"Especially after the Corona years, our responsibility to protect sport"

It is a comprehensive appeal to around 90,000 sports clubs nationwide with 27 million members. The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) calls for energy saving and has listed numerous pieces of advice. The colored step-by-step plan ranges from short-term measures, such as shorter and temperature-adjusted showers, to long-term solutions, such as switching to regenerative heating systems.

The DOSB hopes that this will avoid the closure of swimming pools and sports facilities. But that alone should not be enough to save some clubs from financial collapse. “We have the situation that we sometimes have mayors in the municipalities who are already closing pools and sports facilities at this point in time, and the city council recommends making cost savings, especially for sports facilities. On the other hand, we are not included in the relief package three," complains Michaela Röhrbein, who has been the board member for sports development at the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) since February, in an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG.

It's a different situation than the corona pandemic: "It's really getting down to business now. This scenario will hit the sport much harder because everyone is exhausted. The volunteers themselves, but also the financial resources,” says Röhrbein.

The parliamentary groups in the Bundestag are also aware of this risk. Therefore, further aid is also planned for clubs. SPD parliamentary group Vice Dirk Wiese said WELT: "It is important here, together with the federal government and in particular the federal states, which are responsible for this, to get support on the way." Wiese also refers to the federal program "Renovation of municipal facilities in the areas of sports, youth and Culture” amounting to almost 500 million euros and targeted funding from the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

Green Group Vice President Andreas Audretsch said: "The third relief package is an important step. What is certain, however, is that more will follow. In the coming difficult months, we will keep an eye on households, companies and social infrastructure alike and will not allow the dictator Putin to damage our society.” The central task is to “get the costs of energy down”. This helps households, companies, hospitals or associations alike.

Philipp Hartewig, sports policy spokesman for the FDP parliamentary group, explained that he had been "in contact with associations, municipalities and clubs for weeks". The aim is that no sports facilities have to be closed. "Especially after the Corona years, it is our responsibility to protect and guarantee sport - especially in the children's and youth sector," said Hartewig. In addition to the relief package, the FDP parliamentary group proposes “further medium and long-term measures to reduce energy costs and ensure security of supply”.

The opposition, however, criticized the neglect of the clubs. “In the third relief package, the traffic light forgot that sports clubs also need to be relieved of the high energy prices. There is now an urgent need for improvement, ”explained Stephan Mayer (CSU), sports policy spokesman for the Union faction. Volunteers and recreational athletes would be forgotten again by the government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD); Federal Sports Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD) "put herself on the sidelines by doing nothing for the clubs".

André Hahn, sports policy spokesman for the Left Group, argued in a similar way: "With the exception of the professional area, sport has already been treated extremely neglectfully by the federal government when it came to the aid for the corona pandemic. Unfortunately, this is now also continuing in the energy crisis.” According to Hahn, sport was “completely forgotten” in the third aid package. It must therefore be "improved urgently".

As a short-term measure, Jörn König, sports policy spokesman for the AfD parliamentary group, called for sports clubs to be exempted "from all state levies" - he includes the gas levy and the CO₂ tax - and receive "support payments" to compensate for rising energy prices. In the long term, “no supplier and no energy source should have a share of more than 25 percent in the energy mix”.

When asked by WELT, the Federal Ministry of the Interior explained that it contributes a flat rate to the operating costs of the training facilities relevant to competitive sport in the area of ​​top-class sport promotion. "From the sports facilities funded in this area, no information is known about the cessation of operations," said a spokesman. In addition, the promotion of sports facilities is “basically the responsibility of the municipalities”.

The federal states are called upon to provide appropriate support to the municipalities in maintaining sports facilities for mass sport and would also do this with their own programs. "It remains to be seen whether further measures will be necessary in addition to and beyond the relief packages already decided by the federal government," said a spokesman. The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection is responsible for federal measures to deal with the energy crisis.

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