Vienna, 13 May 2025 - In the course of the presentation of the 2025/26 double budget by Finance Minister Markus Marterbauer, comprehensive consolidation measures were announced. The austerity package amounts to 6.4 billion euros in 2025 and 8.7 billion euros in 2026, with cultural funding also affected. According to available information, the Austrian Film Institute (ÖFI) will be affected by cuts.

The draft of the Federal Finance Act does not specify detailed cutbacks for individual cultural institutions. Concrete figures are to be published in the further course of the parliamentary budget deliberations. The structural budget deficit is estimated at 18.1 billion euros for 2025 and 18.3 billion euros for 2026. Overall, this corresponds to a deficit of 4.5 and 4.2 per cent of GDP respectively.

According to Finance Minister Marterbauer, the aim of the measures is to stabilise public finances and comply with European budget requirements. At the same time, targeted investments for the future, for example in the education sector, are planned.

Image generated with AI, chat GPT