ZDF State Treaty: Equal obligations, fewer rights?

In a letter to the members of the parliamentary groups in the 16 state parliaments on Friday, the President of the Humanist Association of Germany, Frieder Otto Wolf, once again drew attention to the scandalous exclusion of non-denominational citizens from the new ZDF State Treaty. Wolf appealed to the members of parliament to “tie their approval to the equal inclusion of representatives of non-denominational and non-religious people in our country” and not to allow “people without denominational or religious ties to continue to have no opportunity to participate here”. He described it as a scandal that this section of the population, which makes up around a third of the German population on average, still has no representation on the ZDF Television Council. Even before the current draft was passed by the heads of government of the federal states , Wolf had called on them to include non-denominational representatives in the agreement. He argued for the inclusion of four seats, as this would not only be appropriate in relation to the current number of representatives of religious communities, but would also adequately take into account the existing plurality among non-denominational representatives. The current draft of the new state treaty, which was adopted in Berlin on March 26, 2015, provides for two seats each on the ZDF Television Council for representatives of the Protestant Church and the Catholic Church in Germany, one seat each for representatives of the Jewish community and Muslims and two seats for representatives of the two major Christian charities. According to the current plan, the ZDF State Treaty is to be signed on June 18, 2015 following its adoption by the state parliaments and will apply for ten years from 2016. “The current draft not only ignores the legitimate interest of a large part of the population in equal participation and involvement without good reason, but also raises fundamental doubts about its constitutionality,” continued Frieder Otto Wolf in the letter to the MPs. As justification, he recalled, among other things, the provisions of the Basic Law, which stipulates in Article 140: “Associations that make the communal cultivation of a world view their task shall be treated as equal to religious societies.” The President of the Humanist Association therefore called on MPs to advocate “that people from outside the church and without religious affiliation are also given a place to participate in the Second German Television.” Otherwise, millions of contributors would remain second-class viewers: “Equal duties, but fewer rights. That is not acceptable,” said Wolf.