The European Commission has given its final backing to the withdrawal of a €2 million grant that had been allocated to the Venice Biennale for the 2025-2028 three-year period.
European Commissioner for Democracy Henna Virkkunen announced the decision on the funds earmarked for the Biennale, saying in a post on X that culture in Europe, as it is funded by taxpayers' money, "should promote and safeguard democratic values and that such values are not respected in Russia today".
