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STRIKES

‘We don’t get enough money’: Furious farmers stage Germany-wide tractor blockades

Angry farmers opposed to government's plans to cut tax breaks for agriculture used tractors to block roads across Germany on Monday, kicking off a series of strikes that are set to plunge the country deeper into a winter of discontent.

Published: 8 January 2024 17:09 CET
Farmers from Hesse on Mainzer Straße in Weißbaden with their tractors on Monday.
Farmers from Hesse on Mainzer Straße in Weißbaden with their tractors on Monday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Arne Dedert

In Berlin, dozens of tractors and lorries stationed in the city centre blasted their horns to signal their anger at the start of a planned week of action.

Workers in sectors across Germany, from metallurgy and transport to education, have turned to industrial action in recent weeks.

Wage negotiations have taken a bitter turn as Europe’s biggest economy struggles with weak growth and households contend with sharply increased prices.

Rail workers will be next to walk out on Wednesday, launching a three-day strike as unions seek a pay rise to compensate for months of painfully high inflation.

“We are exercising our basic right to inform society and the political class that Germany needs a competitive agricultural sector,” German Farmers Association (DBV) president Joachim Rukwied told Stern magazine.

EXPLAINED: Where are farmers blocking traffic around Germany?

“That’s the only way to ensure the supply of high-quality, homegrown food.”

Farmers began gathering on Sunday evening at the Brandenburg Gate landmark in the heart of the government quarter in Berlin.

The sector has been up in arms over government plans to withdraw certain tax breaks for agriculture this year.

“We simply don’t get enough money for what we produce, while we work 365 days a year,” Jenny Zerbin, 34, told AFP in Berlin.

A sign at a farmers' protest in Jemgum, Lower Saxony, on Monday.

A sign at a farmers’ protest in Jemgum, Lower Saxony, on Monday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Lars Penning

Far-right warning

The farmers’ pleas have won support from the opposition conservatives – and also powerful figures within Scholz’s party.

But as some people at the demonstrations have brandished far-right symbols and slogans, fears have emerged that the far right could exploit the protest movement to drive political cleavages and stoke opposition to democracy.

“Coup fantasies are going around… Nationalist symbols are shown openly,” Vice Chancellor and Economy Minister Robert Habeck said in a video responding to Monday’s protest.

He warned the rallies risked being co-opted by the far right.

Around 30 agitated farmers tried to corner Habeck on a ferry on Thursday evening, preventing the minister and other passengers from disembarking.

The incident was widely condemned by government figures for the implicit threat of violence.

READ ALSO: Outrage as farmers try to storm ferry with Vice Chancellor aboard

DBV boss Rukwied on Monday distanced himself from the ferry protest, pinning the blame on fringe elements.

“I see no danger at all of our association being infiltrated (by the far right),” Rukwied said.

However, the protests are being backed by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and signs in support of the party were displayed at the demonstration in Berlin, such as this sign calling for new elections which was tweeted by the party. 

The government was “driving the whole country to ruins”, the party said on X, formerly Twitter, highlighting the rising cost of living and higher taxes. 

Farm vehicles blocked the centres of cities including Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Bremen, with up to 2,000 tractors registered for each protest.

Outside cities, demonstrators targeted motorway access ramps, snarling traffic in a coordinated nationwide show of discontent.

Authorities in the rural northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania said all its autobahn ramps were impeded.

The protest also caused disruptions at Germany’s borders with France, Poland and the Czech Republic, causing traffic to back up at crossing points, according to local media and German police.

‘Pure anger’

Thousands of protestors had descended on Berlin to protest against the planned subsidy cuts in December, blocking roads and dumping manure on the street.

The rallies prompted the government to partially walk back the reductions on Thursday.

A discount on vehicle tax for agriculture would remain in place, while a diesel subsidy would be phased out over several years instead of being
abolished immediately, the government said.

The agriculture sector, however, said the move did not go far enough and urged Berlin to completely reverse the plans, which were announced after a shock court ruling forced the government to find savings in the budget for 2024.

“We simply can’t continue to do business like this. Agriculture is going to the wall,” said Sebastian Schuman, 34, who works in the sector.

By Sebastien ASH

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POLITICS

ANALYSIS: What’s at stake in Germany’s eastern state elections?

After success in Thuringia and Saxony, the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) may well come in first in another eastern state election this Sunday. We spoke with a political scientist to analyse what's at stake as Brandenburg goes to the polls.

Published: 19 September 2024 09:11 CEST
ANALYSIS: What's at stake in Germany's eastern state elections?

German politics’ “eastern September” is set to finally end Sunday – with more ruminations and reflections likely to come about the recent fortunes of the far-right AfD at the ballot box.

