Groundcheck 2022: Podiumsdiskussion mit Abgeordneten des Deutschen Bundestages

Deutsches Archäologisches Institut
4 Abonnenten
03.10.2023
Mitschnitt der internationalen Konferenz "Groundcheck - Klima, Krise, Archäologie", 2. Juni 2022 im Weltsaal des Auswärtigen Amtes.
Podiumsdiskussion mit:
Erhard Grundl MdB
Prof. Monika Grütters MdB
Michelle Müntefering MdB
Prof. Dr. Friederike Fless
Dr.-Ing. Katja Piesker
Sämtliche Videos der Konferenz sowie das archivierte Programm unter: https://live.dainst.org/groundcheck/
Kamera und Ton: Technik AA
Schnitt: Sebastian Dobberstein
Titelgrafik: Enrico Wagner, www.pertext.de
What do you make of the conference?
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am delighted that our conference will be enriched by a large-scale audience.
I welcome the three members of the German Bundestag as disputers,
who all show great commitment to foreign culture and education policy.
In particular, they link the external and internal political perspectives on the topic of our conference on climate and crisis.
Michelle Müntefering, on my right, a member of the SPD fraction of the German Bundestag,
has sustainably shaped international cultural policy here in the Foreign Office
and is now the chairwoman of the Bundestag's subcommittee on foreign culture and education policy.
Monika Grütters, on my left, is a member of the CDU-CSU fraction of the German Bundestag
and, as Prime Minister and Commissioner for Culture and Media for the Federal Government,
has set central milestones in cultural policy in Germany
and, among other things, has put forward the new Cultural Property Protection Act as the central basis of our action.
She was also actively involved in this.
Erhard Grundl is a member of the Bundestag fraction of Bündnis 90 Die Grünen
and has not only initiated the Brussels Declaration for the Freedom of the Arts,
but also directs his actions as an engaged politician and member of the committee
precisely on the interface of foreign policy and cultural policy.
Katja Piesker, who you have just heard,
is the scientific director at the DRI headquarters in Berlin
and has already presented herself as an architect of cultural property and a construction researcher
through the keynote and opened the discussion.
At the same time, she has also focused on the core question,
which was already opened this morning by Manfred Laubichler's lecture,
i.e. what we can actually do today.
And with that, I would like to open the podium directly and ask Mrs. Müntefering a first question.
Dear Mrs. Müntefering, my question is about sustainability.
And it goes in the direction of the question,
does foreign culture and education policy also have to react to issues such as climate and crisis
and become more sustainable in doing so?
And what do sustainable AKBP projects actually do?
Yes, important, good question.
First of all, nice to see you all, many of you to see again.
And I want to go straight to the question.
Sustainability, if you look at it, I'll put it simply,
is that we are only allowed to eat what we replant.
But that's not enough today.
If we look at the state of the planet, how it is,
we have to understand that we have to do more.
The United Nations have called it Build Back Better.
And that is urgently necessary.
And AKBP and sustainability, yes.
We have negotiated the chapter together for culture and for foreign culture and education policy
for this legislative period.
And we have also taken up exactly these issues,
that we want to connect AKBP more strongly with these issues.
That has already started in recent years,
because of course the climate crisis is nothing new,
it has been around for a long time.
And foreign policy also engages in questions of multilateralism
and thus also in climate foreign policy.
Because it's about how we actually want to live together
and how we can make sure that our planet will not soon be completely in rubble.
And that's why the AKBP also needs it,
because they, and you just said it,
we have to make it possible and AKBP makes it possible
to have civil discussions about how we achieve this goal.
And there have been initiatives for this in recent years.
I can say that I have contributed a little,
but above all those who are sitting here have contributed.
I was very happy to see the cultural asset savior out here,
to see the model.
I know, Ms. Fless, that you are on the road in model regions.
And when it comes to AI and sustainability,
then I especially notice that the German Archaeological Institute,
as the oldest mediator of foreign culture and education policy,
is already committed to sustainability in its work.
Not only because it deals with the issues,
that it passes on cultural knowledge and information
that needs to be implemented and integrated into political processes,
but also how they work.
That they incorporate societies on site, for example.
That they don't go to other countries,
I say, dig a little and then leave again.
But that societies are incorporated on site.
This is a principle of sustainability that cannot be underestimated.
And I have learned this in the last eight years.
