Broadcasting fees: Karlsruhe decides on a contribution increase of 86 cents

What an uproar it was at the end of last year when Saxony-Anhalt was rehearsing the media-political uprising.

At that time, the parliaments in 15 countries had already approved the amended Interstate Media Amendment Treaty, which provided for an increased broadcasting fee for the public media companies from EUR 17.50 to EUR 18.36 per month.

Stefan Locke

Correspondent for Saxony and Thuringia based in Dresden.

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It therefore only depended on Saxony-Anhalt whether the increase of 86 cents planned for the beginning of 2021 could come, because the prerequisite for this is that all state parliaments agree.

There had been violent disputes about this in Saxony and Thuringia, but the political situation in Magdeburg was tricky.

Parts of the CDU parliamentary group signaled early on that their yes could not be expected without further ado.

They brought up many arguments, such as the pandemic, in which an additional burden on citizens is prohibited, but also calls for leaner institutions, for a reduction in what they believe to be sprawling programs and for the establishment of more community facilities for public services in the East.

"West-centered" reporting?

Because although the East Germans have paid the same radio license fee since reunification, apart from the ARD capital studio in Berlin and the children's channel in Erfurt, all common facilities and workplaces are concentrated in the west.

This, in turn, also shapes the supraregional reporting, which is why the CDU rebels in Magdeburg justified their no to the increase with the way the public broadcasters reported about East Germany, which they perceive to be west-centered and far from their everyday reality.

“When will Saxony-Anhalt take place on ARD?” Asked the CDU MP at the time, Frank Scheurell.

"If some mob set something on fire, but otherwise?"

It was then above all the criticism of the content - which was problematic because of the distance from the state of public service broadcasting - that caused a nationwide discussion.

Especially since some CDU MPs here, similar to the AfD, used the strange notion that the public broadcasters would have to report in their favor if they had to be paid.

Coalition crisis in Magdeburg

Warnings increased that the CDU, shoulder to shoulder with the AfD, could reject the law and bring the increase down.

Hardly any comparison was too high, and there was even talk of a renewed breach of taboo as before in Thuringia, which only hardened the fronts.

The CDU stuck to its no, and the faction of the left, which had initially advocated the law, withdrew its commitment, leaving the Kenya coalition completely on its own.

The SPD and the Greens threatened the end of the government cooperation, should the Union stick to their No, whereupon the situation escalated. After the then CDU boss and interior minister Holger Stahlknecht had declared that in the event of the coalition breakdown, he would continue as a minority government, which would have resulted in cooperation with the AfD, he was dismissed by Reiner Haseloff on the same day.

The Prime Minister, who had already noted in a protocol note when the Interstate Broadcasting Agreement was signed, that there was no majority in the state parliament for the increase, now took the reins of action in hand.

Four days after the Stahlknecht drama, he withdrew the bill on the same grounds - no prospect of a majority.

The vote did not take place, which avoided a scandal, but the premium was also canceled.

Urgent applications rejected

ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio immediately lodged a constitutional complaint.

They see the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of broadcasting violated, which also provides for appropriate funding.

The independent commission to determine financial needs (KEF) had recommended an increase of 86 cents, with which a financial gap of 1.5 billion euros should be closed by 2024.

The court rejected the urgent requests from the institutions because it saw no evidence that the program would collapse immediately without an increase.

The judges said that the applications themselves are admissible and well-founded.

You are now judging whether the de facto rejection of the law by Saxony-Anhalt was admissible.

A new state parliament was elected in Magdeburg in June. Coalition negotiations are currently underway, and a decision on how to deal with a possible new version of the State Treaty has not yet been made. "Of course, we respect the decision of the supreme court and we will incorporate the result into our media policy work," said the media policy spokesman for the CDU parliamentary group, Markus Kurz Implement the reforms required by KEF. Whatever the verdict, the discussion, above all about equal participation by the Eastern countries as well as the content, will remain and it must be conducted.

Just last December, the government commission “30 Years of Peaceful Revolution and German Unity” came to the conclusion that - not only among the public broadcasters - East Germany is rarely reported on, and when it is too often one-sided, plain and laden with clichés. The latest example of this was the news of the bonus bratwurst being vaccinated in Thuringia, which once again seemed to confirm all prejudices. The Ossi even vaccinated for a bratwurst, according to the tenor, although in the heat of the moment it was overlooked that the Thuringian Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians attributed the rush to the lack of vaccination appointments on that day.