NEOS MP Dengler demands halving of party funding to 100 million euros

NEOS had already raised the demand for a halving of party funding during the election campaign. Dengler is now repeating it in his written draft and combining it with concrete reform proposals on transparency. What is needed is "a uniform reporting system by law, disclosure obligations also for front organisations and chambers," the paper states. This is intended to improve the traceability of financial flows to and within parties.

Linkage to own revenues

A central element of the concept is the linkage of state funding to the parties' own revenues. Those who raise more donations or membership fees should also be supported more strongly from public funds. This is intended to secure the "societal anchoring of the parties," according to Dengler. The personal donation cap per person, however, is to remain unchanged according to the proposal.

On the control side, Dengler proposes an upgrading of the Court of Audit as well as the Independent Party Transparency Senate (UPTS). Both institutions are to receive more powers to monitor the future rules. The mandate holder justifies the initiative with the loss of trust in politics and the desire for clearer, verifiable rules.

Control bodies and donation rules

While the overall level of funding would be capped, there is to be no blanket spending cap for donations for the party as a whole. The limit per donating person remains in place according to Dengler. Donations and membership fees remain expressly desired, because only through the linkage to state funding do they create the balance that is supposed to secure the independence of the parties.

With this initiative, NEOS once again positions itself as a reform party on the issue of political financing. Actual implementation, however, depends on majorities in the National Council, in which the governing parties are responsible for the currently applicable rules. Whether Dengler's paper will result in parliamentary initiatives was initially unclear.

The draft also emphasises that the reform should not only concern the federal party level. State organisations, municipalities and the party-affiliated academies are also to fall under the common cap, whereby existing interlinkages between the levels would be disclosed and limited.