Not only here in the Foreign Office,
but also before that as a member and spokeswoman of the subcommittee for AKBP.
This is something that we cannot appreciate high enough.
And I'll say it in advance, as the last sentence.
Now we have to get on our way to save the cultural asset savior.
Because it also has to be financially secured.
Yes, thank you very much, Ms. Müntefering.
You always look in the direction of Mr. Grundl.
May I ask you a second question?
Cultural policy plays an essential role
also in the dissemination of scientific knowledge about climate change.
But climate change doesn't really know country borders.
And basically climate change research,
you can see that in the audience here in the room,
is not conceivable without international cooperation.
How could we actually work better or particularly well together
in cultural policy and foreign policy?
So first of all, thank you very much for the invitation.
And in fact, it is one of my heart's concerns
that the fight against climate change
is simply viewed very intersectionally from the outset.
Because everything else would be wasted milk.
You wouldn't get anywhere.
This applies to internal and external cultural policy.
But it also applies to many other areas
that you can't see linked together.
I don't want to miss out on saying that the previous government
has brought a lot of very good things on the way
in the person of Ms. Hütters, Ms. Müntefering.
That is quite clear.
I believe that the challenge now is
to address the problems that are clearly there
in an increasingly insecure world.
What it means for the possibilities for scientists,
how they can work.
Because politics depends on getting this input.
It cannot come out of politics.
It can only arise in dialogue with the experts.
I understand that cultural policy,
whether internal or external,
must always be made possible.
The task of politics is to make it possible.
And the point that Ms. Müntefering mentioned
is of course the very central one.
It must be financially supported.
We all know that the next households
will be under pressure.
We have to crawl up our sleeves
to achieve this as joint strikers for this concern.
We have to get the relevance of this topic forward.
At least as far forward as it is now.
In no case will it be pushed back.
And of course it will be crucial
that we then think of this silo,
which we have established as the Ampelkoalition,
that we want to overcome this,
that we get it into society broadly,
that everyone recognizes the connections.
And I think the German Archaeological Institute
has opportunities,
as it has been established in the past,
to continue to have an impact here.
And that's where it goes back to us.
Of course, this also has to be financially supported.
You have pointed out important accents
of this joint work.
And this is also a work
that happens multilaterally, internationally.
And Ms. Grütters,
the UNESCO World Heritage Convention
will be 50 years old in November.
So actually, since then,
there has been a firm international consensus
that cultural heritage is worth protecting.
Many world heritage sites are currently threatened
by the effects of climate change.
We have heard today
about coasts that erode away,
the permafrost floor that melts in Alaska.
We have heard examples from northwestern Spain,
north of Spain,
Ampurias,
which will also partially sink into the water.
We have now come to know
very different facets.
And the question that arises
at the beginning of the discussion today
or the discussion in the keynote,
how do we get to a better implementation
in this area?
What can we actually do?
Yes, in fact, a lot of what we are discussing here today
is already well known.
But I don't think we need to go that far abroad.
For example, I have read that Stonehenge,
after 4,000 years,
is threatened by other climatic conditions,
by moth throws,
which spread the whole ground completely differently
than this ancient monument tolerates.
Or that there are other wave patterns near the coast
that destroy excavation sites
or cultural heritage in general.
Then, of course, we also have to deal with
very large catastrophes at home.
Not only fires like in Ana Amalia or in Notre Dame,
no matter how they are triggered,
partly also by climatic changes,
by other temperatures and so on.
Or earthquakes here,
earthquakes that destroy cultural heritage.
The parks, which are enormously threatened
and are currently being destroyed
by climatic changes.
And then collapses of the Cologne city archive.
We had many disasters,
high-water disasters in Dresden.
All of them already at our home.
And then the cultural policy here in the country
was of course also in demand.
I think we need a very thorough,
standardized process.
One is, of course,
the awareness of this danger
and that it depends on our own behavior.
Ms. Möntefering said it at the beginning.
But we have set up a program
in the German Federal Government
such as cultural institutions,
which are always role models,
drivers of innovation.
Communicative units are seen
as they begin to change
their ecological footprint
on their own.
Incidentally, the Corona crisis has,
as far as this behavior
and awareness are concerned,
of course, also helped
the awareness of the problem.
But that's where it starts.
The second was, of course,
concrete steps towards digitization
of endangered cultural assets.
Then, of course,
and in case of emergency,
if something happens,
to be able to restore it better.
