The FDP plans to reduce funding for overseas gender initiatives.
When battling for the 2025 federal budget, each euro is fiercely defended. The FDP is particularly vocal in this regard. They aim not only to reduce spending on social benefits in Germany, such as citizen's income, but also on development aid. An area they're looking at closely is gender projects.
During the budget dispute for 2025, the FDP parliamentary group has demanded cuts to the funding of gender projects overseas. "Expenses in development aid are laced with questionable projects," stated FDP parliamentary group deputy Christoph Meyer to "Bild."
Meyer used examples of German-funded projects like "Capacity building and gender training for civil society basic organizations and social worker stations in a province in China" and a "network for gender-transformative education" in Africa. "We thus need to scrutinize these expenditures and optimize them for efficiency," said Meyer.
The budget expert accused Development Minister Svenja Schulze of overstretching development aid. In the balancing act between a stimulus package for Germany and the continuation of this development aid, "the priority should be set on what matters most," he stated. "Hence, it's crucial to understand that everything that doesn't benefit Germany's economic and security interests should take a back seat."
As of the Federal Government's Transparency Portal, the project "Capacity building and Gender-Training for Civil Society Basic Organizations and Social Worker Stations in a Province in China" was initiated in September 2023 and is initially planned to last four years. The total budget allocated is 522,000 euros, with none of it having been spent yet.
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The FDP's austerity policy extends to development aid, as they propose reducing funding for overseas gender initiatives. This stance was echoed by FDP parliamentary group deputy Christoph Meyer during the budget dispute for 2025, who questioned the efficiency of certain expenditures and suggested a need for optimization. The Development Minister Svenja Schulze has been accused by Meyer of overextending development aid.
Source: www.ntv.de
