The prolonged provisional budget management of the federal government has raised concerns among political education providers, as there is still no budget for 2025 in place. According to Andrea Rühmann, chair of the Federal Committee on Political Education (bap), this current arrangement, where only 45 percent of the total allocation is released over a period of nine months, puts many providers in existential danger.
In a time when politically motivated crimes are on the rise and democratic institutions are under pressure, this is a fatal development, Rühmann warned. The umbrella organization of 30 federal associations and institutions of extracurricular political youth and adult education, which the bap represents, pointed out that many providers have already spent the provisional funds or are about to do so.
Numerous seminars and events scheduled for the summer months have been canceled, Rühmann said. A prolonged financing gap in the summer can hardly be bridged by reserves and own funds, which were often depleted after the pandemic years.
The planned allocation of funding for 2025 in October does not alleviate the organization’s concerns. “It will be impossible to catch up on the missed measures in the last quarter of 2025, given the limited personnel and organizational resources” Rühmann emphasized. Several million euros in funding will expire, established structures will come under pressure and the signal sent to a civil society that engages every day for democratic values is fatal, she said.
The Federal Committee on Political Education therefore demands that the provisional budget be increased to at least 75 percent of the total allocation in the guidelines of the Federal Centre for Political Education (bpb) and other funding programs for political education and that retroactive payments be made possible.
In the coalition agreement, the Union and SPD had committed to strengthening political education in principle. The Federal Ministry of the Interior, responsible for the bpb, declined to comment on the issue, citing ongoing budget negotiations and the need to avoid premature statements.