An outpouring of anger among German farmers leading to a blockade of the country?

2024-01-08 17:50:01

WORLD – This Monday, January 8, the movement “Too much is too much”(“Enough is enough”) is being deployed throughout Germany. Although the government partially backed down on Thursday January 4 on the elimination of tax advantages on non-road diesel (NGR), German farmers are not taking off. Road and motorway blockages are looming as the transport federation calls for people to follow suit.

As explained in our previous article, the German Constitutional Court rejected the 2024 budget presented by Olaf Scholz in November. Forced to make budget cuts, the chancellor opted to remove tax breaks on agricultural diesel and the tax on tractors, which triggered the anger of farmers in December.

Government concessions that farmers consider insufficient

The German coalition currently in power (made up of the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Democratic Party and the Greens) has tried to calm things down. On January 4, the government declared that it was abandoning its plan to introduce a tax on agricultural and forestry vehicles. He also proposed a gradual elimination of tax breaks on agricultural diesel, from 2024 to 2026, instead of a complete elimination. These concessions did not convince the German Farmers’ Federation (DBV), which reiterated its calls for unprecedented demonstrations for the next two weeks. In Bavaria alone, 180 actions were registered. They start this Monday, January 8.

The unions’ demands are clear. They plan to strike until the government renounces imposing any austerity measures on them in the annual budget which is being voted on. The Bundestag Budget Committee finalizes the federal budget for 2024 in the third week of January. It is for this reason that the biggest demonstration is announced a little before, for January 15, in Berlin.

However, the anger is no longer confined to the agricultural world, and is taking on the appearance of a general strike against the budgetary policy of the Scholz government.

A movement that takes on the appearance of a general strike

Indeed, many transport companies and artisans have joined the movement to protest, among other things, against the increase in the price of tolls and energy. The government also plans to increase the CO2 tax this year, and German households will also pay more for fuel oil, gas and diesel. Which partly explains why, according to a survey carried out for the magazine The mirror70% of the population would support the current demands of farmers.

Note that railway workers, who are in the process of negotiating wage increases and a reduction in working hours, will also be on strike in mid-January. With roads and railways blocked, the movement of goods and people throughout the country risks being paralyzed.

The consequences of this situation are already being felt in Berlin. According to a survey commissioned by the newspaperBild and published on January 7, two thirds of Germans want an immediate change of chancellor.