As a compromise in the dispute between farmers and the federal government, the working group for rural agriculture (AbL) proposes maintaining diesel subsidies for small businesses. It would be conceivable, for example, to waive cuts up to a consumption of 10,000 liters of diesel per year, said AbL chairman Josef Schmid on Monday in Munich. This would also help to improve the market situations of small businesses compared to large businesses.
Schmid also spoke out in favor of a better market position for farmers when selling their goods. Fixed prices must be stated in contracts, which are then binding. In order to save on state spending, the AbL proposed measures such as lower subsidies for air travel or the abolition of company car privileges. This would bring in more money and have a greater climate protection effect than cuts to farmers.
The Nature Conservation Union also sees low food prices and the price dictates of retail companies as the main cause of farmers’ worries about the future. “The planned cuts in agricultural diesel subsidies are not the real problem. The agricultural system suffers primarily from unfair prices and the poor market position of farmers compared to trading companies,” said the chairman of the Bavarian Nature Conservation Association, Richard Mergner.
“The problems are home-made, and the CSU in particular has a significant share in this,” emphasized Mergner. The CSU held the Federal Ministry of Agriculture for 39 years, most recently from 2005 to 2018. “The dramatic death of farms has not been stopped either in Bavaria or nationwide. It is indecent if the CSU of all people is now leading the farmers’ protests.” As an example, he cited the poor market position of farmers and the subsidies per hectare, which favor large farms and thus contribute to the death of farms.
Economics Minister and Free Voters leader Hubert Aiwanger would also do better to work on constructive solutions “instead of further dividing society with populist slogans in order to make political capital out of it,” said Mergner. Both the CSU and the Free Voters fueled the protests so much and turned it into a European primary election campaign that viable solutions were becoming increasingly difficult to find.
The traffic light coalition wants to abolish tax relief for agricultural diesel. After protests, it is sticking to it, but the subsidy is to be gradually phased out. The traffic light wants to forego the abolition of the vehicle tax exemption for agriculture.