Party researcher doubts funding for Wagenknecht alliance
At the beginning of next year, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance wants to change from an association to a party. According to the treasurer, almost one million euros in donations have been collected so far. However, there are doubts as to whether it is even legal to transfer the collected funds to the party's assets.
Just over a month after it was founded, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) has collected one million euros in donations. This was reported by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" (SZ). "We will reach a seven-figure sum in the next few days," BSW treasurer Ralph Suikat told the newspaper. They are satisfied, "but we still have a long way to go." According to Suikat, the major parties spend tens of millions in election campaigns. At the press conference in which she announced the split from the Left Party, Wagenknecht had said that the planned party wanted to contest the European elections and the state elections in Saxony, Thuringia and Brandenburg next year.
Before that, however, the party must first be founded. According to information from MDR, this should happen at the beginning of January, with the founding party conference planned for the end of the month in Berlin. So far, there is only an association called "Bündnis Sahra Wagenknecht - für Vernunft und Gerechtigkeit e.V.". Donations have also been received through this association, which will later be transferred to the party's assets. The BSW considers this procedure to be legally unproblematic. However, there are also experts who see it differently.
Association as a front man for the party?
Legal scholar and party researcher Sophie Schönberger from Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf points out the differences between association law and party law. Compared to the regulations for political parties, associations in Germany are subject to far less stringent rules with regard to the transparency of funding. For example, associations can receive donations from other EU countries, whereas parties are not allowed to do so, she emphasized in the SZ. In her view, Wagenknecht and her fellow campaigners are at least entering a legal gray area when they transfer the donations collected by the association to the party.
"I would say there is a lot to suggest that it is illegal and should be sanctioned," says the academic, who speaks of a "straw man donation". "With the association construct, they are basically circumventing everything that constitutes a party in Germany." The campaign was already "extremely lazy". Suikat, on the other hand, assured that the BSW does not accept donations from other EU countries. The association is already being run as if it were subject to party law so as not to make itself legally vulnerable, he told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
Whether this approach is successful will ultimately be decided by the Bundestag administration, which will have to check whether the party was founded properly. "If the Bundestag administration really came to the conclusion that it was illegal, then the party would be financially finished before it had even started," says Schönberger, who was appointed by the Bundestag as an expert to assess the new electoral law. The party would then have to pay a fine that would be three times as high as the sum that the association has transferred to the party.
Given the concerns raised by legal scholar Sophie Schönberger, it would be interesting to explore the views of other experts on this matter. Furthermore, discussions between 'Governments and parties' about the legitimacy of the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance's financing strategies could potentially shape the party's future.
In light of the ongoing debate on 'party financing', The Left may choose to express their stance on the issue, as they have been associated with Wagenknecht in the past. Additionally, it would be intriguing to hear Sahra Wagenknecht's perspective on these allegations, as she has been at the forefront of the alliance's establishment.
Source: www.ntv.de
