Far-Right NPD Loses State Subsidies
Germany’s National Democratic Party is notorious for its far-right slogans and racism, but it still received state party financing - until it fell foul of a clerical error.
Immigrants should go back to the Middle East on flying carpets, and the recent food scandals would not have happened if Germany had not engaged so much with other countries - these are just two of the questionable statements made by the National Democratic Party (NPD) that have left politicians and voters alike shaking their heads.
Despite its far-right positions, the NPD received financial support from the German parliament, the Bundestag, until last week - in 2011 it received a grand total of 1.32 million euros ($1.74 million) of taxpayer’s money.
Germany’s interior ministers want to ban the NPD
But that is all over now. A payment of 113,000 euros, which the party was still entitled to for last year’s campaign costs, was stopped. The Bundestag has also asked the regional parliaments to freeze their payments to the NPD. The reason is apparently an administrative error - the NPD is reported to have provided incomplete records of its finances, and is now refusing to pay the fine imposed by the Federal Administrative Court.