Dresden (dpa / sn) – According to an expert commission, there are too many funding programs in Saxony. In a report presented in the cabinet in Dresden on Tuesday, the number was put at 200. That’s too many, stressed the commission for reviewing and streamlining the funding programs, chaired by Tilmann Schweisfurth, the former president of the State Audit Office of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
“They evade political control for the government and have become independent to some extent,” explained Schweisfurth. From the point of view of the experts, 50 to a maximum of 80 funding programs would make sense. Since 2010 there has been a steady increase in funding programs in the Free State, with every third program awarding small and very small funding.
In the Commission’s view, there is also a lack of clear responsibilities. Various funding areas such as culture and society, health and social services or research and technology are handled by several departments, which sometimes leads to overlaps. Furthermore, according to the experts, there are too many approval bodies in the country, and the programs themselves often lack a clear strategic concept.
In order to shed light on the funding jungle, the Commission recommends, among other things, a cross-departmental funding strategy and a program inventory. The aim is to reduce the number of funding programs to under 80 if possible.
It also makes sense to have fewer and centralized approval offices. “The entire Saxon funding landscape must be examined carefully,” emphasized Saxony’s Finance Minister Hartmut Vorjohann (CDU). The decisive points are the complete digitization and simplification of funding procedures.
In addition to Schweisfurth, the commission for reviewing and streamlining the funding programs, “Funding Commission II”, includes ten other experts from science, business, legal and tax advice and administration. It is intended to develop proposals for more transparency, efficiency and effectiveness in funding policy. In its 2019 report, the first commission had already criticized a funding jungle and called for some reforms. Since then, a lot has happened in terms of simplification and digitization, it said. The path must be continued.
