Angry German Farmers Drive Tractors to Berlin

In several federal states, initial protests already took place on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, German farmers blocked the homes of state ministers and the Green Party offices in several cities.

The three German governing parties have broadly agreed in recent weeks on an additional austerity package after the highest German courts previously rejected the multi-year budget. With the cuts to the agricultural diesel subsidy (€440 million) and the withdrawal of the exemption from motor vehicle tax for tractors (€485 million), the long-standing farmer-friendly subsidies worth about €900 million are being abolished. 

DBV chairman Joachim Rukwied called on the SPD, the Greens, and the FDP to withdraw the austerity plans. Otherwise, agriculture has no future, he said. Rukwied called the withdrawal of benefits for farmers 'a declaration of war.' He received support amid critical comments in various German federal states. Dissatisfaction is also expressed in states governed by regional leaders and ministers from the three parties ruling in Berlin. 

Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) expressed his dissatisfaction with the new funding proposal from Finance Minister Oscar Lindner (FDP). Many German farmers view the cuts as a broken promise. Previously, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture lacked sufficient support in the three-party cabinet for the modernization of agriculture and livestock farming, as proposed by the Borchert Commission.

The austerity model has been finalized, but final discussions can only take place in January. The necessary meeting of the Budget Committee in the Bundestag is scheduled for January 18. In that case, the final approval of the budget, which must also be authorized by the Federal Council, could take until February.