German Farmers Round Off Week Of Angry Protests In Berlin
By AFP
Thousands of angry farmers descended on Berlin with their tractors on Monday, rounding off a week of nationwide protests against plans to cut tax breaks for agriculture amid a wave of public discontent.
More than 5,000 tractors were already blocking the streets and honking their horns by mid-morning, a police spokeswoman told AFP, adding that this was a provisional estimate.
“For me, the government must resign. They are no longer capable of leading us,” Paul Brzezinski, 73, a dairy farmer based south-east of Berlin, told AFP.
Farmers began a week of protests last Monday over plans to axe certain tax breaks for agriculture after a shock court ruling forced the government to find savings in the 2024 budget.
The rallies by the farmers prompted the government to partially walk back the reductions, promising to reinstate a discount on vehicle tax and to phase out a diesel subsidy over several years instead of immediately.
But farmers say the moves did not go far enough and are urging Berlin to completely reverse the plans.
“It’s not just about the most recent cuts. That was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Hendrik Pferdmenges, 45, a crop farmer from Hanover.
“We have lost too many subsidies in recent years. And the regulations and bureaucracy are so high that at some point we will no longer be able to cope,” he said.
Far-right stunts
The farmers’ demos have come with approval ratings for Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s uneasy three-way coalition government at an all-time low.
In a recent poll for the Bild daily, 64 percent of Germans said they would like to see a change of government.
Various different sectors, from metallurgy and transport to education, have staged protests in recent weeks amid struggling growth and rising prices.
Strikes by railway workers brought transport to a standstill last week, while metal workers and public sector employees staged walkouts in December.
The farmers’ demos have also attracted far-right protesters, sparking fears that extremists are seeking to exploit the protest movement.
They are accused of being behind controversial stunts such as setting up gallows on the side of motorways and stopping Economy Minister Robert Habeck from disembarking from a ferry.
The far-right AfD is enjoying a surge in popularity, scoring between 21 and 23 percent nationally in terms of voting intentions and more than 30 percent in some parts of the former East Germany.
But Pferdmenges said far-right protesters represented only a “very small number” of people at the farmers’ protests.
“We’re not right-wing extremists in any way. It’s just fear-mongering by the politicians,” he said.
Berlin announced plans to cut subsidies and tax breaks on diesel and agricultural vehicles after a court ruling tore a multi-billion-euro hole in the government’s budget, forcing Scholz’s coalition to find savings.