Then, of course,
networking of expert knowledge among each other.
Not everyone does what is important
for their cultural heritage
on their island.
Monuments must be treated differently
than paper goods, for example.
Or we sent a German offer
to Mrs. Schock-Werner
in Notre Dame,
the cathedral builder from Cologne,
who is a super expert
in glass restoration
and protection of glass
from further shakings.
But it is simply very important
that this knowledge is continued
and better networked.
Then, of course,
there is also a concrete reaction
to concrete procedures.
Of course,
plants are now being planted
in a completely different way.
Or we have set up this coordination
site for the restoration
of written cultural heritage
and equipped it
with several million sums
so that large-scale rescue measures
such as deacidification,
for example,
do not have to be carried out
only in one place,
in Amalia or in Cologne
but can also be carried out
preventively for future cases.
I think
you can do a lot of concrete things
because you asked me
about the implementation.
But what seems very important to me
is to put the awareness
of this from the outset
into a work description
for cultural institutions
and those responsible
so that you can work
preventively.
You can also provide
cultural institutions
with sustainability sums
so that they can
arrange their current behavior
in such a way that it is preventive
or, of course,
in the end, also protective.
And because you mentioned
the final cultural heritage protection law,
I think it was also very important
that Germany finally
joined this World Heritage Convention
through its own specific legislation,
which you also mentioned.
The ancient trade
stopped quite spontaneously,
which is another proof
that it was not all
completely astray.
And I think it was right
that we also held
an uncomfortable debate.
But in some places
you can also do something
by law.
You have now pointed
out different speeds.
Disaster is such a
really disruptive element
where you have a fire,
an earthquake, you have a flood.
With climate change, however,
we are talking about, so to speak,
such long-term processes
that also have something hidden
until the tipping points come.
And now we are developing
the cultural heritage protectors.
And therefore my question
to Katja Pieska.
They are actually intended
in the perspective
that there is a catastrophe
happening abroad,
to be able to intervene
quickly and to be able to help.
But it's also about earthquakes
or something like that.
Are there any perspectives
for such hiding processes?
In the end, do the cultural heritage protectors
also bring anything for these
long-term processes?
Well, I think I said something
lax at another point.
And I think that's
what we can contribute.
We have heard enough
that the likelihood of acute crisis
is increasing.
So it's basically a good idea
to be prepared for it.
But what we do,
as an engineer,
I would call it process optimization.
So that we make sure
that we document as quickly
and as well as possible,
for example,
you can see outside, for example,
the emergency conservation laboratory
developed by the Roman-Germanic Central Museum,
which also has
an opportunity to be used
in projects.
We are considering,
when it comes to documentation,
it was about the motto
Can you do this faster?
How can you bundle forces?
The question came up earlier
in the discussion.
How can we optimize
the use of artificial intelligence?
We have also heard
that such times of crisis
are also something
that triggers innovation,
which can also be an impulse
to fight the crisis.
Now I mean the ongoing ones at the moment.
And I think these are the aspects
that play a very important role
in our project
and that we can contribute.
We also have, of course,
a theme that
also involves the two representatives
on my right and left side
as ministers
responsible for foreign
cultural policy and also domestic policy.
Somehow we have the problem
that we now, of course,
because we also belong to the business sector
of the Foreign Office,
have this foreign policy view
for the cultural assets.
But the question is, of course,
which also interests us here in the room,
what do you expect
from the outside world?
Because we have the emergency associations,
which are also fragilely organized
and we have,
which work, but are fragile.
And at the same time we have
the initiative of the cultural assets saviors.
But the question arises,
whether, for example, you have questions
about us, what you want from us
as data, as models
or also as forms of communication
or expect from
science or the
cultural assets saviors.
Yes, where do I start?
Well, I was just thinking
about it all the time,
who has actually played
this together inside and outside
in recent years.
And the cultural asset savior
is actually a maximally good example
for this, because Ms. Grütters just
told us what catastrophes
we also experienced inland.
And after the fire in Rio,
we sat down,
I remember exactly how we were
sitting here in the basement in a room
and then the colleagues
from Cologne were there
and also reported
exemplarily how they
actually helped
when we had
the disaster in Cologne.
And then the idea came up very quickly,
what is actually the THW?
What kind of forces do they actually have?
These ad hoc forces.
And I think that's why it's such a good
example, because we show,
you said structural optimization.
How do we actually work together?
