No major donations this year? SPD and CSU around Olaf Scholz and Markus Söder will probably have to do without big donations. The CDU scores with celebrities.
Berlin/Munich – economic crisis? Lack of major political events? The reasons remain in the dark, but it seems clear shortly before the end of the year: the parties in Germany suffered a massive slump in the volume of large donations in 2022.
The parties must report donations of more than 50,000 euros to the President of the Bundestag. In the federal election year 2021, 12.5 million euros were collected. In the current year, the party treasurers did not have that much work: according to the website of the Bundestag, the SPD, Linke and AfD did not report a single large donation by Christmas. For the AfD it is the second year in a row without a grant of more than 50,000 euros.
So far, the CSU and the FDP have also come away empty-handed. The Liberals had received more than four million euros in 2021, and the CSU more than one million euros. As of December 27, the people’s representative body only reported large donations for five parties. In terms of total volume, the CDU is the winner.
Bundestag reports large donations: CDU is well received by the economy – Greens in 3rd place
The Christian Democrats received just over 570,000 euros – mind you, from individual donations of over 50,000 euros alone. The patrons of the CDU came predominantly from the economic sector. The BMW celebrities Susanne Klatten and Stefan Quandt, the logistics magnate and HSV patron Klaus-Michael Kühne, the association of the metal and electrical industry in North Rhine-Westphalia and the head of the Vollmann Group, Axel Vollmann, are listed. However, a private individual from Pirna in Saxony also donated a whopping 100,000 euros.
After all, the Greens came up with a good 190,000 euros from large donations. Three donations were received in quick succession in May. A Berlin software entrepreneur and Jägermeister heir Florian Rehm reached into their pockets – both donations were received on the same day. “CRASH Beteiligungs-GmbH & Co. KG” also transferred EUR 50,001, which is subject to disclosure. All this together means a massive decline after the election year with a million donation.
Three other parties received large individual grants: The party of the Danish minority in Schleswig-Holstein, SSW, regularly receives official grants from Copenhagen, including in 2022. The Volt party, which is strongly oriented towards Europe, received 50,001 euros in “funding” from the JoinPolitics initiative. And the German Communist Party received more than 350,000 euros from two private donors. However, this is not a new phenomenon either.
Greens and communists receive large donations – there are still a few days left
The result is not final yet. Some major donors only transfer money to the parties shortly before or after Christmas. It will take a few days for the Bundestag to publish it. That could improve the balance sheet a bit.
Political parties in Germany are mainly financed by membership fees, money from the state and donations. The parties must immediately report individual donations of more than 50,000 euros to the President of the Bundestag, who will provide the information again must be published promptly. Donations that exceed EUR 10,000 per year must be recorded in the statement of accounts with the name and address of the donor and the total amount. It will be forwarded to the President of the Bundestag. (dpa/fn)
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