A political fight over the Venice Biennale reignited this week after the European Commission recommended cutting EU funding to the institution, a consequence of its decision to reopen the Russian pavilion at this year’s edition. On July 11, European Commission Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen announced on X that the Commission had formally recommended EACEA, the EU’s executive agency for education and culture, terminate a €2 million grant earmarked for the Biennale Foundation covering 2026 to 2028.
The recommendation isn’t yet a final legal decision, but it’s widely expected to be formalized quickly. It caps months of tension between Brussels and the Biennale that neither an extended written exchange in May and June, nor the position of Italy’s own government, managed to defuse.
How the Russian Pavilion Reopened
The dispute traces back to March, when Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, the right-leaning intellectual and writer who presides over the Biennale Foundation, decided the Russian national pavilion, closed since 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, would reopen for the 2026 edition. Italy’s Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli objected and reportedly sent inspectors to Venice, but the Foundation held its position. The pavilion, while technically never opened to the public inside, remained standing, and the Biennale maintained throughout that its presence didn’t violate EU sanctions on Russia.
The European Commission and EACEA sent multiple letters to the Biennale both before and after the exhibition’s opening, seeking clarification and warning that continuing down this path risked the loss of EU funding. On May 9, Europe Day, the Biennale opened anyway, with the Russian pavilion present, a coincidence of timing that reportedly deepened irritation in Brussels. Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s visit to the pavilion that same day did not go unnoticed at the Commission either.
Brussels Draws a Line
Announcing the funding cut, Virkkunen argued that European culture, financed by taxpayer money, should promote and safeguard democratic values, values she said aren’t respected in Russia today. The case echoes a broader position the European Council adopted in its June conclusions, which stated there should be no normalization of Russian participation in international sporting and cultural events until a just and lasting peace is reached in Ukraine, a principle that has also been applied to Russia’s presence at the Milan-Cortina Paralympics.
The Biennale, for its part, pushed back on the process rather than immediately conceding the substance. In a statement, the Foundation said it had learned of the decision from political authorities on social media rather than from the technical bodies actually responsible for managing the funds, and noted it had answered every point raised in EACEA’s third letter on the matter within the given deadlines. It said it was now awaiting a formal technical note before deciding on next steps, while stressing the affected programs are only marginally financed by the EU contribution in question.
A Fracture Inside Italy’s Governing Coalition
What makes the story politically charged in Italy is the split it has opened, not just between government and opposition, but within the governing majority itself. Lega, and specifically Culture Undersecretary Lucia Borgonzoni, has taken a firm stand against the EU’s move and in defense of the Biennale, breaking with her own coalition partners. Borgonzoni called the situation unacceptable, describing it as a political body directing a technical agency to cut funding before any concrete justification had even been established, and framed it as a politically motivated ruling that damages an institution with a long record of work in Venice.
Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto Regional Council and a Lega figure generally associated with a harder line on Russia, echoed that position, calling the decision unacceptable and arguing that culture shouldn’t be censored and artists shouldn’t be treated as soldiers, while urging the government to defend the Biennale.
That puts Lega at odds with Culture Minister Giuli, who had already voiced opposition to reopening the Russian pavilion, a decision that also led the exhibition’s jury to withdraw. It also creates an unusual point of alignment between Lega and the opposition Five Star Movement (M5S), a pairing that has surfaced before on issues tied to the war in Ukraine. M5S Senate group leader Luca Pirondini described Brussels’s move as a shameful attempt to bend the Biennale’s independence, calling the funding freeze a form of political intimidation that Italy should not accept, and pointedly asked Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni whether she still considers herself a sovereignist.
The Democratic Party Backs Brussels
The center-left Democratic Party (PD) has taken the opposite view. Senator Filippo Sensi wrote on social media that Italy’s pro-Russian voices, across both right and left, would now rebrand themselves as patriots and defenders of culture, specifically the kind of culture that, in his framing, amounted to Kremlin-style propaganda on display at the Biennale. He contrasted what he called freedom of art with propaganda, siding squarely with the Commission’s position.
What Happens Next
Technically, the Commission’s move is still a recommendation to EACEA, not a final ruling, but observers widely expect it to be formalized without much delay. The Biennale says it’s prepared to defend its position through all appropriate channels once it receives the formal technical documentation. For now, the €2 million at stake represents a relatively small share of the Foundation’s overall budget, but the political fallout, both in Brussels and within Italy’s own governing coalition, has proven considerably larger than the sum itself.