And we can do that
and we have to improve it.
And then the other question is
communication, so let's say
improvement is not to say
that it is bad, but how do we
create synergies?
So democracy and climate protection
need us all.
This is nothing to watch,
but we really have to
work together.
So that's one structural optimization.
The other thing that drives me
as an MP in my electorate,
I have the mining museum, for example,
and in recent years we have also
worked a lot with the research museums.
And the question of
scientific communication
is also something where I believe
that the current debates
that we also have worldwide,
of course, also play a role in Germany.
In globalization, the small becomes more important,
the concrete on site and the international,
the great connections.
And we as MPs are asked
to bring it all together.
And there too, culture plays
and can play a very special role.
And the German Archaeological Institute
has the knowledge, has the competence
to accompany these current debates.
And there are cooperation partners
with whom you are
also in exchange,
I know that.
But how can politics
make this possible?
How can we act as enablers?
That is, so to speak, the discussion
that I would like us to have
in the next few years.
Yes, we really need
the exchange.
Science is generally
an international business.
And I think
especially when it comes to crises
and the climate crisis is
just a global crisis,
and everyone knows that,
we are from this tactic
of domination knowledge.
I have invented something here
or something is going well here.
I keep that exclusive for me
so that we have a competitive advantage.
I believe that these times are
actually over, at least in crisis situations,
because it is not
a material competition.
In this respect, I think we need
honest networking and knowledge
dissemination, so that
what one successfully practices
is available to the other.
For example, at BKM,
we have ensured that,
for example, in provenance research,
everything that has been acquired
with public funds of knowledge
must be put on the network
and cannot be used for
one's own doctoral work,
for example, but the sources
must actually be made available
to everyone in order to
serve a higher purpose.
All of this is also
associated with incentives,
but I think it is
really very, very important.
There was once this initiative
developed by Dario Franceschini
with the cultural carabinieri
around the world,
who were or are
actual cultural saviors
after the crisis.
There are still the blue helmets,
and I think you should
actually expand this
in the literal
and concrete mode of crisis.
Germany has to do something
about it.
But it has the monuments,
war experience,
storage,
under protection,
and again new mountains.
These are experiences that
are made worldwide,
and it is important.
Of course, you are the ones
who are actually
the ones who could
connect the networks.
And I think that's
important for us,
who are willing to
set priorities a little
differently in politics
than before,
maybe less affirmatively,
more in long-term,
sustainable processes.
If I may
join in,
the question of climate change
and how it threatens us,
how it threatens our cultural heritage
worldwide,
the crucial question
is of course always
what it is worth fighting
against locally.
And this is not only evaluated
in countries,
as you all know,
but also within
each country differently
by groups.
And I think that science
has much more opportunities
to break out of this bubble,
because it has a completely
different reception
among the population
than the political actors have.
That is, I think,
my observation
after five years in federal politics.
I think we
should really
put this intersectionality
at the forefront.
I think we should also
put forward that politics
listens, that politics,
I say it again, enables.
And so we understand, for example,
our approach to green culture,
where politics does not say
you have to do this and that,
but the know-how that is there,
the commitment that is there.
As Prabiska said,
there is so much knowledge there,
you have to connect it,
you have to feed it,
but I think that
I see it as the most suitable
possibility to get something
going quickly to get
the climate change
somehow under control.
And I have to say,
a big problem is of course
that you shouldn't
talk about what happened,
but it just took a long time
for it to be accepted
that climate change
threatens us so much.
I also find these accents,
the reference to
communication between
political and scientific
levels,
pronounced,
important.
I think that will
strengthen the discussion today.
Another facet that you
said at the beginning, Mr. Grundl,
goes in the direction of
civic engagement.
And what concerns me at the moment,
as Ms. Piesker and I
constantly discuss,
is that we have,
for example, in the cultural
assets, this highly interesting
combination of a research
institution,
the technical aid work,
which somewhere has a,
I'll say it now,
not quite correctly said,
but has a state core,
but has a civil component.
There are all the local associations.
The emergency associations,
which are basically
a kind of grassroots movement
that emerged
from the catastrophes,
the experiences,
for example in Halle
des Hochwassers,
where the affected
found that they could not save
because they, for example,
have no rubber boots at all
and no packaging material
and it is not clear
how to develop
such a mechanism.
And our discussion now goes
to where between
structural fortification
involving
civil society,
as is also the case
in the climate area,
and, so to speak,
state, i.e. structural
bundling,
we can do it.
