Germany’s ruling parties are calling for clear legal guidelines following criticism from the Federal Audit Office over alleged misuse of taxpayers’ money for the online activities of parliamentary groups.
The parliamentary groups of the current ruling coalition of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), the Greens and the liberal FDP are in favour of establishing a solid legal framework to clarify the use of social media by parliamentary groups in the Bundestag. This is meant to ensure that the taxpayers’ money allocated to these groups is used transparently and legally.
“We want to create a legally secure basis for the public relations work of the parliamentary groups from the centre of parliament,” the parliamentary groups told dpa on Thursday.
Earlier, Germany’s Federal Court of Auditors called for clear rules for social media, criticising the misuse of taxpayers’ money, namely:
“When using social media, the parliamentary groups in the German Bundestag are also using federal funds for the wrong purpose and therefore in contravention of the rules,” said Kay Scheller, president of the Court of Auditors, highlylihting that “the current legal framework for the parliamentary groups’ public relations work favours this.”
Social media are increasingly important in political activity, raising concerns about the €140 million allocated to political groups, much of which is spent on social media activities. The problem has become particularly acute following an investigation by the Court of Auditors, which found that a number of publications had violated guidelines and turned into unauthorised political campaigning, especially during election periods.
For instance, the situation concerning the 2021 federal elections, where “most of the posts were not authorised because they did not only provide information about the activities of the political groups or even contained direct party or election advertising.”
The parliamentary groups of the ruling three-party coalition now plan to define a communication structure between the groups and the public, including social media, as “a clear distinction from unauthorised party advertising is crucial in election campaigns.”
In the European Parliament, only European party groups and national parties are allowed to campaign in European elections, while parliamentary groups themselves are prevented from using their public funds for any campaign-related activities.
