Parties in favour of more funds for arts and culture

Many refer to 2009 as the benchmark year, with the ministry's budget topping EUR 214m, whereas the opposition Democrats (SDS) would be happy with slightly over EUR 178m from 2008.

The non-parliamentary Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) says culture lacks some EUR 40m to get to the 2009 level, so given the inflation, the cultural budget should amount to around 2% of GDP, a figure those working in arts and culture have been calling for.

The senior coalition Modern Centre Party (SMC) would gradually raise the ministry's budget to top EUR 200m at the end of the next government's term, which it says is roughly 0.5% of GDP.

The fellow coalition Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) promotes a gradual rise to 1.5% of GDP for culture, but believes the sector should also be encouraged to more efficiently draw funds from other sources.

In their manifestos several parties call for...