In several German cities, farmers have again blocked roads and intersections for some time with their tractors in recent days. The protest week from January 7 to 15 is to culminate in another large demonstration at the parliamentary buildings in Berlin.
The protest week coincides with the first meeting week in Berlin after the Christmas recess, where final decisions are to be made about the multi-year budget of the 'stoplight coalition.' The party leaders of SPD, FDP, and the Greens were forced last week by a court ruling to adjust the multi-year projection of their energy transition plan and cut an additional 17 billion euros in 2024. One of the proposed measures is abolishing the diesel discount and road tax for agricultural machinery.
This proposed cut is causing not only strong reactions in agriculture and among the federal CDU/CSU opposition but also within the stoplight factions and governments in almost all German federal states. Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) has also publicly opposed it, although many German farmers hold it against him. German media commentaries say Özdemir has been overruled by his own party leader and vice-chancellor Robert Habeck and the liberal FDP members by their own FDP finance minister Christian Lindner.
While the Greens and FDP agree that various environmentally unfriendly 'fossil subsidies' must end, they want the money to remain within the agricultural sector, for example, for subsidies encouraging organic and nature-friendly farming.
Chairman Joachim Rukwied of the DBV has called the cuts unacceptable. After a few local tractor demonstrations got out of hand, he called on German farmers on Saturday to refrain from 'pointless blockades' and instead maintain public support. Earlier this week, he also immediately distanced himself from farmer groups who had 'paid a visit' to the home of a Green state minister.
Previous calculations show that German farmers benefit on average by several thousand euros per year from the current 'diesel discount.' This is not a paid subsidy but the amount deducted annually from their tax bill depending on diesel usage. As a result, large agricultural enterprises sometimes pay more than 25,000 euros less tax in monetary terms. It is one of the forms of 'fossil subsidies' said to encourage the use of fossil fuels and hinder the transition to the use of sustainable energy sources.
The German farmers' protest in January coincides with previously announced strikes by drivers in goods transport and train drivers at the German railways. With looming strikes in transport and trains, SPD, FDP, and the Greens were keen last week to timely reach an agreement on their 2024 multi-year budget. The recent agricultural protests were therefore a major setback after weeks of difficult coalition negotiations.
German media speculate that the red-yellow-green coalition must find a compromise on the diesel discount during the Christmas and New Year recess to prevent the survival of their coalition from coming under threat.