AfD-related foundation demands state money in the millions
The AfD-After the third arrival of the AfD, Desiderius Erasmus Foundation is pushing into the Bundestag to participate in the state financing of political foundations. « We are entitled to funding, » said Erika Steinbach (AfD) chairman in Berlin. She assumes that the responsible Federal Ministry of the Interior will give the green light. The application for funding for 2026 was submitted to the ministry.
Foundation relies on a new legal situation
The former CDUPolitician referred to what was decided at the end of 2023 Foundation Financing Act. It states that party -related foundations are encouraged if the party, which is close to it, has moved into the Bundestag for the third time in a row, which the AfD has now achieved.
Another condition: The funded foundations must offer the guarantee of actively standing out for the free democratic basic order and the thoughts of international understanding. According to the law, funding would apply in the year after the Bundestag election – i.e. 2026.
Steinbach: stand on the ground of the Basic Law
Steinbach sees no contrast to the youngest – but initially again on ice due to an ongoing litigation – classification of the AfD as secure right -wing extremist by the protection of the constitution. Only the Federal Constitutional Court can determine an anti -constitutionality. « We ourselves as a political foundation are fully on the ground of our Basic Law. »
Foundations receive funding in the three -digit millions
The foundations close to the parties-the Konrad-Adenauer Foundation (CDU), the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (SPD), Friedrich-Naumann Foundation (FDP), Hanns-Seidel Foundation (CSU), Heinrich Böll Foundation (Greens) and the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (left)-receive annual support in three-digit millions.
The Desiderius Erasmus Foundation has so far been empty. The AfD had complained. The Federal Constitutional Court then decided in February 2023 that the previously common, decades of funding practice must be improved without the legal regulation of the funding criteria. The Foundation Financing Act then created a legal basis in which the conditions for state funding are defined.
According to its own calculations, the Desiderius Erasmus Foundation from 2026 would be almost 18 million euros annually from the budget of the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
