Schwerin (dpa / mv) - The Minister of Justice Jacqueline Bernhardt (left), who is entrusted with the supervision of foundations in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, does not politically support all foundations. She confessed this on the occasion of the 6th State Foundation Day on Saturday in Schwerin. "And if I, as the responsible minister, don't stand behind all 179 foundations equally politically, then that must not have any influence on the foundation supervision as a legal supervision," she explained. Which foundations the left-wing politician meant by that, she left open.
There are comparatively few foundations in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. According to the minister, their number has increased by 20 to 179 in the last ten years.
Bernhardt reported that five new foundations were approved this year alone. This is a good sign for the country, because the majority of the 179 foundations are committed to serving the public good. "Of course, there are also family foundations, for example, that serve the interests of a family on a permanent basis." This is also not objectionable on the part of the foundation supervisory authority.
The state foundation day is organized by the state network of foundations in MV, which, according to the chairman Sebastian Kriedel, has a good 50 foundations. The aim of the event is to strengthen the networking of the foundations in the country, he told the German Press Agency.
He sees the two dictatorships of the past as the main reason for the weak foundation landscape in the eastern federal states. In National Socialism and also in the GDR, the independence of civic engagement was not desired, he told the German Press Agency. It takes several generations to strengthen voluntary and civic activities in such a way that people are also financially committed to things in the long term that they believe the state cannot do on its own.
