Party funding in the Netherlands

The financing of political parties in the Netherlands feeds itself from governmental and private sources. According to the law on financial support for political parties , a party receives a basic amount of money depending on the number of seats in parliament and the number of members. Compared to other countries, the parties receive relatively little money from the state.

Own resources

Traditionally, Dutch parties have financed themselves almost exclusively from membership fees. That changed around the 1960s: with the decline of Verzuiling , the separation of society according to world views, the number of party members also decreased. However, membership fees still make up about half of the income of a Dutch party, otherwise it is usually only a quarter in Europe. An exception is the Socialist Party , where half of the income comes from the “party tax”.

A party tax or salary levy ( partijhabening or salarisafdracht ) is when people's representatives of the party have to pay a fee to the party fund . Around ten percent of the income of a representative in parliament, provincial parliament or local council is common. Right-wing liberals and Christian Democrats officially do not charge any levy, with them the party tax only accounts for one or a few percent of total income. The other extreme is the aforementioned SP, whose representatives have to give up all income. For this they receive a modest salary from the party.

donate

Donations to a party or sponsorship from third parties are viewed with skepticism because conflicts of interest are suspected. Since 1999, a donation of 4537.80 euros (= formerly NLG 10,000 ), which does not come from a natural person, has to be announced. But there is no penalty if this does not happen. Right-wing liberals and Christian Democrats, for example, have party congresses and training courses sponsored by companies. You can donate an unlimited amount. The donation is only tax deductible if the party is separately recognized as charitable.

The political scientist Gerrit Voerman criticized in March 2011 that although the donation has to be made known to a legal entity, the donor himself can remain anonymous. All that is needed is a description of the industry from which the donation comes. Not even this applies to donations from private individuals. Voermann would like a lower threshold of around a thousand euros, the obligation to mention names and no longer any difference between private and legal persons. The voter should know where a party gets its financial resources from.

At the end of December 2009, the political magazine NOVA reported that the right-wing liberal VVD receives 463,954 euros in donations annually. Unexpectedly, GroenLinks came in second , and the animal welfare party Partij voor de Dieren also received a lot of money for a smaller party with 84,769 euros. The country's largest member party, the CDA, receives only 80,884 euros, the social democratic PvdA 115,491 euros. The other parties are each less than 50,000 euros.

State support

The state has supported training courses and youth organizations for the parties since 1971, and parties themselves since 1999. Support is only available for parties with at least a thousand members (full voting rights, at least 12 euros per year). In addition, they must have at least one mandate in one of the two chambers of parliament .

The Council of Europe estimates that the support payments are very important for the parties. In an election year like 2006, these account for around 30 to 40 percent of revenue, at least for most parties, and 40 to 60 percent outside an election year (for example 2005).

A party can receive up to 176,580 euros a year from the state, which it can spend as it sees fit for the goals specified in the law (for example, political information, recruiting, training, election campaigns). There is also an amount per parliamentary seat, in 2006 it was 51,217 euros per seat per year. Third, the party receives an amount per contributing member. This amount is calculated by dividing a total for all parties of 1,933,455 euros by the total number of all members of all parties. Furthermore, a party can register a scientific institute and a youth organization (at least one hundred members between 14 and 27 years of age, at least five euros per year) as beneficiaries of further support, and there is free airtime for parties that are represented in parliament and run in all constituencies . Fractions in people's representations receive financial support for staff etc. in accordance with the rules of the people's representations.

In 2006, the Christian-Democratic Party CDA received the most support, namely 3,761,816 euros (of which 684,889 euros for the scientific institute and 205,540 euros for the youth organization). For the second largest party, the social democratic Partij van de Arbeid , it was a total of 3,667,250 euros. The young animal welfare party Partij voor de Dieren , which has two members in the Second Chamber, received 26,373 euros. A total of eleven parties together received around fifteen million euros.

If a party discriminates, support can be denied. In 2010 the radical Calvinist SGP lost support because it did not allow women as full members.

Financing reform

A report by the European Council of 2008 says that the interviewees in the country consider the risk of questionable party funding to be low, because the economy has little interest in giving parties money. After all, it is difficult for a single party in coalition governments to realize the wishes of the donors. Other ways of influencing a party are easier and more common. “Indeed, there are few and seldom scandals related to party funding practices. Admittedly, it would be very difficult at the moment in the current framework of laws to bring questionable financing practices to light. "

The fact that a set of rules is largely missing is due to the Dutch tradition of freedom of expression and the right to privacy. However, the special role of political parties in a democracy has been increasingly recognized in recent years. The problem is that the obligations under the law on party support only apply to those parties who receive this support. Anyone who does not receive money from the state, for example because his party (such as the Partij voor de Vrijheid ) has no or too few members, does not have to provide any information about the origin of his funds. The Council of Europe therefore sees advantages in the changes in this regard that the planned new law on the financing of political parties will bring with it.