We are still a bit
unsure how we can
achieve structures there,
but from our point of view,
it would be an interest
in a discussion
on how to
achieve something,
so to speak,
which consists of many,
many components,
but also involves civil society.
Because the cultural assets
don't work if,
well, it can't be
that in the end you have
a lot of employees
waiting for a disaster to come.
But it has to be very similar
to the technical aid work,
there must be a civil society core
that is also involved.
And at the same time
it has to do with all these other things.
So we are still a bit
clueless,
maybe only as a comment,
because we don't really
know where to go yet.
And there have been
important accents.
We started the Cultural Assets Rescue
in 2019 with the Foreign Office.
The support of security
guidelines, cultural assets
and also the emergency
associations is then also
followed by the BKM.
You addressed the civil society,
but how do we get
it all together
into something that really
works sustainably?
But do you work, for example,
with the German Museums Association
and the National Conference?
Now they hold a national conference
at least once a year
to, for example,
save cultural assets.
Now the domestic perspective,
but it is just as important
for you and for us.
They have already
organized themselves
and there is already
the national conference
and there are already tools
established somewhere.
Whether and in what form
they can be called in a single case.
As I said, when there are crises,
you can see if there are
effective mechanisms or
do we have to buy rubber boots now?
But there you could already
maintain contacts on your
pre-political level.
I assume that they do
because it is an international
business anyway.
But what is also interesting
about the KSB,
actually cultural institutions,
because they have a role model
character, because they also
have an ambition on the corner,
because they are now, of course,
innovative and avant-garde
thinking people who also
want to fulfill their own
aspirations. Is there this
wide-ranging program to measure
your own ecological footprint?
Not everyone can do that.
Especially if they are
climate-neutral.
So you have to reward that.
And you can of course also
enlarge these small mechanisms
a bit. And for us in politics
it is perhaps very important
that you say, can you
bring us together with them
so that we know where it is
with you? So you are now
asking exactly the same question
as we do. But the goodwill is
there at least on all levels.
Yes, the process of thinking
while speaking. But that is
exactly the discussion we need.
And I think that is also a
maximally important question.
So how do we ensure that it
also works sustainably on
site when it comes to it?
And also in between.
And I was just
thinking of the UNESCO
schools that we have.
UNESCO has a network in Germany.
These are the UNESCO schools.
UNESCO also has the World Heritage Sites.
Even there, when it comes to
world heritage awards,
there is always the criterion
of sustainability.
And sustainability means
sustainable commitment
also for the preservation of the heritage sites.
You all know that very well.
And to include UNESCO
as a partner in such
considerations was
of utmost importance to me.
Because of course they know
and have in their network
in Germany,
which is very important
for the preservation of culture.
Of course, there are many
who have been committed
to a specific heritage site
for a long time,
whether it is Naumburg,
Augsburg, and so on.
But of course there are
many volunteers
who are already
actively involved
and who also continue
to do educational work.
So they also work with the
next generation.
And then we are again
at the interface of mediation.
Are we able to interest
a young generation?
I think the doors are open
for the young generation.
I look again in your direction,
Erhard. But of course it is so.
In recent years, we have seen
the Fridays for Future movement,
and that was also the reason
why we have expanded
the component culturally and
in terms of nature,
so that you can also
engage as a young person
in the voluntary service
of the Foreign Office
in geoparks, biosphere reservoirs,
and so on.
But this can also
develop an inland component.
So we have smart people
and we also have a large number
of young people who want
to bring them together,
maybe also to a joint conference
on this very question.
To take the different
organizations,
mediums, associations out of the box
and then bring them together
inside and outside.
That might be a first step.
But as I said,
this is an idea
that I am not prepared for
or I was not prepared for the question.
But I think this is exactly
the direction we have to go in.
And that's why I need your
great support to activate
civil society in Germany
and to help with this.
In any case, you have always
inspired me in recent years
and you can do the same with others.
Before Katja Piesker explains
where the problems might be
or with whom we have spoken,
Mr. Grundl, you...
I have to say,
Ms. Fletz, I don't have the feeling
that you, as you said,
rotate or swim.
I do have the impression
that the DAI has a plan
and is perhaps still wide open,
does not already have the tunnel view.
But I am actually
convinced,
even after what we heard
in the lower committee,
that you are
taking realistic ideas
and what it takes
to be able to implement it.
