The German government has disclosed significant funding for various US foundations, think tanks, and NGOs in response to a parliamentary inquiry. Since 2023, over 600 million euros have been allocated to projects of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through “combined financing” initiatives. The government has also admitted to substantial funding of the Green Party-affiliated think tank Stiftung Liberale Moderne (LibMod) and the German branch of the US think tank Aspen Institute, providing millions in taxpayer money.
This information came to light following a parliamentary question submitted in November 2024 by Matthias Moosdorf, a member of the Bundestag and foreign policy spokesperson for the AfD parliamentary group. The inquiry, titled “US-American Foundations and Non-Governmental Organizations as well as the Center for Liberal Modernity in Germany,” sought to bring clarity and transparency to the activities of these organizations and their cooperation with the German government.The government’s response revealed that since 2023, over 600 million euros from German tax funds have flowed into projects of the Gates Foundation.
When including allocations approved from 2021 onwards, the total sum approaches 700 million euros. To put this in perspective, this amount roughly equals the additional 2025 budget for the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development and Building.
The largest direct allocations from federal funds (without any “co-financing”) went to the controversial Green Party-affiliated foundation Zentrum Liberale Moderne (LibMod). The government listed federal funds amounting to over 2.5 million euros for projects running until 2025. However, this listing appears to be incomplete, as it doesn’t include certain known funded projects such as the “Narrative Check” project, which received 200,000 euros annually from 2023 to 2024 from the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs.
The Aspen Institute also received significant funding, including an annual “institutional funding” of 500,000 euros and support for projects focused on influencing the Western Balkans and combating “disinformation.” The German offshoot of the Aspen Institute has a controversial history, with its founder having ties to CIA-funded cultural initiatives during the Cold War. In total, the German government listed over 20 US lobby organizations based in Germany that receive German taxpayer money.
This raises questions about why the government of a supposedly sovereign state voluntarily pumps nine-figure sums annually into about two dozen offshoots of lobby organizations from a foreign state.The inquiry also revealed that Robert Habeck, the Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and current chancellor candidate for the Greens, had the most contacts among all federal ministers with Bill Gates and his foundation in 2024. This prominence at Gates Foundation events has sparked debate about potential influences on German foreign and development policies by oligarchic interests.Matthias Moosdorf, the initiator of the parliamentary inquiry, expressed concerns about the government’s cooperation with the foundations of US billionaires Bill Gates and George Soros. He questioned the impact on Germany’s policies and criticized the use of taxpayer money to fund organizations that may work against mainstream opinions. During a government press conference on January 13, 2025, when questioned about these substantial payments to the Gates Foundation, the representative from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) initially deferred the answer.
A subsequent statement clarified that the BMZ does not directly provide funds to the Gates Foundation, but rather co-finances projects with the foundation and other donors in areas such as food security and health.This clarification, however, seems to contradict the government’s representation in the parliamentary inquiry, where the figures were explicitly listed as answers to questions about “grants from the federal budget” to US foundations.The revelations from this inquiry have raised significant questions about the extent and nature of Germany’s financial involvement with foreign foundations and think tanks, as well as the potential influence these relationships might have on German policy and the use of public funds.
