Farmer protests near Maischberger
“That’s stupid”
By Marko Schlichting
January 10, 2024, 6:28 a.m
Farmers are storming against the traffic light government’s policy. Rightly so? Absolutely, says Bavaria’s Economics Minister Aiwanger. He does not criticize the farmers’ ferry blockade against Robert Habeck – and has a sometimes heated exchange of blows with Green Party leader Nouripour.
They are impressive and sometimes frightening images: Since Monday, farmers all over Germany have been protesting against the traffic light coalition’s agricultural policy. In the fight against an impending budget deficit, last December it announced, among other things, that it would cancel discounts for agricultural diesel and the vehicle tax exemption for agricultural vehicles. She wanted to save around 920 million euros this year. After initial protests from farmers, the government announced that it would not cancel the tax exemption for agricultural vehicles. Agricultural diesel subsidies are to be phased out gradually by 2026. That’s not enough for the farmers’ association, which has called for further protests this week.
The fact is: Due to structural change since the 1950s, more and more farms have been closed. This is due, among other things, to the increasing prices for agricultural diesel, but also to the policies of politicians and farmers’ associations. With the “Grow or die” campaign he wanted to protect small-scale agriculture from collapse. This is how farms should grow, and large machines should be used cost-effectively by several companies. But those affected were only able to make the structural change in agriculture more bearable for a short time; they were unable to stop it. Critics accuse farmers, associations and politicians of having missed the structural changes in agriculture in recent years. After many hard years, farmers have recently made some significant profits. But if you look at current developments, you have to realize that the good years could be over very soon.
“It wouldn’t kill me”
Hubert Aiwanger wants to lead the farmers’ protest. He grew up on a farm and his family made a living primarily by selling fattening animals. The family business in Rottenburg an der Laaber in Lower Bavaria still exists. But they have adapted. In the ARD talk show Maischberger, the Free Voters leader and Bavarian Economics Minister says that his family business relies on renewable energies. The farm is hardly affected by the government plans. “For me it would be very manageable, for me it would be a few hundred euros. It wouldn’t kill me,” said Aiwanger. “But for the average farmer it hurts when a monthly income is lost.” In fact, due to the abolition of subsidies for agricultural diesel, farmers have lost an average of around 2,900 euros over a whole year.
Experts assume that the federal government’s decisions will prevent further farm deaths. Nevertheless, Aiwanger believes the government’s approach is unacceptable: “The farmers have always noticed that they cannot keep up with short-term, hectic daily politics because investing in agriculture takes place in generational cycles.” For example, if you built a cowshed and took on debts that you wanted to repay within thirty years, the laws could change after a few years. Then the stable would no longer comply with animal husbandry standards and everything would have to be rebuilt again. Aiwanger: “That is the problem farmers have had in recent years: they have been confronted with constant changes and have therefore become more and more dissatisfied with politics.” The federal government’s laws in December were apparently the last straw. Aiwanger says it in his own words: “Everyone is happy when they get a partial refund of the subsidy for agricultural diesel or simply the taxes they previously paid. The fact that they are reaching exactly there is really stupid.”
“The good farmers”
Green Party leader Omid Nouripour can partly understand the farmers’ frustration. “The double burden was too much, and it’s good that that’s now being corrected,” he says at Maischberger. The removal of agricultural diesel subsidies hurts, but it does not threaten the company’s existence. Nevertheless, the farmers’ protests are fine as long as they are peaceful. Protests like the one last Thursday in Schleswig-Holstein are not acceptable. An angry group of people prevented Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck from the Green Party from leaving a ferry. Many politicians criticized and condemned the incident, but the farmers’ association distanced itself.
On Tuesday evening, Aiwanger couldn’t bring himself to criticize. He was not there and statements from the police and demonstrators were contradictory. “I can’t say I think it’s terrible, I don’t know what it was like, and that’s why I’m refraining from making an assessment and waiting until the police have finally assessed it.”
Nouripour can’t understand this attitude and reacts very annoyed: “Why can’t you say that it’s out of the question that people who come from vacation can’t get off the ferry because the farmers are pissed off because of other people’s politics? So difficult That can’t be true.” And Maischberger also reacts with incomprehension: “I notice that you are easier to judge than to condemn,” she accuses Aiwanger.
He protects the farmers. They are interested in stable conditions, he says, and he points to the many demonstrations in which “green extremists” marched. “This mass of good farmers, even if, in the worst case scenario, a few crazy people run with them: They will never hijack these protests. And then a thousand farmers with a tractor after an extremist. These are situations that make me just laugh.”