Relief ideas in the Bundestag
Traffic light factions want to appease farmers
January 16, 2024, 9:05 p.m
At the end of this week the decision will be made regarding renewed farmers’ protests. The traffic light factions in the Bundestag agree in advance on suggestions on how farmers can be relieved. But it will still take a few months before a legislative package is created.
The traffic light coalition wants to present concrete plans in the first quarter to relieve the burden on farmers. Appropriate measures should be decided by summer. This emerges from a draft resolution for the Bundestag, which the coalition factions SPD, Greens and FDP have agreed on.
The responsible deputy group leaders Julia Verlinden from the Greens, SPD politician Matthias Miersch and Carina Konrad from the FDP emphasized that the conversation with the agricultural associations on Monday would now lead to concrete work orders. On the initiative of the traffic light, the Bundestag names areas of action that take up key suggestions from the Future Commission for Agriculture and the Borchert Commission. A legislative package should be developed by the summer that will strengthen the future security of agriculture.
For days, farmers have been protesting against, among other things, the federal government’s intention to gradually abolish diesel benefits. SPD parliamentary group leader Rolf Mützenich said on Monday, after a conversation between the traffic light parliamentary group leaders and representatives of the farmers’ associations, that the coalition wanted to submit a motion for a resolution with a timetable for concrete relief by the summer break for an agricultural debate in the Bundestag on Thursday.
The application is intended to call on the federal government to support a “modernization process” towards ecologically and economically sustainable, long-term future-proof agriculture that produces good food, contributes to protecting the functionality of the climate and offers companies an economic perspective. Questions are listed that should be clarified “within the framework of the available budget resources”. This is about how reliable financing can be ensured for animal welfare-friendly animal husbandry.
Mützenich wants to resolve “tangles”.
It goes on to say: “How can agriculture be helped efficiently and monetarily by reducing bureaucracy?” As part of so-called practical checks, all official measures at federal and state levels should be examined for efficiency and effectiveness. The point is also mentioned as to how access to agricultural land can be made easier for agricultural businesses against the background of competition for land and price developments and how the introduction of alternative drives and fuels for agricultural machinery can be supported.
With a view to the roadmap for a reform package promised to the farmers’ associations, Mützenich said on Tuesday that it was time to resolve the “entanglements” that have existed for two years. He added that he did not want to evaluate individual proposals such as a special levy on meat and other agricultural products. Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir and Environment Minister Steffi Lemke had previously spoken out in favor of the so-called animal welfare tax. In addition to this, there will also be talk about land policy or increasing the competitiveness of farmers, said the SPD parliamentary group leader.
The FDP had discussed reducing bureaucratic requirements. Green party co-leader Katharina Dröge also said in Berlin that the four large supermarket chains in Germany have too much market power. In doing so, they imposed prices that were to the detriment of small agricultural businesses. Fairer conditions are needed here.
The federal government emphasized on Monday that it did not want to reverse the reduction in subsidies for agricultural diesel. After the budget committee’s adjustment meeting in the Bundestag on the 2024 budget on Thursday, the farmers’ associations want to decide whether the protests should be resumed next week. They are demanding a complete reversal of the austerity decisions.