The financing of the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt (KU) is causing disagreement between the church and the Bavarian state government. On Monday, the chairman of the church’s sponsoring foundation, Peter Beer, contradicted statements by Science Minister Markus Blume (CSU) that the church had “unilaterally left” negotiations about the future financing of the KU. “This wording surprises me,” said Beer when asked by SZ. He is one of the negotiators on the church side and assumes that the talks will continue. The Catholic Office in Bavaria also announced that “from the perspective of the bishops, they are still in the middle of discussions.”
The KU is the only Catholic university in German-speaking countries and is financed 15 percent by the church and 85 percent by the Free State. Due to declining church tax revenue, the Bavarian bishops recently capped their payments and want to reduce special payments that had previously been promised – even though the costs for rent, energy and salaries increased sharply. Without cuts, the university says it would face a deficit of 2.5 million euros from next year, and the trend is rising. Now the main aim is to save on personnel.
“I have zero understanding why the Catholic Church wants to withdraw from financing the KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt,” said Science Minister Blume on Sunday. Beer disagrees. “It’s not that the church wants to withdraw from the university.” In view of falling income, the Bavarian dioceses would have to rethink their spending. “If it’s not there, it can’t be distributed.” The austerity measures are also hurting him, says Beer. “The university is important to us.” But the church must do justice to all of its facilities, including parishes and kindergartens.
At the end of the Freising Bishops’ Conference at the end of November, Bavaria’s dioceses decided on another zero round of spending in a common fund. The KU is also co-financed from it; this year it received 21.6 million euros. The head of the Catholic office in Bavaria, Matthias Belafi, announced that “there is no way around reducing the financial commitment of the Freising Bishops’ Conference to the KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt.”
The Ministry of Science had promised to make a greater financial contribution to the university. On the condition that the church in turn makes financial commitments. An agreement has not been reached. The talks must “continue at a political level,” says Beer, meaning negotiations between the bishops and the minister. Beer does not rule out the possibility that there will be talk of the KU switching to state ownership.