Donation rain for the CDU: Who are the secret donors?

The party donations in Hesse increase: CDU receives 5.37 million euros. Who donates, when, why and the effects on the 2025 Bundestag election.

09. Januar 2025

Markus Schneiderling

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In the run -up to the early Bundestag election on February 23, 2025, there are significant changes in the donation behavior of the parties. In December 2024 in particular, the CDU recorded a real rush of donations that can be observed after the end of the traffic light coalition. According to the information from fr.de in the said month alone received 5.37 million euros, which corresponds almost to the ten times the 550.001 euros, the SPD in collected the same time. The CSU also received 631,000 euros, so that the Union's total donations added up to around 6 million euros.

The FDP was pleased with 2.77 million euros, while the Greens collected only 957,052 euros. In Hesse, where the CDU is also strong, around 850,000 euros flowed into the party's coffers, which corresponds to a sixth of the nationwide donations.

large donor in the CDU

Deutsche Vermögensberatung, which gave the CDU a donation of 600,000 euros, stands out among the large donors. The BMW heirs Susanne Klatten and Stefan Quandt also took part in the donation campaign by donating 50.001 euros to the CDU. Klatten is known as Germany's richest woman and her assets are estimated at over $ 27 billion.

In addition, there were other remarkable donations: the German-American billionaire Stephen Orenstein and his wife Petra donated 50,000 euros to the CDU on December 5, 2024. Orenstein, who has $ 2 billion, worked for a long time in the logistics industry and had previously supported the CDU in 2018. The brothers Andreas and Thomas Strüngmann, who have $ 11 billion, also donated 170,000 euros to the CDU.

FDP and other parties

The FDP, which is also supported by large donors, received 350,000 euros from Deutsche Vermögensberatung. Together with the 100,000 euros, which CSU, Greens and the SPD also received from the asset advice, there is a clear trend towards more intensive financing efforts in political space after the end of the traffic light coalition. While the AfD and the left in Hesse did not receive any donations, the left received a smaller donation of 68,038 euros from Campact.

A look at the developments in 2024 shows that the total donations to parties are expected to reach 15.2 million euros by the end of the year. This means a significant increase compared to the 12.4 million euros, which were donated in the election year 2021, as DetailsQuellen