ARD and ZDF are suing the Constitutional Court regarding broadcasting fees. The State Chancellery in Rhineland-Palatinate also regrets this. There you also jump to the side of the public broadcasters.
To date, the state prime ministers have not been able to come to a decision regarding the broadcasting fee for the fee period, which begins in just a few weeks. A meeting in October was unsuccessful; new discussions are planned for mid-December. ARD and ZDF are now going to the Constitutional Court because the constitution stipulates that politicians may only deviate from the KEF recommendation in exceptional cases. The KEF had proposed a moderate increase in the contribution.
The majority of countries wanted to implement the KEF recommendation
“A lawsuit is always a last resort, i.e. when all negotiations have not been successful. We states are still working on the financing issues, which also includes a system change towards a simplified and legally secure procedure by December 12th,” says government spokeswoman Andrea Bähner from the Rhineland-Palatinate State Chancellery. She also says in an exclusive conversation with DIGITAL FERNSEHEN: “According to the wishes of the majority of the states, this lawsuit should not have come about: The majority of the states – including Rhineland-Palatinate – have always been committed to fulfilling the constitutional obligation and the Implement KEF recommendation. This would have meant an adjustment of the broadcasting fee far below the general price development.”
What Bähner means: Contrary to what the Springer press recently suggested, the moderate increase would not serve to make ARD and ZDF fill their mouths. The moderate increase is more than completely eaten up by the inflation rate of the past few years. In any case, the traffic light coalition in RLP “regrets that the broadcasters filed a lawsuit with the Federal Constitutional Court on Tuesday,” as Bähner says. “The states have decided to clarify and decide on the outstanding financing issues by the Prime Minister’s Conference on December 12, 2024. The conflict over the fee increase is of little benefit to the acceptance of public broadcasting.”
From the point of view of the state government in Rhineland-Palatinate, whether a decision regarding the contribution can be made on December 12th remains in the stars. “We wanted to meet all financial issues at the MPK in December. The institutions have now already filed a lawsuit, which doesn’t make it any easier.” But Bähner assures: “Free and independent media must be able to rely on secure financing.” In view of the advanced year, one would like to add that they are responsible for all questions regarding financing This year, however, we have had to have a lot of patience.
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Source: www.digitalfernsehen.de
