Although the CDU/CSU government had previously promised to curb support for certain NGOs, this year’s budget continues to provide funding for left-wing liberal and green organisations, including those known for their political activism and protests.
For example, the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs allocated €182 million to the “Living Democracy” programme this year. Beneficiaries include the Amadeu Antonio Foundation—a German foundation that claims to fight against “far-right wing parties”—which will receive €622,916.57 for coordinating the KompRex project aimed at countering “emerging threats in right-wing extremism.”
The leftist online publication Correctiv will receive €140,876.83 for its work on KompRex. Correctiv was last year ordered by a court to remove and stop spreading false claims of a top-level meeting between members of the anti-globalist opposition AfD party, the right-wing Identitarian Movement, and the centre-right CDU, alleging the existence of a right-wing plot to deport millions of migrants, including those with German citizenship. The Correctiv article resulted in hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets around Germany to protest against ‘far-right extremism.’
The environmentalist BUND foundation will receive €249,820.20 for a project preventing right-wing extremists from infiltrating the environmental sector. Die Neuen Deutschen Medienmacher:innen (New German Media Makers)—whose aim is to promote diversity and representation of people with migration backgrounds in journalism and media—will receive €424,999.38 for a project combating online ‘hate speech’ and ‘disinformation.’
Critics argue that the funding model enables ‘NGO parachuting’: creating an organisation with an ideologically acceptable goal (e.g., “supporting democracy”) with minimal formal structure that is enough to secure grants, which may flow with little oversight.
Questions about the transparency and political neutrality of the grants remain, with opposition politicians and media outlets calling for stricter controls and demanding that the detailed budgets of supported organisations be made public so citizens can see how their tax euros are being spent.
