2 - 2000

Morality and Politics

Editorial

The question of morality in politics has, since the end of last year, again become a topic for public discussion in Germany. This debate was provoked in particular by illegal dealings with funds donated to political parties, but the scandal also spotlights the issue of what standards should be held up to parties and politicians in Germany. Should we take notice of a deterioration of political morality, or are morally rigorous expectations harmful to the political culture? What about this "party donations scandal"?

The parties in Germany need money, a lot of money, to conduct election campaigns, pay their employees, etc. Dues paid by members do not bring in enough. In addition, the parties are reimbursed by the government for election campaign expenses according to the share of votes they receive in a particular election. Finally, the parties are allowed to accept donations, but the amounts and the donors names, in the case of any donation over 20,000 DM, must be published in the parties reports.

The "Christian Democratic Union" (CDU) has been breaking the laws governing these matters for many years. The party finally admitted this after increasing numbers of details of dubious financial transactions had been made public. Many donations either never appeared in the reports, or the information given was inaccurate, because the donors did not want their names made public. The party Ð especially the branch in the federal State of Hesse Ð had millions of marks worth of foreign accounts which were never mentioned in any report, and apparently only a few people in the party even knew about them. The courts are now considering the legal consequences of these offences, and several politicians have had to resign from their offices.

The CDU has publicly apologised for its conduct, made fundamental changes in the way it handles donations and other income, and made a new beginning in its leadership with new personnel. However it has lost much of its credibility in the society and promoted mistrust of political parties in general. This was reinforced by the discovery of irregularities in the way other parties deal with their funds, though in a much smaller scale than in the CDU scandal. For instance, the "Social Democratic Party of Germany" (SPD) faces the accusation that the Prime Minister of one of the LŠnder, in isolated cases, charged flights for travel on party business at the expense of a state related bank.

These affairs have deeply shaken the confidence of many people in Germany. They had never expected that such dealings with money, and with truth-telling, were possible in the political life of the Federal Republic. The churches are speaking out and urging that the society needs a common set of values, and that those who carry political responsibility have a particular obligation to promote truthfulness. The worst that could come about is that the society goes on with its business as if nothing had happened. The discussion of politics and morality in Germany is urgently needed, and it must be carried out with broad participation on the part of the people who vote for the politicians. Otherwise the danger is that more and more people will say that "politics is dirty" and refuse any further participation in political life. Democracy lives by the trust of the citizens, and their trust must be earned again. How that might happen is discussed in the articles in this issue of Ecumenical Dialogue.