Kultura will receive 400 million CZK less than this year; according to the Ministry of Culture, this is insufficient.

Prague – According to the proposed state budget, the expenditures of the Ministry of Culture should decrease next year after several years of growth. The planned amount is currently almost 424 million crowns lower than this year's budget. The ministry's expenditures are expected to amount to 14.36 billion crowns compared to this year's 14.78 billion crowns. Ministry of Culture spokesperson Martha Häckl told ČTK today that, from the perspective of fulfilling the government's program statement, the ministry considers the amount proposed in the budget to be insufficient.

In February, Culture Minister Antonín Staněk (ČSSD) said that for the year 2020, he would request an increase in the budget by 2.4 billion crowns compared to this year. This would mean that the ministry would manage with an amount exceeding 17 billion crowns next year. According to his previous statement, the share of the cultural budget in the state budget should increase to one percent in 2021, as the governments have been discussing for two decades. After the April dismissal of two directors of contribution organizations, Staněk faced criticism from experts and party members and submitted his resignation. President Miloš Zeman did not accept it, and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) subsequently proposed Staněk's dismissal at the request of the ČSSD.

The spokesperson referred to the program statement, which states that culture is one of the most important factors for the healthy development of society, fundamentally influencing all its aspects; the government has also committed to increasing public spending in the area of culture by strengthening the ministry's budget. According to the spokesperson, the budget is also insufficient in terms of fulfilling state cultural policy and national and international strategic plans and concepts.

"The cuts proposed by the Ministry of Finance, i.e. whether it's the reduction of grant titles associated with activities falling under the independent authority of territorial administrative units or savings in operational expenses, are not realizable from the perspective of fully meeting the requirement," she added. According to her, the ministry will strive for a partial variant of the proposed cuts that should have minimal impact on the mentioned agendas or that do not restrict the provision of public cultural services.

A large part of the ministry's budget consists not only of expenditures for the operation of contribution organizations but also expenditures for churches. The office pays an annual installment of approximately two billion crowns as financial compensation to churches that have entered into an agreement with the state. They receive this for property that the state cannot issue under the law on property settlement. The ministry also annually disburses state contributions for church activities, a significant portion of which constitutes the salaries of clergy. This amount decreases every year after the adoption of a law that also means a separation of the state from churches, until there is none. This year, it amounts to approximately 1.3 billion crowns.

The Ministry of Finance anticipates a deficit of 40 billion crowns in the first draft of the state budget for next year. The priorities of the budget for the next year include, as this year, an increase in pensions and teachers' salaries, an increase in parental benefits, and a rise in expenditures of the Ministry of Defense. In addition to culture, expenditures of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Transport, and Agriculture are expected to decrease compared to this year. The government will discuss the proposal on June 24.