We too retweeted it: "Germany increases culture subsidy by 100 million". And we thus fed a half-truth. That half-truth is, that Germany is a heaven for culture lovers, a haven for people fed up with the chilly austerity of the Rutte governments. Germany may seem nice, but, As Volkskrant correspondent Merlijn Schoonenboom noted in March this year, cuts are being made there at least as hard as here.
What went wrong?
The message we retweeted concerned an action by the central German government, and on balance it does not spend that much on culture. Most of Germany's cultural subsidies are given by the big cities, and by the federal states. And these have already slashed the budget a lot last year. On facebook, the freelance journalist and Germany follower recalled Simon van den Berg us to that fact: theatres are closing down in Germany's cultural attractions too, and a museum there too sometimes falls down. As such, the central government's action does not appear to be a free gift: it is an attempt to reverse the negative spiral of cultural austerity in the Länder.
Time, then, to look at hard figures. These can be found on a site that compiles all EU statistical data. And what emerges? The Netherlands gave according to the table at the beginning of this century, the Netherlands still spent almost twice as much per capita on culture as Germany, €183 versus €96. Even though more than a quarter has now been taken off, as an art lover you are financially better off in the Netherlands than with your eastern neighbours.
Those who want to be really comfortable when it comes to subsidies should go to Scandinavia. According to European statistics, the Norwegian government spends 437 euros per capita on culture, and Denmark is not far below with 352 euros.
If you really want to enjoy royalty, you have to become a resident of Liechtenstein. The Prince there spends 588 euros per inhabitant on culture.
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