Constitutional court shocks political parties seeking raise in funding

BERLIN – The German Constitutional Court on Tuesday threw out a measure passed by parliament in 2018 that boosted state funding to political parties.

The measure, passed by then chancellor Angela Merkel’s broad coalition, increased the funding total by €25 million ($27 million) to €190 million per year. The measure was unconstitutional, Germany’s highest court, which sits in Karlsruhe, ruled.

The action was brought by the opposition parties at the time, the Greens, the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and the hard-left Die Linke (The Left), who saw the increase as creating the impression that the parties were enriching themselves at the taxpayers’ expense.

The measure had been backed by Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), their Bavarian allies in the Christian Social Union (CSU) and their coalition partners, the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Party funding by the state depends on the vote they scored in the previous election. It is adjusted for inflation.