Large donations in Germany sprout: Who benefits after the coalition break?

Large donations in Germany sprout: Who benefits after the coalition break?

On January 9, 2025, it becomes clear that the political donations in Germany have a steep increase. Since the traffic light coalition failed on November 6, 2024, the donation behavior has changed dramatically. The increase in large donations, which are defined from 35,000 euros and must be reported by the President of the German Bundestag, is particularly striking. The Tagesschau reports that in the weeks after the coalition break, over 2 million euros in large donations, which came back to political uncertainty in the country is.

One of the central donations comes from the dr. Theiss Naturwaren GmbH , the only company from Saarland, which has done large donations to Bundestag parties. Overall, the company, which specializes in natural care products and homeopathic medicines, transferred almost 150,000 euros to the SPD, CDU and FDP. The donation course shows that the SPD received 60,000 euros on November 15, 2024, while the FDP received 40,000 euros on November 22, 2024 and the CDU on December 4, 2024. These donations are part of a more comprehensive trend that emerges according to the breaking of the coalition.

growing large donations and their effects

like Memberswatch emphasizes the high major donations this year, above all, testify to increased support for smaller parties such as BSW and Volt. In particular, Volt was able to see an impressive large donation of 1 million euros on November 15, 2023, which Thadaeus Friedemann Otto, a member of the party, was achieved. These donations are essential for the financing of election campaigns and the general operation of the parties.

In addition, the CDU received four major donations of a total of 610,000 euros, while the FDP received three donations of a total of 290,000 euros. The SPD was able to donate Dr. Theiss Naturwaren GmbH posted, while the BSW received 50,000 euros from Horizontwerke GmbH. The Statista informs that half of the ten highest individual donations have been on BSW or Volt since the beginning of the year, which underlines the upswing of these smaller parties in the political landscape.

The changing landscape of large donations raises questions about financial transparency and influence on political decisions. The need to immediately report large donations to the Bundestag administration tightens the pressure on the parties to disclose the origin of their funds. With more than 8 parties in the Bundestag and the Federal Council, the question arises how they will use these funds in the context of their political agendas.