Federal and state governments conclude new funding agreement for the SPK / Parzinger: Historic step and important signal for the reform process
Press release from 01/03/2025
Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Minister Presidents of the federal states have agreed on a new funding agreement for the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) by circular resolution. According to the agreement, the federal and state governments will increase their annual contributions to the SPK's funding by a total of €12 million from 2026, of which the federal government will bear €9 million.
This means that, in addition to the federal government, all federal states will increase their financial contribution by ten per cent in future. This means an increase in the base amount of the SPK's operating costs by 12 million euros to 134,978,800 million euros. With the exception of Berlin, the subsidies from the federal states have not increased since 1996. Their share of the basic amount of the operating costs is now around 33.7 million euros, while the federal government bears the remaining 75 per cent amounting to around 101.2 million euros.
Following the involvement of the state parliaments, the new funding agreement is to be signed by the Federal Chancellor and the Minister Presidents of the federal states by 12 March 2025 and enter into force on 1 January 2026. The financing agreement is part of the extensive reform process that the federal and state governments have initiated together with the SPK. The Federal Cabinet approved the government draft for a new SPK Act on 13 November 2024. This has already been submitted to the Bundestag.
SPK President Hermann Parzinger explains: "I would like to sincerely thank Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Minister Presidents of the federal states for this strong signal. My thanks also go to Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth and her organisation. This decision cannot be described as anything other than historic. For the first time in almost three decades, the federal states are increasing their financial contribution to the SPK. We know how tense the situation of public budgets is everywhere at this time. This makes this step all the more significant. It also recognises the Foundation's successful reform efforts, which will be completed by 2025. The federal and state governments have kept their word, they are active sponsors of the Foundation and are thus supporting our reform process to the best of their ability. The SPK, as this day once again makes clear, is a child of cultural federalism and has an impact throughout Germany. We are responding to the justified wish of the federal states to have a stronger presence with exhibitions and projects in the federal states in addition to Berlin with a Federal Programme, which we have realigned in terms of structure and content as part of the reform. In order to bring the SPK reform to a successful conclusion, it is now crucial that the new Foundation Act is passed by the German Bundestag before the end of this legislative period."