A group of farmers prevented the German Vice Chancellor and Minister of Economy and Climate Protection from disembarking from a ferry, hours after the Government partially retracted savings plans that had angered the agricultural sector. Police reported that farmers blocked the Schluettsiel jetty on the North Sea coast on Thursday night.
Around a hundred farmers driving their tractors joined the protest action, which was dispersed by the police with gas, although no arrests were made. After a failed attempt to dialogue with the protesters, “who seemed to be trying to attack the ship,” Habeck was finally able to reach land after taking another ferry, reported the German agency DPA.
These actions come after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government sparked farmer discontent last month by announcing cuts to agricultural subsidies, leading to mass protests in Berlin. The German government has been forced to make this budget adjustment following a ruling by the Constitutional Court, which prohibited the use of credit authorizations intended to cushion the consequences of the pandemic to finance energy transformation programs.
Thursday’s blockade responded to the government’s announcement that same day to partially abandon cuts to the agricultural sector: the registration tax exemption for agricultural vehicles would be maintained and the tax reductions planned for diesel would be staggered.
But ranchers and farmers widely reject the proposal. The German Farmers’ Association declared that the reduction was not enough and that it continued to demand the cancellation of both proposals. Farmers called for more demonstrations for next week.
German Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck regretted on Friday the lack of debate with farmers who prevented him from disembarking from the ferry. “Protesting in Germany is a valuable asset. Coercion and violence destroy this asset,” he said in a statement after Thursday night’s protest.
The farmers’ action against the German minister has been strongly condemned by several members of the German government as a form of violence that goes beyond the norms of German democratic coexistence. Chancellor Scholz appealed “not to remain indifferent to such brutalization of political morality,” in his X account.
The Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann, stated in his X account that “violence has no place in political discussion” and “discredits the cause of many farmers who demonstrate peacefully.” A message that was also reiterated by the president of the Association German Farmers’ Association, Joachim Rukwied, who described the blockade as “unacceptable”, but reiterated that the protests planned for next week are still on.
