Applications rejected - AfD is in dispute over political group grants
In a dispute over the allocation of faction subsidies, the AfD faction in the Saarland state parliament suffered a defeat before the Constitutional Court of the Saarland. Both applications of the AfD faction regarding the current financing of the factions in the Saarland state parliament were "partly declared invalid" and otherwise "rejected as unfounded", the Constitutional Court in Saarbrücken announced. No violation of the AfD faction's right to equal treatment was found.
The Saarland Constitution does not grant factions an "original claim to equal treatment independent of the rights of their members and their size". The size of factions cannot be ignored. Therefore, it is also not objectionable if the size ratio of opposition factions is reflected in the distribution of the so-called opposition bonus. It was stated that the rights of the AfD faction were not violated by the fact that the state parliament had changed the distribution of the entire amount of the allocations for factions for individual components of the financing for 2023 and 2024. This change had effectively led to a reduction in the monthly total grants to the AfD faction. Against this background, the AfD faction felt "unjustifiably disadvantaged" and appealed to the Constitutional Court.
At the end of 2022, the state parliament decided to reduce the monthly basic amount for factions and increase the opposition bonus, which is based on the number of members. The AfD faction consists of three members. In addition, the CDU, with 19 members, is in the opposition. The SPD, which governs alone in the Saarland, consists of 29 members as a faction.
The Saarbrücken Constitutional Court upheld the decision to alter the funding distribution, not affecting the Saar bridges directly, but it did impact the financing of the AfD faction, given their smaller size compared to other factions. Despite the AfD faction's assertions of unfair treatment, the Court found no violation related to the Saar bridges or the Saarland Constitution's equal treatment principle.
