The headlines keep coming: almost every week, the Federal Government’s Commissioner for Culture, Wolfram Weimer, is in the media — each time with a new proposal to exert influence over independent cultural institutions. The result is a growing climate of fear among German cultural workers. They no longer know which rules apply and, for example, are holding back from applying for funding calls. I find this deeply worrying. It creates the impression that German cultural funding is suddenly being made conditional. And that radiates beyond Germany to the whole of Europe.
Cultural actors increasingly see the minister as an adversary
When a culture minister appears in the arts pages every day, they are either doing an excellent job — or facing a major scandal. In Weimer’s case, it unfortunately seems to be the latter. The negative headlines do not stop: first, the attempted dismissal of Tricia Tuttle as director of the Berlin International Film Festival; then the surveillance of left-wing bookshops by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution; and finally, the unilateral decision to halt the multi-million euro expansion of the German National Library. It appears as though Weimer is pushing through his own ideology without considering the consequences. Germany is presenting a devastating image here. Cultural actors increasingly see the minister as an adversary, not an ally. Trust has eroded — and without trust, genuine artistic and cultural freedom comes under threat.
If you’re too “woke” for Weimer, you get cancelled
Germany has a particular responsibility to stand up for artistic freedom. In the European Parliament, we fight every day against the identity-politics-driven undermining of culture from the right and against autocratic governments both within and outside the EU. One thing we do not need is for Germany’s culture minister to stab us in the back. What is currently happening in Germany is being closely watched in Brussels. A damaging impression is emerging: cultural funding is now subject to ideological vetting, and anyone deemed “too woke” by Weimer gets cancelled. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany is clear: culture must be allowed to be uncomfortable, and it does not have to please the minister. A personal crusade against unwelcome voices is entirely inappropriate. Anyone who threatens bookshops with the intelligence services has lost all sense of proportion.
The Federal Government must now urgently take a clear stance and set limits for Weimer. Above all, it must not appear as though the minister can go completely off the rails on his own. But I also expect a public explanation from Weimer himself — how does he justify his heavy-handed approach toward parts of the cultural sector? Wolfram Weimer must provide answers — in the Bundestag and in public. And we will follow those very closely at the European level as well.