Change in law after failed ban procedure
Bundestag, the Federal Council and the federal government had applied for the exclusion in 2019. This was preceded by a failed ban procedure against the NPD. The The Federal Constitutional Court rejected a ban in January 2017. The Karlsruhe judges attested that the NPD had anti-constitutional goals and “an essential affinity with National Socialism.” But the party is too insignificant to implement these goals and endanger democracy. However, when the verdict was announced, the then court president Andreas Voßkuhle suggested that the legislature could consider excluding the NPD from state party financing.
The Bundestag then made a change with the votes of the CDU/CSU, SPD and large parts of the Left Article 21 of the Basic Law. Accordingly, parties are excluded from state funding if their goals or the behavior of their supporters are aimed at impairing or eliminating the free democratic basic order or endangering the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany. However, the Federal Constitutional Court must decide on this in each individual case.
NPD was previously still entitled to tax relief
The NPD or “Die Heimat” currently has 3,000 members nationwide. It currently does not receive any public money from party financing. Parties are only entitled to direct subsidies if they received at least 0.5 percent of the vote in the last European or federal election or at least one percent of the vote in at least one federal state in the last state election. The party no longer has that to show. In its former strongholds of Saxony and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the party recently achieved 0.6 percent and 0.8 percent respectively. However, the party has so far been entitled to tax breaks for donations, gifts and inheritances.