Berlin cited financial and geopolitical reasons on Friday to justify its decision to close several branches of the Goethe Cultural Institutes, including three sites in France where these announcements caused great emotion. These are “necessary reforms”, taking into account “evolving geopolitical and financial conditions”, explained a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during a regular press conference.
In France, the Goethe Institutes in Lille and Bordeaux will close, as well as the liaison office in Strasbourg. Seven more of the global network’s 158 branches will cease operations, including sites in Turin, Genoa and Trieste, Italy, as well as Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Washington.
A pillar of German cultural and linguistic diplomacy, the network must adapt “to the changing times,” said spokesperson Kathrin Deschauer. The announcement of these closures provoked strong protests in the French regions concerned. It comes at a time when Franco-German relations are going through a difficult time, weighed down by several contentious political issues. The signal sent “is not very happy at the time”, we admitted at the Élysée.
For Strasbourg, it is “a new blow to bilingualism, in contempt of the history of (the region of) Alsace, in contempt of the history of our two countries”, lamented Frédéric Bierry, president of the European community of Alsace. In the Bordeaux region, communities deplored the loss of an “irreplaceable” place which “embodies on the ground the principles of Franco-German friendship and the Élysée Treaty, the 60th anniversary of which we are celebrating this year “. The Goethe Institute in Lille, opened in 1957, was “the first in France”, recalled the metropolis in northern France.
Elected officials are appealing to the German government, while President Emmanuel Macron and Chancellor Olaf Scholz as well as ministers from the two countries are meeting Monday and Tuesday in Hamburg for two days of work. In France and Germany, the number of students learning their neighbor’s language continues to decline.
As part of the reform, the Goethe Institute intends to strengthen its involvement in Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, the South Pacific and the central United States. The cuts also take into account a budgetary allocation announced to fall by 3.3% next year. In France, the Goethe Institutes in Paris, Lyon (with a branch in Marseille) and Nancy are maintained, as well as a branch in Toulouse which no longer offers language courses.