AfD-Linked Foundation Files Criminal Complaint Against Interior Minister Dobrindt

The Desiderius Erasmus Foundation, which is closely aligned with the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, has filed a criminal complaint against Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), accusing him of deliberately withholding state funding the foundation is legally entitled to receive.

Funding Dispute With a Long History

German law allocates nearly 700 million euros annually to party-affiliated foundations for domestic and international educational work. A 2023 funding law established that foundations must demonstrably uphold the free democratic basic order and the principle of international understanding. The Interior Ministry, led by Dobrindt, is responsible for assessing whether each foundation meets these criteria.

While foundations affiliated with the CDU, SPD, and other parties received decisions on their applications back in May, the AfD-linked Desiderius Erasmus Foundation is still waiting. It is the only foundation whose application remains unresolved, according to the federal government's response to a parliamentary inquiry by the AfD.

Steinbach: "Pure Harassment"

Foundation chairwoman Erika Steinbach described the prolonged review as "pure harassment" at an online press conference in Berlin. She called the delay "a merciless frontal attack against fundamental rule-of-law and democratic principles," and also framed it as a threat to the constitutionally guaranteed equality of opportunity for the AfD itself.

The AfD is classified as "confirmed right-wing extremist" by Germany's domestic intelligence agency, the Verfassungsschutz, in five of the country's 16 federal states — a designation that may be influencing the Interior Ministry's assessment of the foundation's fitness for public funding. The Interior Ministry had not responded to media inquiries at the time of reporting.