The English Article:
Danish People’s Party through their lead candidate for the European Parliament elections, Anders Vistisen, has attempted to prevent an expert from making statements regarding Vistisen’s use of Facebook ads, which may possibly violate the rules for the use of EU funds. This was revealed by Roger Buch, research lecturer and center director at the Danish School of Media and Journalism, who described the situation as “shocking” and “unheard of.” Buch reports that he received numerous emails accusing him of defamation and slander from lawyer Carlo Siebert on behalf of Vistisen, even before any articles were published or Vistisen knew what Buch had said. Buch sees this as a clear threat.
Anders Vistisen, however, denies the criticism and simply believes that his lawyer contacted Buch politely. The first email from lawyer Siebert to Roger Buch came on January 17, 2024, after Berlingske had spoken to Buch about a story concerning Vistisen’s ads. Politicians are not allowed to use EU funds to finance ads that serve as party political campaigns or election campaigns. The ads, which bear the ID Group logo in the top right corner, are, according to Buch, not in compliance with the rules if they are funded by EU funds.
Roger Buch has been involved as an expert in several cases of potential misuse of EU funds and is surprised by Vistisen’s aggressive approach. He compares it to previous cases where parties have disclosed who pays for their ads, something Vistisen and his lawyer have not done. Instead, Buch continues to receive threatening emails. Danish People’s Party’s press chief, Erik Møller, in several emails to B.T. (Berlingske Tidende) demands names of the experts, B.T. has spoken with and has insisted that the party’s funds come from various sources without specifying which.
Despite repeated requests, the party has refused to disclose which sources fund Vistisen’s ads or how much money the various contributions represent. Roger Buch stands by his criticism and questions why Vistisen and his lawyer do not wish to present facts if they believe their campaigns are legal. Buch states that it would be simplest to bring forward the facts, to lay the cards on the table, but Vistisen has not wanted to. B.T. (Berlingske Tidende) has tried to get a response from Danish People’s Party regarding the funding of Vistisen’s ads without success.
However, Vistisen has said in a video on Facebook that neither he nor the party receives financial contributions from the business sector for their campaigns. At the same time, the party had a deficit of over 6 million Danish kroner last year. Roger Buch also criticizes Vistisen for threatening lawsuits against people who assess legal questions differently than he does. He calls for documentation from Vistisen that the EU system approved the controversial ads.
This case raises questions about transparency in the financing of political campaigns and the potential use of EU funds, which could have far-reaching consequences for trust in political institutions.