so-called start-up financing.
Not a very transparent process
Experts such as the constitutional lawyer Christoph Möllers think it is possible that the foundation will win – or at least that the court could demand that the distribution of the funds be put on a firmer legal footing.
The Budget Committee in the Bundestag is currently making the decision, the process is not particularly transparent.
The Greens and FDP would like to introduce a corresponding law that also stipulates that foundations must actively support the free and democratic basic order.
In this way, one could also prevent a phase after the court judgment in which no foundation receives funds, which experts consider a possible scenario.
However, according to SPIEGEL information, the SPD is blocking a corresponding law, even though the coalition agreement states that the funding of foundations is to be "legally better secured".
Dirk Wiese, SPD parliamentary group leader and responsible for the topic, defends this: A foundation law is a conceivable possibility, "but would not necessarily create added value in terms of transparency and control".
A necessity "so far cannot be derived from case law" and is controversial among experts.
Better legal protection is also possible via a simple decision in the budget law or, if necessary, adapted administrative regulations.
However, the Greens and FDP consider this to be insufficient.
The traffic light partners suspect that the SPD's hesitant attitude has something to do with the fact that the Friedrich Ebert Foundation currently receives the most money after the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
"We can't just wait and do nothing out of concern that our foundations might get a little less funding," says one Green, who asked not to be named.
