The “Streitraum” discussion series at the Berlin Schaubühne has been a fixture in political and cultural life for more than 20 years. The journalist Carolin Emcke brings together cultural workers, scientists and politicians. In October, however, she had to explain: "The Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) has decided not to further promote this format."
This means the future of the series is uncertain. The case represents the debate about the authority's future funding policy, which is currently being realigned.
“The Federal Agency for Civic Education will focus more closely on its core mission in the future,” says Sonja Singer, spokeswoman for the responsible Federal Ministry of the Interior. In the future, the focus will be on the topics of security, state ability to act, democratic resilience and social cohesion.
“The aim is to appeal more broadly to the entire spectrum of society. That’s why we’re checking the offers and formats to see what impact and reach they achieve,” she says.
Greens complain about cuts and a lack of transparency
The ministry leaves open which areas will become less important. The course is met with criticism. The Green MP Lamya Kaddor, a member of the board of trustees of the federal center, complains about cuts and a lack of transparency. Despite inquiries, she received no overview of canceled or shortened projects. “We urgently need more transparency about what actually happens at the Federal Agency for Civic Education and what criteria are used to make decisions,” she says.
The Greens therefore presented a draft law in September. It should provide the federal center with institutional security and make it more independent of the CSU-led Ministry of the Interior.
Kaddor justifies this with the importance of political education. "For a democracy to function in the long term, people have to understand what democracy means and what it is all about. And that's exactly what the bpb does. It was founded as a consequence of the National Socialist dictatorship in order to familiarize people with democratic values."
Government sees restructuring as normal
The federal government rejects the accusation of a political restructuring of the federal center. "There are always new topics. It is completely normal that the Federal Agency for Civic Education rearranges its range of topics based on the topics that are currently current," says government spokesman Stefan Kornelius and adds: "The Federal Agency has a broad social mandate. I don't understand the debate."
Fundamental criticism comes again from the AfD. She accuses the federal center of political one-sidedness. It focuses too much on right-wing extremism and not enough on left-wing extremism or Islamism. Today the Bundestag is discussing a proposal from the parliamentary group.
"The aim of our proposal for the Federal Agency for Civic Education is to return it to its core tasks. To achieve this, we want to drastically cut funding and also ensure that political balance is restored," explains AfD education politician Götz Frömming.
And he goes even further: "If that doesn't work, we will also have to talk about completely abolishing the federal center."
New boss
In the middle of this debate, the authority received new management. The former SPD member of the Bundestag and Berlin school principal Nina Hauer has been at its helm since Monday. The post was vacant for months. The 58-year-old is the first woman to head the federal headquarters. Hauer was a member of the Bundestag from 1998 to 2009. For a time she was also parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group.
In Berlin, after the Federal Agency for Civic Education stopped funding, the Schaubühne is looking for new donors for the “Streitraum” discussion series. At the last edition, host Carolin Emcke was confident that the series could be continued.
