Farmers fume over agricultural diesel cut

To plug the budget gap, the German government wants to cut subsidies for vehicles used in agriculture. Farmers are furious and have announced their protest. In the traffic light coalition, the FDP and Greens are blaming each other for the measure.

The German government's plans to cut the agricultural diesel subsidy and the exemption from vehicle tax for farmers is driving those affected onto the streets: under the slogan "Too much is too much! Now it's over", a demonstration is to take place at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin on Monday, according to the German Farmers' Association DBV. Meanwhile, the FDP and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture blamed each other for the cuts.

DBV President Joachim Rukwied called on the coalition government to withdraw the plans for the cuts. Otherwise, agriculture has no future. "If these plans are not withdrawn, there will be fierce resistance," threatened Rukwied. "All farmers, all professional associations and the entire agricultural sector" are called upon to get involved, according to a DBV statement. "The farmers will also show their displeasure with a large number of tractors in Berlin."

The DBV expects a high turnout despite the short notice of the demonstration and the Christmas period due to the highly emotional nature of the issue. The regional associations are organizing buses, car and tractor parades to Berlin.

Farmers' president: "Come to Berlin!"

The cuts are part of the federal government's budget consolidation following the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court. According to information from the Federal Ministry of Finance, the abolition of the concession on vehicle tax for forestry and agriculture is expected to generate 480 million euros a year. There was initially no further information on the savings potential of the abolition of tax concessions for agricultural diesel.

Rukwied addressed farmers in a video appeal and spoke of "one billion" euros in losses for farmers, calling this "unacceptable". "Come to Berlin," he urged at the end of the video.

Meanwhile, the FDP and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture blamed each other for the measures. Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir of the Greens spoke on Wednesday of a "disproportionate" burden on agriculture, which he considered "problematic". The FDP parliamentary group's food policy spokesman, Gero Hocker, countered on Friday that the "green proposal" had been put forward by Özdemir himself, had been "assessed as expedient" by Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck and "only found its way into the relief budget in this way".

Özdemir wanted to revise the subsidy - not cancel it

The Ministry of Agriculture denied the accusation. A spokesperson told the "Bild" newspaper that the Ministry of Food had "at no time put forward such a proposal". Instead, as part of the internal budget preparation in the middle of the year, the FDP-led Ministry of Finance had raised the issue of agricultural diesel subsidies for the first time in order to compensate for savings targets for future budgets from 2025. In response, the Ministry of Agriculture promised the Ministry of Finance that it would "consider revising (not abolishing!) the agricultural diesel subsidy" if these freed-up funds continued to benefit the transformation tasks of agriculture.

However, this approach was not pursued due to the excessive burden on agriculture. Following the ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court, Federal Minister Özdemir "expressly warned against abolishing the agricultural diesel subsidy and withdrawing these funds from agriculture during internal consultations", the "Bild" newspaper quoted the ministry spokesman as saying.

CDU leader Merz told the newspapers of the Funke media group that the traffic light government had "completely lost sight of our farmers in particular". The abolition of the tax rebate for agricultural diesel was "a punch in the gut for the rural economy". In the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper, the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs and leader of the Free Voters, Hubert Aiwanger, called the removal of subsidies a "slap in the face of farmers". Anyone who classifies the production of food as climate-damaging work is "a danger to this country".