A conversation between representatives from agriculture and the leaders of the traffic light factions on Monday had no result. “When it comes to agricultural diesel,” there is still no solution, said the Secretary General of the German Farmers’ Association, Bernhard Krüsken. However, he still sees “room for action” in the course of the upcoming discussions in the Bundestag on the 2024 budget.
Farmers across Germany have been protesting for days against the federal government’s planned gradual abolition of the subsidy for agricultural diesel. They are calling for the decision to be reversed. At the final rally of the protest week at the Brandenburg Gate, Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) rejected this again. “Everyone has to do their part,” he said.
Watch the video: Start of the farmers’ demonstration in Berlin – 10,000 participants expected.
On Monday, farmers in Berlin also demonstrated against the federal government’s planned austerity measures in the agricultural sector. “Well over 5,000 vehicles” such as tractors and trucks came to the capital for this purpose, a police spokeswoman said in an initial estimate on Monday morning.
Conclusion of the farmers’ protests in Berlin
The large demonstration was supposed to mark the end of a whole week of protests across the country. The farmers are pushing for a reversal of the subsidy cuts planned by the federal government. The “traffic light” had already partially moved away from this, but the subsidy for agricultural diesel is still to be gradually abolished by 2026. Other industries such as transportation, fishing and hospitality joined the protests.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP), who defends the cuts as necessary and justified, also appeared at the rally at the Brandenburg Gate around midday and was greeted with shouts of “Get out.” After the rally, the leaders of the traffic light factions in the Bundestag asked representatives of the farmers to meet in the early afternoon.
FDP parliamentary group leader Christian Dürr said the conversation in the Bundestag was a “first start”. It is an “important signal” that people are talking to each other. Dürr emphasized that farmers are entrepreneurs and want to be entrepreneurial. The government must create “fair framework conditions” for this.
Green party leader Britta Haßelmann rejected calls for new commissions on the future of agriculture. With regard to the prospects for agriculture, there is no lack of knowledge, but rather a deficit of action, she said. But there is an “urgent need to talk” about how income stays “on the farms”. She called for “fair trading conditions” for farmers compared to “the market power of the large food companies”.
SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich announced that the Bundestag wanted to make “clear structural decisions by the summer break that would provide agriculture with planning security and also relief.”
The farmers’ association has already promised further demonstrations if the federal government sticks to cutting diesel subsidies. “We are now focusing on the exchange over the next few days and hope that there will be a solution that agriculture can also support,” said association president Joachim Rukwied. If there is no solution, “we reserve the right to take further action.”
Note: This article has been updated