The European Commission has recommended terminating a €2 million grant to the Venice Biennale, escalating a dispute over the art exhibition’s decision to allow Russia’s participation after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The Venice Biennale, an international contemporary art exhibition held every two years in the northern Italian city, has been embroiled in controversy over Russia’s participation in its 2026 edition.

“The Commission officially recommends EACEA [European Education and Culture Executive Agency] to terminate the €2 million grant to the Venice Biennale,” Commission Vice President Henna Virkkunen said on social media on Saturday evening. The formal decision rests with the EACEA, the executive agency responsible for managing EU culture funding programmes.

Virkkunen said EU funds should promote and safeguard democratic values, which, she argued, are not respected in Russia today.

In March, Virkkunen and Culture Commissioner Glenn Micallef condemned the decision to allow Russia to reopen its national pavilion, warning that it would run counter to the EU’s response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine and could lead to the suspension of EU funding.

Russia was included in the final list of participants announced in early March, after withdrawing from the exhibition in 2022 after the Ukrainian invasion.

Both the Commission and the EACEA sent letters to the Biennale seeking clarification and warning that it risked losing EU funding.

In the end, the Russian pavilion never opened to the general public and was accessible only during the preview days for art professionals.

Biennale defends response

The Biennale on Saturday that said it had responded “within the established timeframe to all points of the third letter received from the EACEA on the matter.”

“We have learned on X from political authorities, and not from the relevant technical authorities, of decisions taken regarding the European Education and Culture Executive Agency’s (EACEA) contribution to the Venice Biennale,” the statement added.

The Biennale said the affected programmes, which are only “marginally co-financed” by the EU, would continue.

The Commission’s move was criticised by Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto Region, who described it as an “act of institutional arrogance and unprecedented hostility towards one of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions,” on Sunday.

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