The Federal Ministry of Family, under Karin Prien (CDU), has made a decision regarding future projects that can be funded by the “Demokratie leben” program. A ministry spokesman confirmed to taz that out of 1,200 expressions of interest, 150 have been selected and are now being invited to submit a funding application.
This represents a significant reduction, as the program currently supports 600 projects.
According to the report, one of the selected projects comes from the media company Correctiv. Furthermore, funds were cut for projects against antisemitism, while a democracy project from the CDU-affiliated Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung will be funded.
A ministry spokesperson declined to comment on individual projects to the newspaper. He only stated that the selection focused on achieving a “balanced landscape of established and new organizations,” as well as thematic and regional scope. Overall, about 40 percent of the projects will be implemented by new organizations. Due to limited budgetary funds, not all project ideas could be funded.
The “Demokratie leben” program will actually be scaled down in the future. The Budget Committee of the Bundestag decided in its purification session on the Federal Budget, late Friday night, to adopt the corresponding draft of the Federal Government. This draft provisions a reduction of the program’s budget next year to 170 million euros. A Federal Ministry of Family spokesman confirmed this sum. This amount is approximately 20 million euros less than in the current budget.
Timo Reinfrank, CEO of the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung, reacted with dismay. He stated to the newspaper that the cuts and reorganization of “Demokratie leben” threaten to become a historical setback for democracy promotion. He added that East Germany will be particularly affected. He noted that in an area where democratic structures are particularly under pressure, an unprecedented reduction is threatening.
