With regard to the Funding entitlements of the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation
Erika Steinbach, chairwoman of the DES, explained at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin on 17 February 2022:
As you are no doubt aware, the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation has close ties to the AfD and, as such, has been recognised by the AfD since 2018.
In the last federal election in 2021, the AfD entered the German Bundestag for the second time.
This means that, as a foundation affiliated with the AfD, we will have in accordance with the regulations practised for decades by the Federal Government and the Bundestag public funding from the federal budget.
We were and remain of the opinion that our claim to state funding, which has been denied to us thus far, was and continues to be justified in strict accordance with the criteria of the Federal Constitutional Court since 2018. The AfD's lawsuit in this regard has been pending before the Federal Constitutional Court since 2019. And our own lawsuit is suspended – pending the decision of the Federal Constitutional Court – before the Administrative Court in Cologne.
When rejecting our funding applications at the time, the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Budget Committee referred to a Agreement of the political foundations of 1998, which was simply adopted by the BMI and the Budget Committee. There is still no law on this matter.
According to this, the prerequisite for funding is that the party affiliated with a political foundation is elected to the German Bundestag once again. At least once with parliamentary group strength. Both the BMI and the Budget Committee, as well as other political foundations, have presented this argument to us as justification, why funding for DES 2018 is not yet possible.
Our current demand based on the AfD's second entry into the German Bundestag no longer solely on the weighty judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court from 1986, according to which it „the principle of equality requires that all permanent, significant political movements in the Federal Republic of Germany be given appropriate representation.
With the AfD entering the German Bundestag for the second time Let us now hold the Federal Government and the Bundestag to account and take them at their word., to implement the principles you have practised in promoting political foundations for the DES and our foundation to no longer withhold funding.
On 3 January this year, I forwarded our funding application for 2022 to the members of the now new Budget Committee. Namely, in the unaltered version that we already sent to the BMI and the previous Budget Committee in spring 2021.
According to the Federal Budget Code (BHO), responsibility for draft budgets lies with the federal government. The BHO stipulates that all foreseeable expenses must be estimated. However, funding for the DES has not been included in the current draft budget for 2022, even though it was foreseeable that there would be a claim after the elections.
It is clear that responsibility for estimating funding has been shifted back and forth between the Home Office and the Budget Committee for obvious reasons. Over the years, we have been unable to ascertain how the budget estimates for the basic institutional funding of political foundations find their way into the draft budget., If so, supposedly no one talks to anyone beforehand. That is why we have always submitted identical motions to both the Home Office and the Budget Committee.
For the financial year 2022 we assume a percentage share of the basic funding to which we are entitled, which corresponds to the half Average percentage of second votes for the AfD corresponds to the federal elections in 2013, 2017 and 2021.
This calculation mode was originally developed for the Initial funding from the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation applied, whose affiliated party, the PDS, was monitored by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution at the time. Their share was calculated from the average of the election results from 1990, 1994 and 1998.
The following AfD election results are now decisive for our foundation:
2013: 4,7 %
2017: 12,6 %
2021: 10,1 %
That is an average of 9.13 %.
Accordingly, the amount is similar to the initial funding provided by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation what we are entitled to Funding amount in the first year: half of 9.13%; in the following three years: the full amount of 9.13% of the total global subsidies reported in the first year.
We now demand Equality and equal treatment – and nothing else. Democracy is a competitive system. And competition sets equal opportunities imperative.
One disregard Our foundation would therefore also, according to the Political scientist Claus Leggewie: „Clearly unconstitutional, as it violates the principle of programme autonomy and equal opportunities for all political parties.“.
As the German Bundestag his self-imposed requirements both in the appointment of the Vice-Presidents of the German Bundestag and in the appointment of the committee chairpersons with regard to the AfD simply disregarded, we do not consider it impossible that the promotion of our foundation is being handled according to political whim, outside the scope of constitutional law and established practice, to our disadvantage.
This should be achieved by means of a Application for interim relief before the Federal Constitutional Court be prevented.
solicitor Dr Ulrich Vosgerau is conducting the proceedings in this matter.
Budget estimate for global funding in 2021 = 141 million
Budget estimate for global funding in 2022 = 132 million
DES 1st year approx. 6 million
DES 2nd-4th year 12 million each