Berlin: End of controversial “democracy clause” – but why is Kai Wegner silent?

Her inauguration was met with considerable advance praise. Berlin's Governing Mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) praised Sarah Wedl-Wilson as "a proven expert in art and culture," Berlin's new Senator for Culture said at the end of May.

Now, three weeks later, it appears as if the new senator is bringing an end to an agonizingly long, long-running debate, in which Wegner had apparently also reached the limits of his ability. Wedl-Wilson is campaigning against a democracy clause intended to prevent the state of Berlin from releasing funding to extremists. Now Social Affairs Senator Cansel Kiziltepe (SPD) has also reinforced this position. The discussion is "finally over," Kiziltepe said. This means: The clause is apparently dead.

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"I'm not a fan of bans," Sarah Wedl-Wilson said in one of her first interviews . She also trusts "the heads of our institutions to have the necessary sensitivity to properly address issues within their institution and protect all employees from discrimination of any kind," she told the German Press Agency.

Sarah Wedl-Wilson, a 56-year-old cultural manager with British-Austrian citizenship, was previously Secretary of State under the previous Senator for Culture, Joe Chialo, until he resigned at the end of April .

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Accordingly, Wedl-Wilson publicly advocated his course – even after the CDU's former hopeful had long since been caught up in reality. He witnessed his own lawyers reclaiming a hastily cobbled-together anti-Semitism clause intended to prevent the disbursement of funding to Jew-haters and Israel-haters. The reason given was that it was not legally sound. Critics saw artistic freedom in jeopardy from the outset.

Sarah Wedl-Wilson revealed how far she had distanced herself from Joe Chialo in an unusually candid interview shortly after her appointment as his successor. In it, she distanced herself from her former boss, saying, "Art should and can push the boundaries." A clause was unnecessary.

And Wegner? It's been a while since the head of government spoke publicly about this. In September 2024, there was an anti-Semitic paint attack on the apartment building where Chialo lives. For Wegner, this is yet another argument for a democracy clause in the allocation of state funds. He wrote on X that it is "urgently needed."

For some time, four Senate administrations have been working on drafting such a clause in a way that would be legally sound, but so far, without success. It seems likely that this will remain the case.

And while Kai Wegner remains staunchly silent, Social Affairs Senator Kiziltepe welcomes "the senator's sensible decision" and "explicitly supports her on her path to genuine protection against discrimination." This is a good sign for artistic freedom and trust in the city's state-funded institutions, the SPD politician said.