The Federal Interior Ministry, headed by Senator Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), has decided to stop funding the democracy project of the group “Radikale Töchter”. A ministry spokesperson confirmed to the newspaper “taz” that the grant was declined, but said the ministry would not comment on individual assessments.
According to the documents cited by “taz”, the project had already received a provisional approval from the ministry’s funding program “Strengthening Cohesion through Participation” in spring 2025. The project, called “Courage-Muscle Training” was applied for funding under this program, which is administered by the Federal Agency for Civic Education (Bzfe). The Bzfe had, as stated by “taz”, approved the project in March 2025 and gave a conditional go‑ahead, pending the final budget decision.
However, in a January directive to the Bzfe, the Interior Ministry ordered the funding to be withdrawn. The Bzfe reportedly raised significant legal concerns about executing that directive in an internal memo to the ministry, arguing that the project’s internal evaluation process was already complete. Despite these objections, the ministry maintained its decision.
The ministry spokesperson clarified that the final funding decision in the federal programme rests with the Interior Ministry. He added that the ministry reserve the right to set its own priorities for the current funding cycle of “Strengthening Cohesion through Participation”.
Cesy Leonard, managing director of the “Radikalen Töchter” interprets the cancellation as retaliation for her criticism of Chancellor Friedrich Merz. “When politically unpopular organisations like mine lose funding without explanation, it is an absolute scandal” Leonard told “taz”. “A strong democracy must be able to accommodate criticism without punishing it”. She accused the government of deliberately dismantling democratic engagement and said her group has filed an objection to the rejected grant.
