Donation ban for popular initiatives: Remarkable bigotry

In a hearing of the Constitutional Committee of the Hamburg Citizenship, legal experts said on Thursday that they had no concerns about the amendment to the referendum law planned by the SPD, the Greens and the CDU. According to this, popular initiatives should no longer be allowed to receive donations from public corporations and public sector companies. Donations over 500 euros should also be inadmissible if it is not clear from whom the donation comes.

Eckart Maudrich, spokesperson for NOlympia Hamburg:

‘In the Senate’s advertising campaign for the current Olympic referendum, the Chamber of Commerce, as a body governed by public law, is donating EUR 1.3 million. Public companies and participations such as Bäderland, the HVV, the Stadtreinigung or Asklepios also stir the Olympic advertising drum. It is a remarkable bigotry that the parties supporting the Olympic campaign want to at the same time ban popular initiatives from collecting donations from such actors.”