Legal Insurrection readers may recall our overage of the farmers’ protests in the Netherlands last year. The movement was so successful that the Boer-Burger Beweging (BBB), or Farmer-Citizen Movement, became the largest party in the country’s senate, winning more seats than Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s ruling conservative VVD party.
German officials may want to take note of this development. Two weeks ago, German farmers organized a massive protest against the government’s plans to cut diesel subsidies and tax breaks for agricultural vehicles next year as part of Berlin’s 2024 austerity measures.
After a constitutional court ruling last month that cancelled 60 billion euros of earmarked debt, the federal government last week announced plans to save around 900 million euros ($983.34 million) annually in subsidies for farmers.According to next year’s budget, a partial tax refund on agricultural diesel, along with a tax exemption for agricultural vehicles, will be abolished to meet the saving targets – a measure farmers said would threaten their livelihood and the competitiveness of Germany’s agricultural sector.Farmers protested the planned cuts at the Brandenburg Gate, carrying placards reading “YOUR POLITICS ARE A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST FARMERS” and “TOO MUCH IS TOO MUCH! IT’S OVER NOW!” parking a number of tractors along Berlin’s Strasse des 17. Juni boulevard in central Berlin.
Farming is already economically challenging, especially with Germany’s regulatory throttling of fossil fuel use. The farmers argue the new tax plans impose harsh burdens on those in the agriculture industry.
However, eco-activists in Greenpeace say everything will be alright…because food will cost so much more.
Joachim Rukweid, the president of the German Farmers’ Association, reportedly described the plan as a “declaration of war” on farmers.Farmer Jule Bonsels told the publication removing the tax breaks could pose an additional cost of upwards of 20,000 euros per year.Environmental group Greenpeace, however, reportedly says the rising price of food will more than make up for the lack of subsidies.”With all understanding for the farmers – making agricultural diesel cheaper by the state is expensive, harmful to the climate and should be abolished,” Greenpeace agricultural expert Martin Hofstetter told Reuters.
The nation’s political leaders appear to be ignoring the farmers’ demands, at least at the present time.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government has brushed aside calls to change a compromise agreement on Germany’s 2024 budget as a way to accommodate angry farmers.“There is a political agreement… and this is now being implemented technically, the ministries are working on the wording for the respective draft laws,” deputy government spokesman Wolfgang Buechner told reporters in Berlin on Thursday when asked if there might be changes to the fiscal plan in light of harsh criticism of the farming lobby and the agriculture chief.The spokesman comments come after almost a month of negotiations to cut next year’s spending by €17 billion ($18.9 billion)….The adjustments to the 2024 budget had become necessary after Germany’s top court declared in mid-November that the shifting of debt-financed funds outside the budget was unconstitutional. The coalition negotiations that followed were the toughest test yet for the ruling three-party coalition. Lawmakers are expected to pass the budget next month.
In response, the farmers will organize more demonstrations against the proposed budget and the politicians who drafted it.
Farmers’ unions plan a “week of action” in cities across Germany, Jan 8-15. The DBV and LSV lobby groups will lead the campaign to denounce government policies including the taxes on agricultural vehicles and diesel. The protests are likely to include convoys of slow-moving agricultural vehicles in city centers, as well as demonstrations outside government offices.The campaign will culminate in a major protest event in Berlin on Jan. 15. On Dec. 18 an estimated 1,500 tractors converged on the Brandenburg Gate and Strasse des 17 Juni, disrupting traffic in the area; a similar or greater number is likely on Jan. 15.
If the Dutch model is any guide, expect big changes in German leadership in 2024.
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