Press release
dated February 29, 2024
Department of Arts and Culture decides independently on funding for the Munich Peace Conference
In a letter dated February 15, 2024, the Department of Arts and Culture corrects the previous statement by Head of the Department of Arts and Culture Anton Biebl and Mayor Dieter Reiter that the motion from the SPD/Volt and Grüne/Rosa Liste city council groups not to fund the International Munich Peace Conference “[sets] a framework for the Department of Arts and Culture that must be taken into account in the interpretation of the funding criteria.” The organizers of the Peace Conference are therefore calling on the Department of Arts and Culture to decide once again on the funding of the Peace Conference, free from the influence of the city councilors in question.
In fact, the Department of Arts and Culture usually decides independently on so-called “ongoing matters” under EUR 25,000. Decisions on funding applications are based on the funding guidelines, which guide the Department of Arts and Culture’s discretion and are shaped by the city council. In all decisions, the administration is bound by the principle of equal treatment.
Instead of adapting the funding guidelines as a whole, which would undoubtedly fall within the remit of the city council, the aforementioned city council motion aimed to set new standards solely for the Peace Conference. Accordingly, the motion was an attempt to interfere in the area of responsibility of the Department of Arts and Culture in a way that does not comply with the principle of equal treatment.
The fact that Head of the Department of Arts and Culture Anton Biebl and Mayor Dieter Reiter allowed themselves to be set “a framework [for] the interpretation of the funding criteria” by the mere motion, which has not yet been approved by the city council, meant that there was a risk that, firstly, the politically motivated[1] unequal treatment of the Peace Conference would be enforced with an administrative act, and secondly, the funding criteria of the Department of Arts and Culture, or their interpretation, would be changed through an irregular and undemocratic process.
At least the latter risk was mitigated by the Department of Arts and Culture’s correcting statement that the city council motion does not set a binding framework for the interpretation of the funding criteria. Nevertheless, the Department of Arts and Culture has not withdrawn its decision not to fund the Peace Conference due to the city council motion. We urge the Department of Arts and Culture to grant the Peace Conference the funding that was verbally promised.
The letter from the Department of Arts and Culture dated 06.02.2024 can be found HERE
You can find the reply from RA Breuer dated 13.02.2024 HERE
The letter from the Department of Arts and Culture dated 15.02.2024 can be found HERE
You can find the reply from RA Breuer dated 29.02.2024 HERE
Contact:
Maria R. Feckl
Project Management International Munich Peace Conference
Mobile 0160 97 50 20 28
E-mail: office@friedenskonferenz.info
International Munich Peace Conference
℅ Helmut-Michael-Vogel Bildungswerk e.V.
Frauenlobstr. 24 Rgb.
80337 Munich
Organizations of the supporting association:
German Peace Society-United War Resisters*innen Landesverband Bayern (DFG-VK Bayern)
pax christi Diocese of Munich and Freising e.V.
International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War / Physicians in Social Responsibility e.V. (IPPNW)
MSKverändern e.V.
Netzwerk Friedenssteuer
NatWiss Responsibility for Peace and Sustainability e.V.
IFFF International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom
Helmut-Michael-Vogel-Bildungswerk e.V.
More information at www.friedenskonferenz.info
[1] Grüne/Rosa Liste city council group: “However, we do not want to conceal the fact that the political will is currently lacking.” See: https://www.gruene-fraktion-muenchen.de/in-eigener-sache-warum-wir-die-muenchner-friedenskonferenz-nicht-mehr-foerdern-wollen/.
