Pro Deutsche Mitte - Pro D-Mark initiative
Pro Deutsche Mitte - Initiative Pro D-Mark (from 1998 to 2001 Initiative Pro D-Mark - new liberal party, short name: Pro DM ) was a small right-wing populist party that existed from 1998 to 2007 and that fought against the introduction of the euro . Its most dominant person in public perception was its chairman Bolko Hoffmann . In its almost ten-year history, it only ran sporadically in elections. In 1999 she achieved a respectable result of 2.1% in the state elections in Saxony. In 2004 she took in the former Hamburg Senator for the Interior, Ronald Schill , who had fallen out of favor with his original party, the Rule of Law Party . With Schill as the top candidate, she competed in the Hamburg state election in the same year under the abbreviation Pro DM / Schill and achieved 3.1%. Schill remained a party member, but withdrew from politics. After the death of chairman Bolko Hoffmann in August 2007, the party decided to dissolve it four months later.
structure
Its chairman, the publisher Bolko Hoffmann , led the party in an authoritarian and centralist way. Except before elections, the party practically did not appear in public at all, except with the sometimes aggressive collection of signatures by paid helpers. In retrospect, members also complained, among other things, of undemocratic behavior by the party chairman in the preparation of candidates and in the establishment of state associations.
Content profile
The party fought primarily against the introduction of the euro and for the reintroduction of the D-Mark . The program appeared superficially rather liberal and avoided the classic right-wing irritating topics. It mainly contained general statements such as "The Pro Deutsche Mitte (Pro DM) party is actively committed to animal and species protection." Or "The Pro Deutsche Mitte (Pro DM) party advocates a minimum pension."
Right positions in the program u. a. clearly in three places: The party spoke out in favor of strong immigration restrictions, strived for a faster deportation of non-German offenders and demanded that foreign drug dealers be deported to their country of origin. The statutes contained the statement "Anyone who is not a German citizen [...] does not have the right to participate in party elections for public mandate elections and their decisions." In addition, the party calls for a massive tightening of internal security measures and a restrictive anti-drug policy.
Finances and wealth
According to Bundestag printed paper 16/5230, the party achieved income of around 118,000 euros in 2005, including 6600 euros in contributions and 70,000 euros in donations. Around 420,000 euros flowed from state funds. In 2005, the party generated a deficit of around 383,000 euros. In 2005 the party received a large donation of 10,000 euros from the company Composer Studio in Bremen.
The party's net worth was recently negative. Around 6.6 million liabilities for previously unpaid services resulted in over-indebtedness of 6.1 million euros.
According to its own statements, the party owned no real estate assets and no company investments.
history
Development until 2002
The party was founded on April 24, 1998 in Düsseldorf by Bolko Hoffmann under the name Initiative Pro D-Mark - new liberal party ; According to the Junge Freiheit , it had 102 members at that time. For the 1998 Bundestag elections, it advertised billions and newspaper advertisements at a cost in the millions with the slogan If Pro DM comes into the Bundestag, the D-Mark will be saved ; the latter appeared predominantly in the Junge Freiheit . In the election itself, the party received 0.9% of the vote, in the state election in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania , which took place at the same time, 1.4%. Both results meant that she took part in state funding for parties . Since the best result of the federal state elections was achieved in Saxony with 2.7%, she decided to take part in the state elections there a year later. In the corresponding election, in which the former FDP member Dieter Annies was the top candidate, she achieved 2.1% of all votes.
In 2001, they forbade the Rule of Law Party from using the abbreviation PRO because they feared confusion. In the same year the party changed its full name to Pro Deutsche Mitte - Initiative Pro D-Mark . Since it only achieved 0.2% in Hamburg in 2001 and only 0.4% in Saxony-Anhalt in 2002 , it initially withdrew and did not run for the 2002 Bundestag election .
