Erika Steinbach, chairwoman of the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, explains the status of the foundation's funding:
„There are no signs whatsoever that the Federal Government and the Bundestag intend to comply with the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court.
Through their ignorance, they are virtually mocking the Federal Constitutional Court and trampling on its jurisdiction.
If Hungary or Poland were to treat the legitimate rights of their respective opposition parties and court rulings in this way, which they do not, Germany would be the first to voice the strongest criticism at all levels.
To date, neither the Federal Government nor the German Bundestag has presented or even passed a foundation law required by the Federal Constitutional Court for the allocation of funds to political foundations. Although on 22 February 2023, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled clearly with regard to the funding of the DES that there is „a need for special legal provisions for state benefits that have a significant impact on the equal participation of parties in political competition“.
In the months since the ruling was handed down, neither the federal government nor the Bundestag has made any move to draft a foundation law, let alone pass one. The Federal Constitutional Court's expectation that there would be no indication that the ruling would not be implemented in a timely manner has unfortunately not been fulfilled.
With great audacity, the draft budget for 2024 once again contains no funds for the DES, but instead allocates a total of around 700 million euros exclusively to the political foundations of all other parliamentary groups. However, according to the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, all other political foundations should also no longer receive any funds as long as there is no foundation law.
The Federal Government itself refuses to pay out the funds from 2019, 2020 and 2021 that were unlawfully withheld from us according to the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court.
Overall, these facts reveal an alarming degree of ignorance regarding applicable case law. Doubts about the constitutionality of the actions of both the federal government and the German Bundestag, as well as about the rule of law in our country, cannot be dismissed out of hand.“
Press release dated 8 September 2023