Dresden. The point goes to Saxony’s Interior Minister Roland Wöller. Recently, the CDU politician, whose department is also responsible for sport in the Free State, has seldom been able to shine. One affair, as it is often called in such cases, followed the other. It was about bicycles at the police in Leipzig, about the lateral thinking demonstration in the city and the fundamental constitution of the Saxon constitutional protection – all supposed core competencies. Sport, well, is not necessarily one of them, but Wöller has now more than just kept his word.
According to this, Saxony’s sport will be funded with a record amount of 52 million euros over the next two years, 3.8 million more than in the previous double budget. The state parliament still has to approve in May 2021, which is a matter of form. Wöller and Ulrich Franzen, President of the State Sports Association, signed the grant agreement on Monday in Dresden. “The increase in funds is a strong sign from the state government,” says Franzen and speaks of planning security for the next two years.
Wöller emphasizes that in these times of social polarization, the strength of solidarity emanates from sport. “With the grant agreement, we and the Landessportbund Sachsen are continuing the positive development of organized sport in the Free State of Saxony,” says the Minister.
In his specialist government declaration at the end of September, he had already demanded that the previous financial resources be the minimum. And he announced as “my personal goal and that of the state government” to increase the flat rate for the trainer for the 82,500 volunteers in sport. That too is now a done deal. Instead of the previous 350 euros, there will initially be 440 euros in 2021 and 480 euros the following year.