Guusje ter Horst , PvdA, still Minister of the Interior in 2009.

As it became known in November 2009, according to the draft law, individuals should only be allowed to donate a maximum of 50,000 euros to a party. From 4,537.80 euros, the donor must be published. Democrats 66 and GroenLinks would have liked stricter rules in the sense that money transfers between the party and surrounding organizations would have to be published.

The right-wing populist Partij voor de Vrijheid is strictly against naming donors and fears a decline in donations. Her MP Hero Brinkman commented: “Whether Trude wants to give us five thousand euros from the third floor to the back is none of your business.” The Social Democratic Interior Minister Guusje ter Horst has abolished the lower limit of a thousand members in the draft law, from one party at all can only get support. However, a significant part of the support will still depend on membership.

Political scientist Gerrit Voerman points out that the new regulation has been discussed for many years. He sees the PVV as an obstacle to the conclusion. According to his presumption, the established parties want to avoid the impression that the new regulation will benefit them themselves and that they want to hit the PVV. That would make them vulnerable to criticism from right-wing populists.

See also

• Party funding
• Party financing (Germany)
• Political system of the Netherlands
• Political parties in the Netherlands

supporting documents

1. ↑ Parlement.com , under Partijen / Partijvorming / Partijenfinanciering, accessed on July 1, 2012.
2. ↑ Parlement.com , under Partijen / Partijvorming / Partijenfinanciering, accessed on July 1, 2012.
3. ↑ Parlement.com , under Partijen / Partijvorming / Partijenfinanciering, accessed on July 1, 2012.
4. ^ Groupe d'Etats contre la corruption / Group of States against corruption [of the Council of Europe]: Evaluatierapport over Nederland inzake 'Transparantie in de financiering van politieke partijen' (Topic II) , Strasbourg, June 13, 2008, link via Novatv. nl ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 11. 
5. ↑ 'Ook subsidie ​​voor partij-zonder-leden' , accessed on March 28, 2011.
6. ↑ NOVA: CDA ontvangt meeste donaties ( Memento of the original dated December 30, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (corrected version), last seen on December 14, 2009. 
7. ↑ Parlement.com , under Partijen / Partijvorming / Partijenfinanciering, accessed on July 1, 2012.
8. ^ Groupe d'Etats contre la corruption / Group of States against corruption [of the Council of Europe]: Evaluatierapport over Nederland inzake 'Transparantie in de financiering van politieke partijen' (Topic II) , Strasbourg, June 13, 2008, link via Novatv. nl ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 8. 
9. ^ Groupe d'Etats contre la corruption / Group of States against corruption [of the Council of Europe]: Evaluatierapport over Nederland inzake 'Transparantie in de financiering van politieke partijen' (Topic II) , Strasbourg, June 13, 2008, link via Novatv. nl ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 21. 
10. ^ Groupe d'Etats contre la corruption / Group of States against corruption [of the Council of Europe]: Evaluatierapport over Nederland inzake 'Transparantie in de financiering van politieke partijen' (Topic II) , Strasbourg, June 13, 2008, link via Novatv. nl ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Pp. 8-11. 
11. ^ Groupe d'Etats contre la corruption / Group of States against corruption [of the Council of Europe]: Evaluatierapport over Nederland inzake 'Transparantie in de financiering van politieke partijen' (Topic II) , Strasbourg, June 13, 2008, link via Novatv. nl ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Pp. 10/11. 
12. ↑ Parlement.com , accessed July 1, 2012.
13. ^ Groupe d'Etats contre la corruption / Group of States against corruption [of the Council of Europe]: Evaluatierapport over Nederland inzake 'Transparantie in de financiering van politieke partijen' (Topic II) , Strasbourg, June 13, 2008, link via Novatv. nl ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 20. 
14. ^ Groupe d'Etats contre la corruption / Group of States against corruption [of the Council of Europe]: Evaluatierapport over Nederland inzake 'Transparantie in de financiering van politieke partijen' (Topic II) , Strasbourg, June 13, 2008, link via Novatv. nl ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , P. 22. 
15. ↑ NRC: Ter Horst: partijen moeten larger poisons openbaar maken , last seen on December 14, 2009.
16. ↑ NRC: Ter Horst: partijen moeten moeten giften openbaar maken , last seen on December 14, 2009. Original quote: "Of Truus van drie hoog achter ons vijfduizend euro wil donate, gaat u geen bal aan." The word bal refers to the human testicles.
17. ↑ 'Ook subsidie ​​voor partij-zonder-leden' , accessed on March 28, 2011.