Overview
- The family minister's plan, highlighted in Friday's Bundestag debate, ends two of six funding lines and lets support for more than 200 projects expire at year‑end, with groups told they can reapply under new rules.
- The program spends about €191 million a year and recently backed 360 local democracy partnerships and roughly 3,000 projects, according to the ministry.
- All recipients are being reviewed using the Haber procedure and assessments by the domestic intelligence service, a move critics say politicizes grant decisions and punishes NGOs before evaluations finish.
- SPD lawmakers including Saskia Esken warn that canceling multi‑year grants creates deep uncertainty and could tear down long‑built structures, while the AfD urges abolition of the program altogether.
- Reportedly affected initiatives include HateAid’s counsel for victims of online abuse and cooperation networks tied to Anne Frank institutions and Jewish groups, as Prien promotes shifting support toward schools, sports clubs and volunteer services.