Broadcasting Treaty: Broadcasting Treaty: Greens accuse government of maneuvering

The Greens in the Saxon State Parliament are demanding clarity from the government regarding its position on the new Interstate Broadcasting Treaty. "I demand a clear statement from the state government as to whether it will allow the Interstate Treaty in Saxony to fail before it can even be discussed in the State Parliament," explained media expert Claudia Maicher. The window of opportunity for consideration is closing, and the Free State continues to keep the national public and all state parliaments in the dark: "This is unacceptable."

Maicher accused Minister-President Michael Kretschmer ( CDU ) of refusing to sign the draft of the State Treaty on Broadcasting Funding, which had been agreed upon by all state government leaders. Therefore, she has now submitted a parliamentary inquiry on the matter. "This whole maneuvering is irresponsible." Kretschmer, she said, is following the example of the Minister-Presidents of Bavaria and Saxony-Anhalt—Markus Söder (CSU) and Reiner Haseloff (CDU)—"in order to be at the forefront of the club of contribution-based populists."

"In order to continue to oppose any fee increase for as long as possible, he is fueling the very escalation that the new opt-out model is supposedly intended to prevent. Or is he simply accepting the damage to trust in public broadcasting to avoid the embarrassment if his own CDU parliamentary group rejects the state treaty in the state parliament?" Maicher asked. After all, the CDU parliamentary group's media policy spokesperson, Andreas Nowak, had hinted at this.

According to Maicher, the Saxon CDU is clearly not only concerned with the level of contributions. "Political motives also lie behind the constant undermining of orderly procedures and applicable law. This is highly problematic from a constitutional point of view. Complaints about program content due to alleged "political imbalance" and "opinionated journalism" belong to supervisory bodies independent of the state and must not be confused with funding."

"The blocking stance of Saxony , Bavaria, and Saxony-Anhalt now threatens to undermine the agreed-upon package of state treaties for structural reform and the financing model," Maicher feared. However, reforms would only succeed with financial planning security. "But this continues to be torpedoed. A bad sign in times when we need a strong and sustainable public broadcasting system to stabilize democracy."

The so-called Broadcasting Financing Amendment Treaty is intended to prevent individual states from unilaterally blocking the adjustment of the broadcasting fee from 2027 onwards by implementing the so-called objection model. With this model, the approval of all 16 state parliaments will no longer be required in principle. The draft must be passed by all state parliaments by November 2025, otherwise it will expire and cannot enter into force.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:250711-930-784442/1