Party sponsorship

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As party sponsorship revenue from are parties referred to in payments by companies to political parties for different - the services provided by the political parties - services arise. Such services can consist of advertisements in the respective print products of the parties, the provision of exhibition space at party conferences, or the arrangement of discussions with officials or high-ranking party officials with or without political office.

Significance of party sponsoring in Germany

The report of the President of the Bundestag on the 2008 and 2009 annual reports of the parties as well as on the development of the party finances sees sponsoring as given if "an organization or a company grants a party a monetary or monetary service and in return one that supports its own commercial or ideal goals Consideration, usually a way of presentation receives ".

Party sponsorship is an important source of finance for German parties, according to the Council of Europe anti-corruption group of states against corruption (GRECO) in a report on party funding in Germany.

"Sponsoring is a way of generating income that has become quite common among various parties to supplement financing, in particular for larger events or publications," said the Bundestag President's report on party financing from December 2011.

criticism

In contrast to party donations , in which the funds and their origin must be disclosed above a certain amount, party sponsorship in the Federal Republic of Germany is not disclosed by the parties. The relevant income is therefore booked by the parties in the annual report to the tax office together with other income under income from events or other income and not shown individually for each company. These expenses are usually tax deductible for companies.

The "Group of States against Corruption" (GRECO), located at the Council of Europe and responsible for combating corruption, identified party sponsoring as a "problem area" in party financing in Germany. In view of the great practical importance of sponsoring in Germany, the group recommended clarifying the conditions under which party sponsoring is permitted and which legal, accounting and financial system should apply.

The report of the President of the Bundestag sees problems "if there are indications that the performance-consideration relationship between a party and its sponsor could not be comprehensibly balanced in the context of a sponsoring agreement". Then it has to be checked "whether a donation or partial donation was actually hidden behind an alleged service-related service". It is precisely this check that is difficult, however, the "party financing law verifiability of the relationship between sponsorship and consideration by the party" is only possible to a limited extent: "Whether a performance-consideration ratio is comprehensibly appropriate and therefore leaves no quantifiable space for the existence of a hidden donation is elusive largely a generalizing view. "

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ www.tagesschau.de from March 1, 2010 ( Memento from March 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ Report by the President of the Bundestag Report "On the 2008 and 2009 reports of the parties and the development of party finances" from December 16, 2011 (PDF; 5.2 MB)
  3. ↑ Evaluation report on the transparency of party funding in Germany, adopted by GRECO at its 45th General Assembly (Strasbourg, November 30 - December 4, 2009), page 24. (PDF; 283 kB)
  4. ↑ Report of the President of the Bundestag Report "On the 2008 and 2009 annual reports of the parties and on the development of party finances" from December 16, 2011, p.33 (PDF; 5.2 MB)
  5. ↑ www.tagesschau.de from March 1, 2010 ( Memento from March 4, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Severin Weiland, Philipp Wittrock: The sponsored republic, Spiegel online from February 3, 2012
  7. ↑ Evaluation report on the transparency of party funding in Germany, adopted by GRECO at its 45th General Assembly (Strasbourg, November 30 - December 4, 2009), page 24. (PDF; 283 kB)
  8. ↑ Report of the President of the Bundestag Report "On the 2008 and 2009 reports of the parties and the development of party finances" from December 16, p. 34 (PDF; 5.2 MB)