Admission of Schill and subsequent period (2003-2006)
In December 2003, former Hamburg Senator for the Interior, Ronald Schill , fell out of favor in his original party - the Rule of Law Offensive party - and joined the Pro DM a month later. He was followed by Bodo Theodor Adolphi , Friedrich Adolphi , Richard Braak , Katrin Freund and Horst Zwengel, five other members of the Bundestag from his former party, who showed solidarity with him and formed the Ronald Schill parliamentary group with him in the Hamburg parliament . In the early elections in Hamburg on February 29, 2004, the Pro DM called themselves Pro DM / Schill . Shortly before, Schill's original party banned her from running under the acronym Schill and also forced her to release the Internet address www.schill-partei.de .
In this election, the Pro DM achieved 3.1% of the vote, again failing the five percent hurdle . In the Hamburg district elections that took place at the same time, in which the five percent hurdle also applies, she also took part and made it to Harburg with 5.2%; there it was represented by two MPs until it was dissolved. She unsuccessfully challenged the state election because she saw herself at a disadvantage due to the massive destruction of posters, to which, in her opinion, Hamburg's Mayor Ole von Beust contributed a great deal, as he said in a radio interview about destroyed Schill posters: “... I'm secretly happy about it any that I don't see. ” Although Schill remained a party member and took over the state chairmanship in Hamburg, he withdrew from politics; he was on the party's homepage as “z. Currently absent ” .
Members of the Harburg district assembly were initially Uwe Ellefsen and Peter Holthusen. Ellefsen, who became group leader, died of a heart attack on September 28, 2004 while in session. Marion Strelis took over for him, while Holthusen was parliamentary group chairman for the rest of the legislature.
In both the 2005 Bundestag election and the Saxony-Anhalt state election in 2006 , it did not exceed election results of 0.0% and 0.1%, respectively.
resolution
The party chairman Hoffmann died in August 2007. This, as well as the unsuccessful election, led the party to resolve at a party congress on December 15, 2007 to dissolve itself on December 31 of the same year. At the same time, the following final report was published:
- The Pro DM party was founded on April 24, 1998 as a result of a citizens' initiative to preserve the D-Mark for the purpose of participating in elections to state parliaments and the Bundestag.
- Following this purpose, Pro DM participated in the 1998 Bundestag election with state lists in all federal states and achieved a second vote share of 0.8 percent, in the new federal states between 1.5 and 2.0 percent. This result was in the range of what the party The Greens had achieved in 1980, and thus represented a considerable success. This gave rise to the participation of Pro DM in the election for the Saxon state parliament in 1999. The vote there was 2, 1 percent was significantly higher than the FDP's result, but it meant that the entry into parliament was again unsuccessful.
- Subsequent participation in state elections (most recently Hamburg state elections 2004 with 3.1 percent) ended with comparable results. Participation in the 2002 Bundestag election was waived, in 2005 it was not possible to collect the support signatures required for participation in the short time.
- During the entire period of its existence, Pro DM was perceived by both the media and the public as a high-profile anti-euro party. Nevertheless, it turned out to be permanently impossible to translate the clearly recognizable aversion of the citizens against the euro, which existed at all times, into a voting decision in favor of Pro DM.
- The Pro DM party has thus served its purpose. It did everything that was possible to preserve the Deutsche Mark, even if it ultimately remained politically unsuccessful. In addition, its initiator, founder and party chairman since 1998, Mr Bolko Hoffmann, died suddenly and unexpectedly on August 20, 2007.
- There is therefore no longer any need to continue the existence of Pro DM. Taking this into account, it was decided on December 15, 2007 to dissolve the party.
The two now non-party elected officials in Harburg announced that they would withdraw from politics and no longer run in the 2008 district elections.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Eckhard Jesse (2003): Die Rechts (external) parties. No apparent successes, no successes in sight , in: Oskar Niedermayer (ed.): The parties after the Federal Parliament election 2002, p. 174.
- ↑ a b c d e Schill becomes the front man of the Pro DM party , January 4, 2004.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Initiative Pro D-Mark - New Liberal Party Facts - National Liberal Speculant Party - From the program - From the statutes ( Memento from August 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b fhh.hamburg.de
- ↑ stadtportal-harburg.de ( Memento of the original from December 16, 2007 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.
- ↑ Uwe Ellefsen - Death in the Rathaussaal , Hamburger Abendblatt, October 1, 2004.
- ^ Farewell to the Wilhelmsburgers , Hamburger Abendblatt from January 31, 2008.
