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The Saxony-Anhalt state parliament refused to accept an increase in the transmission fee. Now ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio have filed constitutional complaints with the highest German court.
The Saxony-Anhalt lock on the highest transmission rate in Germany is now a case for the Federal Constitutional Court. There are demands from ARD, ZDF and Deutschlandradio, as a court spokesperson told the German press agency on Friday. In addition to the constitutional complaints, requests for a provisional order were also filed. The ARD informed the dpa: “With the urgent process, a preliminary decision could be made until the constitutional complaint is resolved.”
With this, the broadcasters are opposed to the failure of the Saxony-Anhalt state parliament to approve the state treaty, which provides for an increase in the transmission fee to 18.36 euros per month on January 1, 2021. The court spokesman He also announced: “A date for the decision is currently not foreseeable.”
Lock due to 86 cents
This week, Saxony-Anhalt blocked the radio license fee adjustment from the current 17.50 euros with an increase of 86 cents, as Prime Minister Reiner Haseloff (CDU) withdrew the bill from the state parliament earlier of the vote. The ruling CDU could have formed a majority there with the largest opposition party, the AfD, which has many seats in parliament, contrary to the position of its coalition partners SPD and Greens.
Because all federal states have to agree before the end of the year, the state treaty cannot go into effect. The license fee is the main source of income for public broadcasters. It would be the first increase in the radio license fee since 2009. On Friday, the conference of the ARD committee as the supervisory body for state broadcasting corporations supported the course of the lawsuit. “This is necessary without delay to avoid damage to the diversity of the media and the formation of opinions,” said President Andreas Meyer-Lauber.
Bremen and Saarland support demands
The broadcasting commission of the federal states met in the afternoon in a special session to discuss the situation after the blockade. Details initially remained unknown. The day before, it was learned that Saarland and Bremen would support the stations’ complaints and send their own statement to Karlsruhe.
The background to this is that the smaller ARD stations, Radio Bremen and Saarländischer Rundfunk, are located in the two federal states and already have to be supported by other ARD stations in a financial compensation scheme. For them, the State Treaty would also have meant that the proportion of financial compensation would have increased.
The Rhineland-Palatinate state media secretary Heike Raab (SPD), who also coordinates the media policy of the State Broadcasting Commission, said Thursday that all other countries that have accepted the State Treaty also want actively participate in the process. Saxony-Anhalt was the only candidate wavering on the contribution question over.
It fears a financial deficit of 1,500 million euros
The fact that households in Germany have to pay 86 cents more a month for the radio license dates back to a recommendation from an independent commission, which calculates the financial requirements of broadcasters at regular intervals. Then the prime ministers and state parliaments decide, but according to the legal situation, they should closely follow the recommendation.
For the next four years, a financial gap of public issuers of 1,500 million euros is forecast, this is how the premium income is obtained. For example, costs of program content are included in the calculations, adjustments to group salaries and pensions also play a role.
According to previous information from the listing service, the income of the issuers in 2019 was around 8,070 million euros. The number of trading accounts last year was around 46.1 million. Most of the around 40 million are apartments. Businesses also have to pay transmission fees, including for their vehicles. Hotels and holiday apartments are also listed. However, it is also possible, under certain conditions, to be exempt from the obligation to pay contributions.
Cuts in the austerity program
Some stations pointed out that there would be cuts to the program without 86 cents. Initially, no concrete consequences were mentioned. ZDF director Thomas Bellut said at Friday’s television council meeting: “We could achieve short-term savings mainly just by ordering from production companies. That would be painful. These companies produce a large part of our program. .
ZDF television council chairman Marlehn Thieme said ahead of the legal action that there was “some urgency”. The council is the independent supervisory authority, among other things, of the broadcaster’s programming work. In a resolution that was tabled, he called the Magdeburg blockade an “obviously irrelevant political decision.” This would damage public broadcasting and its constitutionally guaranteed distance from the state.
The television council also approved the budget for the Mainz-based ZDF for next year. This foresees expenses of 2.6 billion euros, the overall result is expected to be a loss of around 2.6 million euros. The job cuts started years ago will also have reached the target by the end of the year. A total of 562 jobs and about 10 percent of the workforce were eliminated in the course of the austerity program.
