German court rules on party funding

A landmark ruling by the German constitutional court has ruled that small parties should be subject to same funding rules as large parties, as a similar case comes before the European Court of Justice.

The German Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe today (26 October) ruled against a new party-funding scheme adopted by the German Parliament in 2002, which will not now enter into force as planned on 1 January 2005.

Judges said the new scheme would not offer equal opportunities to smal...