Press Advisories

13. 6. 2017 23:04

The Czech-German Fund for the Future has already contributed EUR 54 million to cooperation projects

A meeting of the Administrative Board of the Czech-German Fund for the Future was held in the Černín Palace on Tuesday, 13 June 2017. This regular meeting was extraordinarily attended by Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.

The Fund was established under the Czech-German Declaration, signed 20 years ago. It was designed for only ten years, but the Czech Republic and Germany repeatedly agreed on extending the period in 2007 and 2017 respectively.

Since 1998, the Czech-German Fund for the Future has been promoting Czech-German mutual cooperation projects, primarily focused on youth and schools, culture, dialogues and scientific projects, restoration of monuments, or partnerships between municipalities and interest groupings. Over that period, it has provided approximately EUR 54 million for 9,500 projects. The Czech-German Discussion Forum is one of its most important projects.

Specific projects include the Munich-Prague Discussion Forum: Destinies in Exile, German-Czech Exchange Exhibition in the Beierfeld Red Cross Museum, Czech-German Culture Days – Music and Culture Bring People Together, Czech-German Summer Senior School in Telč, Ceremonial Concert for the Benefit of Nazi Victims on the Occasion of the 70th Anniversary of the end of World War II and many more.

In addition, the Fund focuses on one specific theme every year. This year, it is the “media.competence.promotion”. The projects supported include the collection “Live with Your Past. Memories of the Holocaust Survivors”; No Man, an opera about the impacts of totalitarian structures; Going Out of the Silence, an exhibition of pictures of the Passion of Jesus by Bohuslav Reynek; or the Flows 2017 artistic symposium.

On 18 May 2016, Bohuslav Sobotka Government decided to finance the Fund in the upcoming period of 2018–2027. CZK 270 million will be gradually released for it from the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. In addition, EUR 25 million will be provided by the German Government.

The Administrative Board, convened four times a year to discuss individual projects, is the responsible body of the Fund. It is composed of four Czech and four German members, who are appointed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the relevant country for two years.

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