The Minister of State for Culture defends herself against accusations from the independent scene

During the debate on the 2025 cultural budget in the German Bundestag on Wednesday afternoon, Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) defended her budget, which will increase slightly compared to 2024, to 2.2 billion euros. She not only commented on the increase in funding for the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, Deutsche Welle and cultural film funding, but also on the items affected by cuts. She wants to use the upcoming discussions to advocate for more adequate budgeting for cultural projects and foundations that are less well-equipped than before.

“We were not able to make everything possible that we thought was right and necessary,” said Roth in parliament. This also applies to the independent scene. This was her response to a petition that now has over 36,000 signatures, calling for the reversal of cuts in the area of ​​the liberal arts. The urgent letter “Saving on the liberal arts costs too much!” was signed by Sandra Hüller, Igor Levit and Dominique Horwitz, among others, and presented to Claudia Roth in time for the budget debate on Wednesday.

The Green politician rejected the accusation that she was neglecting the liberal arts. It was only in the current legislative period that new funds were generated for them: Compared to the pre-Corona period, their funding had been “increased by over 30 million euros, or around 45 percent.”

Criticism was particularly fierce about the cuts to the Federal Cultural Fund, which includes the Art Fund, the Translation Fund and the Music Fund. In the future, they will have to make do with just 18 million euros instead of 34.3 million euros as this year. Roth countered the accusations by saying that the funding from the Federal Cultural Fund was nevertheless “still significantly higher than the 2023 estimates” and those from the period before that, i.e. in the years of her predecessor Monika Grütters.

She promised the Alliance of International Production Houses, whose funding of 5 million euros is to be completely stopped, that she would look for support from the Federal Cultural Foundation. However, according to the draft budget for 2025, the Federal Cultural Foundation will also have to make do with less money, with 35 million euros instead of the previous 37.5 million euros.