The protests are set to last all week.
Commuters around Germany are facing severe disruption this morning as a massive protest by farmers blocks roads across the country. In the coordinated action, farmers have driven their tractors onto highway, slip roads and smaller roads. It is the beginning of a week of protests against a government plan to scrap tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture.Protesters in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin had signs attached to their tractors with signs like ‘No farmer, no future’. In the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, farmers blocked motorway slip roads with hundreds of tractors. They were supported by haulage companies protesting against the increase in lorry tolls.In the district of Cloppenburg in northwest Lower Saxony, a main road was blocked by 40 vehicles. In Saxony, according to police, some motorway slip roads in the Dresden area were unusable. There are also gatherings on the A4, A13, A14 and A17 motorways. Why are German farmers protesting?Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s unpopular three-party coalition infuriated farmers in December by drawing up plans to abolish a car tax exemption for farming vehicles and the diesel tax breaks. The proposals were part of a package to fill a 17-billion-euro ($18.6-billion) hole in the 2024 budget.The government on Thursday climbed down partially, saying that the car tax exemption would be retained and the cuts in the diesel tax breaks would be staggered over three years. But the German Farmers’ Association said it was still insisting on the plans being reversed fully and would go ahead with a “week of action” starting Monday.The protests are under scrutiny after a group of farmers on Thursday prevented Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck from disembarking a ferry in a small North Sea port as he returned from a personal trip to an offshore island.That incident drew condemnation from government and opposition figures and the farmers association. Authorities have warned that far-right groups and others could try to capitalize on the protests. Farmers association chairman Joachim Rukwied told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that “we don’t want to have right-wing and other radical groups” at the demonstrations.The budget revamp that included the disputed cuts was required after Germany’s highest court annulled an earlier decision to repurpose 60 billion euros (almost $66 billion) originally meant to cushion the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic for measures to help combat climate change and modernise the country. The maneuver fell afoul of Germany’s strict self-imposed limits on running up debt.
Source: euronews.com