If current polls are anything to go by, the AfD could come in first in the eastern state encircling Berlin – which counts Potsdam as its capital.

After overtaking the governing Social Democrats (SPD) in a recent shock poll, the party is currently at around 28 percent, compared to the SPD on 25 percent. The centre-right Christian Democrats come in at 16 percent in the latest poll and the left-populist Sarah Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW) – named after its founder – charts in at 14 percent.

The remaining parties come in much lower – with the Greens, Left and liberal Free Democrats all facing possible ejection from the state parliament.

Another victory for the AfD – or even a strong showing should the SPD still manage a narrow surprise win – will certainly boost the far-right’s confidence, after it came in first in Thuringia and second in Saxony earlier this month, following state elections that saw all three of Germany’s federally governing parties take massive losses.

Thuringia and Saxony results will likely hang over Brandenburg on Sunday – with Germany’s governing parties, many everyday Germans, and foreigners all watching with some trepidation. Here’s what to watch out for following the Brandenburg result.

READ ALSO: ‘Political earthquake’ – What the far-right AfD state election win means for Germany 

A newly confident AfD insists it must be part of government

The AfD has repeatedly argued that it must be considered as a possible coalition partner to join German governments – whether at the federal, state, or local level. 

“There are no politics without the AfD,” its co-leader Tino Chrupalla said following the Thuringia results. However, all other parties have explicitly refused to work with the AfD to form a governing coalition – meaning that as high as its results this month have been, they fall well short of the absolute majority that would be required to govern alone.

READ ALSO: ‘We need change’: Germany’s far-right eyes power after state election win

However, its getting more difficult to form coalitions to keep the AfD out, with the centre-right CDU in Thuringia even open to governing with the leftwing populist BSW after mainstream parties like the Greens and FDP were thrown out of state parliament entirely.

University of Mainz political scientist Kai Arzheimer, who specialises in the German far-right, says whether the far-right ever get into a German government or not depends mostly on whether – and how – the CDU is willing to work with the AfD.

Thuringia election results on a screen

People watch the first exit polls results for Thuringia’s state elections come in at the State Parliament in Erfurt on September 1st, 2024. Photo by Joerg CARSTENSEN / AFP

“For the time being, it should be able to form coalitions against the AfD, even if they are rather awkward,” says Arzheimer, who adds that even the different regional chapters of the CDU may have different opinions about working with the AfD.

“Within the eastern state parties of both the CDU and the FDP, there seems to be some appetite for coming to an arrangement with the AfD. While a formal coalition would probably split either party, we have already seen some tentative moves towards an informal cooperation.”

Ultimately, the Brandmauer or “firewall” concept in German politics – in which all other parties refuse to work with the AfD – may end up coming under increasing stress on the back of eastern state election results, where governing with the far-right no longer becomes unthinkable.

READ ALSO: EXPLAINED: Could the far-right AfD ever take power in Germany?

What the mainstream parties take from eastern election results

It’s probably no coincidence that Germany’s ruling government decided to re-institute border controls at its land borders with other EU states shortly after the AfD topped the Thuringia state poll, according to Arzheimer, who says the elections are just the latest in a number of things at work when if comes to Germany’s migration debate.

“The border controls, the plans for the stricter enforcement of repatriation orders, and most of all the government’s harsher rhetoric are as much a reaction to Saxony and Thuringia as they are an attempt to control the fallout from the Solingen knife attack and a response to the whole ‘debate’ on immigration,” he says.

“Many experts seem to agree that they are neither practical nor that useful, and introducing them more or less overnight smacks of a degree of panic.”

READ ALSO: Should foreign residents in Germany be concerned about far-right AfD win?

Polls conducted following the election found that migration and internal security issues were big drivers of the AfD vote – despite these being issues for the national, rather than regional, government. 

Of the AfD voters in Thuringia, more than 70 percent said either migration or crime and internal security played the largest role in influencing their vote. Slightly less than ten percent said social security. Despite the AfD’s pro-Russian views, only three percent of AfD voters in Thuringia said Germany’s support of Ukraine decisively influenced their votes.

Besides the mainstream parties like the SPD reacting with spur-of-the-moment migration policies, the Brandenburg result may end up putting pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz from within his own SPD.

Brandenburg SPD’s Dietmar Woidke may still be able to hold onto the premiership, but he has said he will resign if he doesn’t beat the AfD outright. Should he lose, calls may grow louder within the SPD for Scholz to resign himself – or at least declare that he won’t stand as a chancellor candidate again.

READ ALSO: How an explosive row over immigration has divided Germany

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