Thousands of German farmers are expected to take to the streets on Monday to protest against government budget cuts as they aim to bring the country to a standstill by blocking motorways and city centres.
The situation has been simmering over the past months following the government’s controversial decision to cut several subsidies, with mass protests sweeping through the country. While the government eventually caved into the pressure and announced that it would reverse some of the cuts regarding agricultural subsidies, farmers felt that this was not enough.
“We demand the complete withdrawal of these tax increases without ifs and buts,” the president of the German farmers’ association, Joachim Rukwied, told Bild.
Farmers are dissatisfied and frustrated because they believe that “agricultural policy is being made from an unworldly, urban bubble and against farming families and rural areas”, he added.
The protests are expected to last throughout the week and could cause traffic chaos in some parts of Germany, with jams and blockades across the country. The highway blockades will especially focus on the regional capitals of the various German states as protestors aim to block many key streets in some of the largest cities.
If the government continues to refuse to give in by 15 January, the protest would reach a new escalation level, the farmers’ association warned – a point also echoed by Günther Felßner, president of the Bavarian farmers’ association, who told Bild: “We are ready to paralyse the country like Germany has never seen before if the proposals are not off the table on 15 January.”
The German Bundestag will start debating the new 2024 budget on 15 January since after the constitutional court deemed the government’s spending practice unconstitutional, some budgetary gaps still need filling.
While the government initially planned to cut many subsidies for farmers to make up for some of the missing billions, it has since softened the cuts to farm subsidies, although critics say they still disproportionately target farmers.
Farmers in Germany have recently become increasingly radical, particularly after a mob of tractor drivers blocked a ferry transporting Economy Minister Robert Habeck back from his holiday, preventing him from leaving it for safety reasons.
The incident sparked massive outrage from almost all sides of the political spectrum, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz calling the move “shameful”, while conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz said it was a symptom of the increasingly “rowdy protest culture”.
The growing unrest among farmers in Germany has also caught the attention of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“There is no place for violence in democracy,” von der Leyen said during a CSU party retreat in Bavaria on Saturday, adding that “dialogue is the central means in democracy.”
(Oliver Noyan | Euractiv.de)
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Source: euractiv.com
