18 March: Launch of the petition on Aufstehn.at
Prevent a cultural disaster in Styria – the ORF regional licence fee must stay!
During the election campaign, the FPÖ announced that it would abolish the ORF regional licence fee – a plan it now intends to implement in 2027. This licence fee (formerly known as the ‘Kulturschilling’) raises around 30 million euros annually, the majority of which is spent on arts and culture, but also on sport. Given Styria’s strained budgetary situation, it is politically irresponsible to forego this revenue. So far, there is no concrete plan as to whether and how this massive shortfall in revenue is to be compensated for.
This money is crucial for the cultural sector. We are talking about almost a third of the total budget. But the levy is also a key component in sport. If these funds are not replaced, or not fully replaced, there is a risk of the destruction of Styria’s arts and cultural landscape and an existential threat to sports funding.
It will affect everyone: from major festivals to the independent scene, from theatres to museums, from folk culture to sports clubs – everything that makes Styria strong in cultural and sporting terms is at stake. The damage would have irreparable consequences for the cultural wealth and health of society, for elite sport, tourism, the creative industries, the hospitality sector and universities; in short: for the region as a whole.
The province of Styria has set itself the target of saving 100 million euros next year. Abolishing the provincial tax would increase this shortfall by a further 30 million. Under the pretext of budgetary constraints, this threatens to undermine the arts, culture and sport in Styria – a move that could, not least, facilitate the authoritarian restructuring of the province and deal a severe blow to an open, diverse society.
For decades, the ÖVP in particular has helped shape the cultural development of the province. Its commitment to cultural policy has contributed to making Styria a diverse and internationally recognised cultural region. Anyone who takes this tradition seriously must not allow a central cornerstone of this wealth to be recklessly destroyed.
We demand unequivocally:
- The ORF regional licence fee must be retained. It may only be abolished once Styria is able to fully and permanently compensate for the loss.
- Governor Mario Kunasek and the Styrian provincial government are
urgently called upon to refrain from abolishing the ORF regional licence fee. Otherwise, Kunasek will bear direct responsibility for the destruction of culture and sport in Styria. - An urgent appeal is made to the ÖVP to withhold its approval in the provincial government until a credible plan to compensate for the loss of revenue is in place.