Germany

[DE] Bundestag Votes additional EUR 100 Million for Culture

IRIS 2013-1:1/17

Martin Rupp

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

At its final meeting on the culture budget on 9 November 2012, the Budget Committee of the Bundestag voted an additional EUR 100 million for culture, an increase in funding of about eight per cent.

This means that the culture budget has been significantly increased for the eighth year running. According to the Staatsminister für Kultur und Medien (Minister of State for Culture and Media), this cannot be taken for granted given the current public sector austerity measures and the constitutionally mandated “debt ceiling”.

The total budget will amount to EUR 1.28 billion. The promotion of film production in Germany will benefit significantly from these additional resources. The Deutscher Filmförderfonds (German Film Fund) will be given an increase of EUR 10 million to EUR 70 million a year (on the recent extension of the German Film Fund, see IRIS 2012-10:1/9). The Kulturstiftung des Bundes (Federal Cultural Foundation), which receives aid for films, the new media and cross-sectional projects, will also be supported to the tune of an additional EUR 5 million, thus bringing the total to EUR 40 million.