Reversal of agricultural cuts
SPD Prime Ministers want the federal government to turn around
January 8, 2024, 5:01 p.m
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Farmers across the country are protesting against the traffic light policy. They want the government to completely reverse the subsidy cuts. In addition to the Union, several SPD prime ministers are now calling for a radical reversal. However, the government waves it off.
In view of the angry protests from farmers nationwide, several SPD prime ministers have called for a complete reversal of the financial cuts. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit rejected this, and the cabinet approved the cuts in agricultural diesel. In a video lasting more than eight minutes, Economics Minister Robert Habeck called for a debate about the structural problems of agriculture and called for non-violent demonstrations.
The head of government of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Manuela Schwesig, the Prime Minister of Saarland, Anke Rehlinger, and the Prime Minister of Lower Saxony, Stephan Weil, demanded that the cut be reversed. Schwesig explained in Schwerin that financial support for agriculture also serves to ensure that food remains affordable. Rehlinger told the “Rheinische Post” that farmers could not “take into account the cuts in agricultural diesel from now on”. There is no alternative to diesel fuel for tractors “at least in the short term”.
Weil said in the ZDF “Morgenmagazin” that the gradual complete removal of the tax relief for agricultural diesel planned by 2026 would be a “serious burden,” especially for smaller companies. During the protests, farmers are also concerned about how the agricultural operations can continue. “What is actually needed is a coherent overall agricultural policy strategy that farmers have been waiting for for 20 years.” Government spokesman Hebestreit emphasized that there were “no considerations” in the federal government about changing the decisions in the agricultural sector again. Rather, there is now a cabinet decision.
Habeck defends reducing subsidies
In view of massive protests from farmers, the government withdrew part of its cuts plans in the agricultural sector last week: the preferential vehicle tax for forestry and agriculture is to be retained, unlike planned. For agricultural diesel, the tax relief should not be completely abolished until 2026. In the current year it is to be reduced by 40 percent, and then by 30 percent in each of the following years.
In his video address, Economics Minister Habeck referred to his six years as Agriculture Minister in Schleswig-Holstein. During that time he “visited many farms and had even more conversations with farmers.” They operated “under powerful economic pressure, the price pressure from the discounters, the large slaughterhouses and dairies, the fluctuating world market.”
There are good and bad years, “but above all there is a structural problem”: Farmers are often unable to pass on their production costs because the prices are not set by them. “So more and more has to be produced.” The farms would get bigger and the small farms would disappear. “It’s called structural change; it’s the industrialization of agriculture.”
security authorities warn of radicalization
But there are “other answers too,” emphasized Habeck: fair prices, good pay for demanding work, for sustainability, climate protection and animal protection, direct marketing. “In my opinion, we should now use the debate to discuss this seriously and honestly.” The minister was prevented from leaving a ferry by demonstrators in Schleswig-Holstein last week. The farmers rejected a conversation offered by Habeck.
In his video, Habeck criticized that the “experience of the last demonstrations” had shown that not everyone wanted to demonstrate non-violently and peacefully. “When gallows hang on tractors, when tractor convoys drive to private houses, then a limit has been crossed. Not to mention the brutalization on social media, where calls for violence are often spread under the cowardice of some code names.”
It is a hallmark of liberal democracy that it also gives space to its opponents. “But our Basic Law sets limits for enemies of the constitution.” Anyone who wants to undermine democracy must be held accountable using the means of the constitutional state. Habeck also called for moral courage. “This republic is the best state Germany has ever had. We have to stand up for it.” Security authorities have warned of possible infiltration of the farmers’ protests. Other politicians also called on farmers to keep the protest within the rule of law.