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View of Berlin's Museum Island and Palace: "The comment on the Humboldt Forum could have been omitted."
Photo: elxeneize / picture alliance / Zoonar
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Ebbing, were you surprised that sovereignty over cultural and media policy went to the Greens?
Ebbing:
Everyone was surprised.
It was also relatively clear internally that this office - the commissioner for culture and media - goes to the SPD.
In the meantime, it was just a question of how the little power struggle between Michelle Müntefering and Carsten Brosda would end.
In the end it was clear that Brosda had won.
SPIEGEL:
Since when has it been clear that things will turn out very differently?
Ebbing:
Apparently there has been a turning point in the past few days, probably not until the day before yesterday.
I suspect that was because the FDP was given the transport department late.
And that then the Greens probably said, now we would like something or would like to swap something else.
But again, this result is surprising.
SPIEGEL:
Why did Brosda temporarily have better chances than Müntefering?
Ebbing:
I think Brosda is closer to Olaf Scholz.
There is still a close personal relationship from the days in Hamburg.
Olaf Scholz's political closeness to Carsten Brosda may also be higher than to Michelle Müntefering.
Müntefering has real advantages to offer.
SPIEGEL:
Which do you mean?
Ebbing: In
the Foreign Ministry she was responsible for cultural policy there.
Brosda was the Senator for Culture in Hamburg, he does not know the system at the federal level.
It was a real struggle, an argument.
SPIEGEL:
After all, the SPD had two very ambitious candidates.
Is it therefore a disadvantage that the Greens take something unprepared?
Ebbing:
What does disadvantage mean? Maybe the old adage is more applicable: When two people argue, the third is happy.
And that doesn't have to be bad, but it depends on who it will be in the end.
But one thing is clear.
SPIEGEL:
What?
Ebbing:
The culture enthusiasts who had already adjusted to Brosda have to rethink.
Of course they had thought about how it works and where to start.
But I find it fundamentally very gratifying that we have a change in cultural policy.
And not just a change of person, but also a change of party.
SPIEGEL:
The CDU had been responsible since 2005, and Monika Grütters had been Minister of State for Culture since 2013.
Ebbing:
And whether the SPD would have become responsible or the Greens have now, a lot will change.
I believe that cultural policy will again be more at eye level with those who drive culture.
SPIEGEL:
Hasn't that been the case in the past few years?
Ebbing:
No, it was more like a feudal state.
The basic motto was: Whoever gives the money, i.e. the Minister of State for Culture, decides what to do, the recipient of the money has to submit.
SPIEGEL:
So far, you were the cultural policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group. So you know best: Why didn't your party have the desire to appoint a Minister of State for Culture?
Ebbing:
The FDP knows well that cultural policy is a necessity and important for cohesion in our society, that it plays a central role in the large area of education, among other things.
And we also know about culture as an economic factor.
It was only through the corona crisis and its new debates that many noticed that the cultural industry is the second largest economic and location factor in Germany after the automotive industry.
In the voting process of the coalition parties, the culture went to the SPD - and at the very end to the Greens.
That makes me sad, but it doesn't mean that the FPD is averse to culture.
SPIEGEL:
But none of the parties wanted their own ministry?
Ebbing:
After all, there is now the national goal of culture, which is part of the program.
The budget for culture is too small for a separate ministry, so it would have been merged with another area.
Would that be an advantage?
Culture with education, culture with sport?
That would be a general store, so culture is better off as a large department of the Chancellery.
SPIEGEL:
The coalition agreement remains vague with regard to culture.
Diversity is evoked, "from classic to comic, from Low German to record store".
That sounds good, but what does it say?
Ebbing:
Compared to the last coalition agreements, the word style is initially similar.
If you read between the lines, you realize how different this is.
SPIEGEL:
To what extent is it?
Ebbing:
Culture should again be left to the cultural workers.
The state says: We set the framework conditions and we have to improve them.
We have to enable those who create culture to create culture.
SPIEGEL:
Does the FDP shine through somewhere in the passages on culture?
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Ebbing:
I find a lot in the coordinated program that I have also campaigned for.
One example is the reform of the artists' social security fund or the strengthening of the advisory commission, which draws up recommendations on the return of Nazi-looted art.
Another is digitization, also to simplify many processes.
Because debureaucratisation is a must.
There is a lot more.
SPIEGEL:
But the relevant remarks are also rather vague.
Ebbing: It
is very clear that the cultural property protection law that was reformed a few years ago - this Lex Grütters - needs to be reformed again.
Also that we would like to amend the film funding.
We have fought the preparatory, tough battle together with the Greens over the past few years.
SPIEGEL:
But why can't we do more, even more specifically?
Ebbing:
Among other things, because the length of such a contract and the individual topics are not endless.
How much is there about culture, the exact length of the line, is also the subject of the agreement between the coalition parties.
And I also trust the progressive design of the sometimes vague points.
This also gives the successor in office the opportunity to develop their own priorities.
SPIEGEL:
Which points did you regret completely omitted?
Ebbing:
For example, a restitution law, but it is still not ruled out.
SPIEGEL:
You hear that the - very controversial - cross on the dome of the city palace was mentioned in an earlier version of the contract.
Now there is nothing left to do with it.
Ebbing:
However, the topic still worries many.
But of course, that's something that I also criticize about this contract.
Obviously, there was a lot of what had already been decided that was no longer wanted to touch.
SPIEGEL:
What do you mean by that?
Ebbing:
Much of what can be ascribed to the last government is no longer a major issue.
That applies to the Museum der Moderne, which is currently being built and which it is clear that it could have been made much more ecological.
This applies to the reform of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, whose reform commission is not a real reform commission at all.
And there is only one sentence left about the palace and the Humboldt Forum: We are developing the Humboldt Forum as a place for democratic, open-minded debate.
Yes what else?
The remark could have been omitted entirely.
