Dear members, trustees, friends and supporters of our foundation,
An eventful year is drawing to a close and a year full of question marks lies ahead of us.
Quite a few people in our country are looking to the future with concern. That is reason enough to plan ahead, but without pessimism. For the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, 2023 was a year of both light and shadow.
It was and continues to be gratifying that we can rely on a dedicated group of friends and supporters. With your help, we have been able to hold interesting and informative evening events and seminars throughout Germany. The range of topics was wide: from the „cultural struggle over driving“ to the „key issue of migration“, „market economy in Germany at an end?“, the „climate question“ and „imported anti-Semitism and the situation in the Middle East“.
Of course, we also addressed important historical topics. These included a seminar on the German Revolution of 1848 and, naturally, remembrance of the courageous popular uprising in the former GDR.
Since March 2023, DES has been a member of the European Identity and Democracy Foundation (ID Foundation). This enables us to participate in and contribute to both congresses and individual events throughout the EU under the umbrella of the ID Foundation with European funding. We were able to organise our first congress in Vienna. The response was excellent. This gave us the opportunity to establish new contacts with friendly conservative forces.
The ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court in February this year was extremely positive, finding that our foundation had been unlawfully denied public funding. According to this ruling, the federal government should pay us the funds for 2019, 2020 and 2021 retroactively. However, despite this ruling, we are still being denied the funds.
If Hungary or Poland were to treat legitimate opposition forces in this way, there would be a huge outcry, particularly in Germany. However, we will not be deterred by this and will continue to take all legal measures against it.
It is clear that the left-wing monopoly on opinion fears for its dominance as a result of our foundation's activities. That is why, despite the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, the new Foundation Act deliberately excludes our foundation from current funding. It is obvious that effective political opposition is to be suppressed both in parliament and in the pre-political arena. But that is how you strangle a democracy.
In their book entitled „How Democracies Die“, Harvard professors Steven Levinsky and Daniel Ziblatt identify four indicators that are unfortunately now also evident in Germany:
– The willingness to curtail the rights of the opposition,
– rhetoric that declares opposition forces to be enemies of the state,
– Attempts to exclude the opposition from full participation in political life,
– Broadly defined defamation laws.
Against this backdrop, our work is more important than ever for Germany. As Germany's only conservative political foundation and educational institution, we are committed to the future of our country. For democracy, for the rule of law and for freedom of expression. But also for Germany's future as a nation. We want not only to preserve the cultural identity of our homeland with its conservative roots, but also to regain it. On this basis, plans for 2024 are already underway. We continue to rely on your support for funding.
From 26 to 28 January, we are hosting an important weekend seminar in Dresden. Under the theme „75 Years of the Federal Republic of Germany“, we will examine the path from a model democratic state to a deficient democracy.
And on 30 January, Prof. Söllner will take a close look at the decline in budgetary discipline with special funds and shadow budgets in an evening lecture in Berlin. You are welcome to register for these events now.
I would like to thank you all for your help and support over the past years and wish you a blessed Christmas and a peaceful 2024.
Yours
Erika Steinbach
Chairperson