In other words,
how much money is needed
and that it will not work
without this money.
The aspect with THW,
this interface,
that excites me very much
because it is not only
that you easily get into the danger
of exaggerating civil society
because it is also not a homogeneous mass,
but we also have
difficult nations in the world
and difficult populations.
But I believe
that we have to empower
those who are good-willed,
who stand for values
such as democracy,
freedom of art,
freedom of science and so on.
That's what I'm all about.
Of course, this also has
immediate effects
on how we have to
set up foreign
cultural policy.
I like to repeat myself,
to overcome this intersectionality
and to take a step back
as a politician.
I don't like
political success
as much as
there are results.
People elect me
for results
and then they are exposed
that I think it is a good result.
I think you achieve that
and it is time
to listen.
I think it is a
common German problem
that we have
the explanation
at every talk show
and maybe we should take
ten minutes to listen
and then sharpen
our own picture
of what we want to convey.
I think we live in a time
where urgency should be clear to everyone.
It is not.
I am absolutely convinced
that we still have to
do a lot of convincing work together.
But at the same time
it is a very exciting time
because it is so challenging.
I see this
under a good star.
Thank you very much.
Katja, would you like to say something?
I would like to.
In fact, I would not
call us helpless,
but I would rather say
that we have put a lot of effort
into what already exists
to make something runnable.
And that is a lot of research,
a lot of coordination work,
a lot of networking work.
We are only three institutions
that work together.
The Technical Assistance Agency
was mentioned.
The cooperation is deliberately
aimed at not reinventing the wheel.
And a little anecdote.
The first draft of this
was then thought up
with the motto,
it has to fit on a pallet.
And then the comment came,
yes, but in aluminum boxes.
In normalized aluminum boxes.
That means the whole thing
became 2.5 cm smaller or so.
And you can see that now outside.
Just as there are joint attempts,
how can you bring together
the tables of the laboratory
with the cell system of the THW.
But that is what is also
worth it.
To bring it all together
in the same way.
And I say, the task of the
Denksport is to tie the minimal package
that is additional to what
already exists.
And maybe that too,
what is specifically necessary
for the use abroad.
There is a lot of competence
in Germany.
One aspect that sets us apart
is this air loadability.
That means that human and material
have to be somewhere with the plane
as soon as possible.
That poses us with certain
challenges, certain limitations,
but also creates other possibilities.
That's how I understand our task.
And yes, I think we are doing well.
Well, I just brag about it more often.
I admit it.
Because it is an interesting
challenge, the Denksport task,
which we have now also learned
in the questions
that can help the Ukrainian
colleagues and also contribute
to cultural heritage protection
and the establishment of
logistics networks that are
centrally decentralized.
That is also for such
an institution that
has been around for 193 years
a completely different
facet.
What we have also discussed
intensively today is
climatic change
already in the past.
For example,
in an aridification phase
6,000 years ago,
the Sahara was no longer
green with lakes and so on.
People had to develop
oasis economy, develop
techniques of well-building
and artificial irrigation.
But at the same time,
of course, it also means
that societies are changing.
And a little
also drives me or us
in our discussions today.
How do we have to,
so to speak, what can foreign
culture and education policy
also contribute to such
a social change, which
has to be so that we
can cope with these problems
that we simply have, the crisis?
So where could we start
and find instruments?
I heard you have to
leave earlier, unfortunately,
because of parliamentary questions.
Do you want to go first?
I just want to thank you very
quickly for the discussion.
I'm very sorry that I have to
leave now, but I assume
that we will see each other again
and stick to the topic.
Thinking sports tasks are good
and what I will definitely
remember, what goes fast
also goes slowly.
We don't have that much time.
It's a good step and
the very fast thing, as I said,
is already almost at the doorstep
is the next budget.
Ms. Morgan is not
there right now, State Secretary,
but that is of course also a wish
that, by the way, already in the last
session, in the penultimate session of the
subcommittee, you see us here in
continuous discussion,
has also been conveyed
to the Foreign Office
that we all want that,
that we are cross-party.
And that is also a good sign
that we are really
committed to this
across all levels of the
fraction, to develop these
instruments further,
also together with you.
And it is indeed so,
politics does not know everything
for a long time, that is,
we need your input.
And yes, that is another
good point with the thinking
that we will see you again.
Thank you very much, Ms. Müntefering.
