NEOS Vienna reveals election campaign costs: 2.8 million euros transparently!

NEOS Vienna reveals election campaign costs: 2.8 million euros transparently!

NEOS Vienna launched its transparency offensive for the upcoming Vienna election campaign on April 19, 2025. A new reform proposal requires parties to disclose their preliminary election advertising costs a week before election day. The aim of this initiative, which was anchored in law as part of the Progress Coalition, is to provide citizens with a clear overview of the parties' financial concerns.

The NEOS Vienna announce that their preliminary expenditure for the 2025 election campaign is 2,803,546.20 euros. This means they remain below the legal upper limit of five million euros and within the three million euros communicated during the election campaign. At this point, the party highlights the need for transparency, which is considered a central pillar of a fair and modern democracy.

Consequences for violations

The new regulations provide for clear legal consequences if the parties do not properly publish their expenses or exceed the established limits. This is intended to ensure that there is no lack of transparency that could jeopardize trust in the democratic process.

In Germany, however, a report from... Deutschlandfunk that the transparency regarding party donations still needs to be improved. In 2022, the origin of approximately 77 percent of party donations remained unknown, increasing concerns about uncontrollable large donations and their impact on democracy. Transparency International denounces this problem as it could jeopardize citizens' trust in political institutions.

Donation regulation and its challenges

Current regulations in Germany require that donations of 500 euros or more be identified and donations of 10,000 euros or more documented. However, donations under 10,000 euros are exempt from the disclosure requirement. The law stipulates that annual reports that must be submitted by September 30 of the following year are not always immediately meaningful. Around 87 percent of all donations were recently less than 10,000 euros and therefore remained anonymous.

The new regulation of the reporting limits for large donations, which was reduced from 50,000 euros to 35,000 euros in March 2024, could contribute to greater transparency, but the impression of insufficient supervision remains, especially considering that around 100 million euros in party donations and mandate contributions remained unknown in 2022.

In a climate in which political figures like Kevin Kühnert are also initiating a discussion about the gaps in the party financing system, the demand for reform is becoming increasingly louder. Transparency International advocates for an upper limit on party donations in order to limit the influence of large donations and thus strengthen trust in democracy. The example of NEOS Vienna could serve as a model for more transparent party financing in Germany.

Overall, it appears that the pressure on political parties to disclose their finances is growing in many European countries. The NEOS Vienna initiatives and the critical voices from Germany make it clear that transparency in party financing is playing an increasing role in strengthening citizens' trust in democratic processes.