Green Party leader Felix Banaszak has sharply condemned the Union faction’s list of questions on the non-profit status of non-governmental organizations.

"This request from the Union is an attempt to restrict and threaten civil society in a culturally militant manner," Banaszak told the newspapers of the Funke media group (Thursday editions). "This is an instrument that we know from countries like Hungary, which are drifting towards authoritarianism." The Green Party leader criticized that CDU/CSU chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz was less interested in associations that had demonstrated against the traffic light coalition.

This is "probably no coincidence". Banaszak warned the Social Democrats against a coalition with the Union. "The SPD must ask itself how it can negotiate a coalition with Friedrich Merz, while he is laying the axe to everything that should be important to the Social Democrats." In a minor question in the Bundestag, the Union faction questioned the political neutrality and non-profit status of numerous civil society organizations. Many of the associations concerned reacted with outrage.