And,
exactly, and
Ms. Grütters.
Yes, so I have to say,
I don't know if it was the same for you.
I also found it almost a bit
cheeky.
On Monday, in the meeting,
we found that if the household
remained as it was on paper,
you would reduce
almost 20 percent in your
budget, which of course
has the consequence that such
projects could no longer be
carried out. And two days later
a big conference will take place.
So maybe it was really just a
misunderstanding and the money
will be put back into the household.
As I said, there is a
cross-party consensus.
But now back to your question,
what can you do?
I think,
this may sound a bit banal now,
but it really depends on
the power of the images.
And there you have
a lot to offer.
So if I consider how the whole
world was shaken by the
images from Palmyra
or from the fire in
Notre Dame,
then you can see
that it is not cognitive at all,
but on the emotional level,
and this is very important,
there is really a worldwide
problem if cultural assets,
even those with whom you
personally do not come into
contact every day, but
nevertheless have a very
high meaning as a cultural
heritage of humanity,
also in the souls of people,
I'll just put it that way,
that if you suddenly
have their danger
in front of you,
of course the willingness
is also very great to think
what can I do to prevent that.
So you have to
visualize and use
these images, the knowledge
about it.
This is a question of communication,
but I really believe that it works
and that many also understand more
than if it is an abstract discussion,
what do I have to do
so that Stonehenge
will not be eaten by moths?
But of course you can really
contribute a lot
and that also works here.
That's why I also think it's important
that you really systematically
tame internal and external
cultural politics.
I totally agree with that.
As I said before,
I believe that the possibilities
that scientists have in
mediation are much,
much more than
political messages
can be.
At the same time, of course,
it is our task for politics
to defend this freedom
of science.
We all know that this is
also under pressure worldwide.
Not everyone likes what
science shows.
I see a great challenge
already at present, but also
in the next few years.
It will increase because it is
simply about defending
principles.
If the scientific findings
are well understood,
then you will quickly experience
on all levels that you are
like people who have historically
researched for the purpose of
the high customs.
This kind of slap, this
danger of simply suppressing
science if it does not
suit you politically,
I see it and then politics
has to ...
Fortunately, he had no success
with the slap in Germany.
It was clear from the outset.
For many affected,
it was a very hard
and existentially dangerous
fight.
This is just an example
that I see, where politics
simply has to come into action.
In Great Britain, there are people
who say that the Mauerwürfe
built Stonehenge and now
they are tearing it down again.
And slaps exist in the
narrow British media landscape
indeed more than here,
fortunately, but we have to
defend it together.
Do you want to give us
something as a scientist,
archaeologist, archaeologist
on the way?
Yes, try to prepare your
knowledge so popularly
that it fits into a
communicative strategy
in a single case,
I did not say that
without reason,
but actually with
very iconic images
and events, of course,
also a very strong impact
on the consciousness of people
who are not busy with it
on a daily basis.
I think we don't have
to underestimate
what kind of change
and change of behavior
this can have,
if you also intervene
at the right place
but we need that
and you are good for that.
We will definitely
take that with us.
Mr. Grundl, do you want to
give us something before
we take you on the way
to our exhibition?
Unfortunately, I also have to
go over to the Bundestag,
we have the Ukrainians there,
but I'll take a look.
I don't want to reinvent
the wheel here either,
to intensify the dialogue
on all levels,
especially between politics
and science.
I think that's the key.
I would like to add one more thing,
Mr. Grundl also knows that.
We also have in a powerful
scene like the film,
internationally,
the ambition to make
Green Filming
a style principle.
And many have
approached the initiatives
and are participating,
because they don't want
to be those big producers
who stay in the way
with a false consciousness.
That's why there are
connections and there are
always visible dates
and you always use
big events like film festivals
to talk about it.
I think you have to create
such small links
for our topic.
The right timing,
the right initiatives,
the participation
of big, other,
very popular
industries, for example.
And then you come out
of your own bubble,
which is actually so important,
but of course also needs
to be spread out a bit.
We can make
a lot of contacts for that,
but they also make sense.
Yes, thank you very much,
especially for taking the time
to spend the lunch break
with us in this
parliamentary meeting marathon
today.
And I think we all
learned a lot
about what we should
and can change ourselves
and how we can also
support the whole process
of climate change
as scientists
and as those who
research climate change phenomena.
Thank you very much again,
Ms. Grütters.
