Regardless of the federal government’s concessions, there will likely be widespread farmers’ protests in Bavaria in the coming week, including possible traffic blockades. The Bavarian Farmers’ Association (BBV) and the association “Agriculture connects Bavaria” unanimously rejected the Berlin concessions on Thursday. Both organizations therefore do not want to stop the planned demonstrations. There are concerns in several municipalities that traffic could collapse. Farmers have requested numerous rallies at traffic junctions and motorway entrances.
The traffic light coalition originally wanted to abolish both the tax break for agricultural diesel and the exemption of agricultural vehicles from vehicle tax. This tax exemption should now remain, but the federal government is sticking to the abolition of the agricultural diesel benefit – not in one step as initially planned, but spread over three years.
“Maintaining exemption from vehicle tax for tractors and harvesters is not enough; the Bundestag must also reverse the cancellation of the refund of energy tax on agricultural diesel,” said BBV President Günther Felßner. “Agriculture connects Bavaria” also demands this. “We will not stop our demonstration plans,” said board member Christoph Huber.
The first day of the planned protest week is next Monday. There are fears in the municipalities that the situation could get out of hand and that reasonably regulated traffic could become impossible. An example: the city and district of Schweinfurt. “Since particularly critical traffic junctions are to be blocked with agricultural vehicles, there may be noticeable traffic disruptions throughout the region,” said the two municipalities. “It can also be assumed that access to motorways (especially the A70) will be severely restricted and will not be possible in some cases.”
In the Allgäu, the city of Memmingen issued a general order as a preventative measure: “The emergency and rescue routes must be kept clear at all times and, if necessary, cleared on the instructions of the police officers,” the order states. The Swabian municipality has also banned protest drives on the motorway and its entrances and exits.
SPD: Police must treat protesting farmers like climate activists
There were also expressed concerns and appeals to the protesting farmers from several other municipalities. Bavaria’s SPD leader Florian von Brunn called for consistent action against crimes and legal violations. He understands that the farmers want to protest and thereby exercise their important basic right, “but of course there should not be a double standard when it comes to protesting farmers and the last generation,” said von Brunn. With a view to the announced protests and strikes on January 8th, von Brunn stated that he had “indications that the protesting farmers are planning to block highways.”
In the past, the police in Bavaria had taken climate activists into so-called preventative custody to prevent protests, and CSU politician Alexander Dobrindt compared the climate activists to terrorists. According to the Police Duties Act, citizens can be detained for up to one month following a court decision in order to prevent the commission of an administrative offense of significant importance to the public – such as blocking important roads – or a criminal offense.
The head of the CSU parliamentary group, Klaus Holetschek, accused the SPD of criminalizing farmers before the protest week began. “The CSU, on the other hand, stands firmly and with great solidarity on the side of our agriculture, which partly has to fight for its existence due to the traffic light policy.”
The background to this debate and the SPD allegations: Many farmers were politically close to the CSU for decades. In recent years, however, there has been increasing estrangement between farmers and the party, exacerbated by, among other things, the tightening of bureaucratic requirements and environmental regulations.
Support from extremists from the right-wing camp is feared
There are also concerns in the farmers’ association that extremists, particularly from the right-wing camp, could jump on the protests. The leadership of the farmers’ association has also come under pressure from the membership in recent years because many farmers find the association leaders in Berlin and state capitals to be too lenient.
And there are constant conflicts behind the scenes within the state government because Economics Minister Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) is trying to make himself the mouthpiece for rural concerns. This always causes anger in the CSU, as can be heard from the party and the state government.