Statement on the DSEE Act: Strengthen participation, ensure transparency
The German Federal Youth Council (DBJR) is grateful for the opportunity to comment, but at the same time criticises the very short deadline. This left around four working days for processing. Careful examination of the content, internal coordination and democratic decision-making were thus made extremely difficult and pose major challenges for democratic structures in particular, especially if they are largely run by volunteers, such as youth organisations. Volunteers in particular - who are supposed to be strengthened in their work by the DSEE - are thus at a significant disadvantage.
As the organisation representing the interests of more than six million young volunteers in Germany, the DBJR is only commenting on selected points of the present draft from the perspective of young people and from the perspective of child and youth work - especially youth association work. Uncommentated points in the draft cannot automatically be assumed to be approved.
Basic ideas
The aim of the DSEE is to establish a central instrument for strengthening commitment and volunteering, particularly in structurally weak and rural regions. With a view to the addressees of the foundation's work - the volunteers and their structures - transparent foundation structures, parliamentary backing and a strong role for organised civil society are of particular importance.
The DSEE must therefore not take on the role of a subordinate authority, but must be an independent organisation with a mandate to strengthen engagement and volunteering in all its diversity. Organised civil society must therefore play a strong, substantial and effective role in the foundation's decision-making structures. This argues against a further concentration of decision-making and organisational power in the hands of ministers and the ministerial administration. Instead, the DBJR suggests strengthening the representation of civil society in the Foundation's structures. This includes increasing the relative weight of civil society voices on the Board of Trustees, limiting the veto rights of state actors to clearly defined exceptional cases and strengthening the independence of the Board of Trustees vis-à-vis the administration.
The DSEE acts on behalf of the state and with funds provided from the federal budget. By outsourcing federal funds to a foundation under public law, these funds are partially removed from the usual state management and control principles. In order to prevent the risk of central state principles such as subsidiarity, transparency and democratic control being weakened as a result, particular sensitivity must be taken into account when organising the structure of the foundation, especially its committees. The DBJR therefore takes a critical view of all changes that contribute to a further decoupling of the foundation from parliamentary control.
The DSEE needs more transparency, more parliamentary involvement and more power to shape civil society - not less.
On individual regulations:
Redistribution of appointment rights in Section 6(3)(8) DSEE-G
The DBJR takes a critical view of the redistribution of appointment rights for representatives from the field of civic engagement and volunteering provided for in Section 6(3)(8). The proposed distribution - three appointments by the Minister of State for Sport and Volunteering, three by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Home Affairs and only two each by the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth - will in practice lead to a weakening of the BMBFSFJ.
The Federal Ministry for Youth in particular has long-standing, established and close links with civil society structures, especially in child and youth welfare and engagement policy, as well as with the voluntary self-organisations of young people. Reducing the BMBFSFJ's weighting in appointments undermines this professional proximity to organised - especially young - civil society and shifts the substantive and professional balance within the Foundation Council.
Possibility of representation by the BMBFSFJ in Section 6 (7) DSEE-G
The DBJR is clearly in favour of the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMBFSFJ) continuing to have the option of being represented on the Foundation Board alongside the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Home Affairs. Civic engagement and volunteering policies are interdepartmental in nature and are particularly relevant to child, youth and family policy. Focussing exclusively on a single departmental responsibility harbours the risk of narrowing the subject matter. The participation of the BMBFSFJ contributes to the necessary breadth, continuity and professional balance.
In addition, many civil society organisations, especially those of young people, have been closely associated with the BMBFSFJ for decades and are in constant dialogue with regard to content and expertise. The BMBFSFJ should continue to be granted this role and close ties in the DSEE. The order of the ministries in Section 6 (3) should therefore be retained as before.
Evaluation obligation
The evaluation obligation currently enshrined in Section 13 DSEE-G should be expanded into a regular instrument of parliamentary control and professional development of the DSEE and should continue to be an integral part of the foundation's structure. The DBJR is therefore in favour of retaining the current Section 13 DSEE-G in an amended form. This amendment should stipulate a regular evaluation every five years. Mandatory reporting to the German Bundestag should be retained. This will ensure that the Foundation's impact, achievement of objectives and need for further development are continuously reviewed and politically categorised.
The DBJR is the working group of nationally active youth organisations and the state youth councils. For this reason, it also refers to the statements of its member organisations.