A crowd of about 150 angry farmers were awaiting the arrival of a ferry carrying Germany’s Economic Minister and Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck on his return from vacation on Thursday evening at the port of Schlüttsiel in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
While the farmers demanded to speak to Habeck about the left-liberal government’s tax burdens on the farming community, the minister’s bodyguards advised him to stay on the ferry for security reasons. Habeck himself was willing to let three farmers onto the boat to discuss their grievances, but the protesters demanded that the minister speak to them all outside.
Farmers from North Frisia organised the spontaneous protest through WhatsApp and Facebook groups and drove their tractors to Schlüttsiel. There were scenes of scuffles as some of the farmers tried to stop the ferry—with Habeck and his entourage onboard—from leaving. All other passengers were allowed ashore. Police used pepper spray and “light physical violence” against the protesters but no injuries were reported.
Farmers have been outraged since the government announced plans to abolish subsidies on agricultural diesel and introduce new taxes on farm vehicles. The plans are part of budget cuts and new taxes that will put an even larger burden on households already grappling with the cost-of-living crisis. Thousands of farmers took to the streets of Berlin and other regional centres on December 18th, and are planning more protests on January 8th.
Conservative publication Tichys Einblick assessed the situation by saying:
Robert Habeck himself can afford a holiday, while the country, along with many citizens, is collapsing like never before since the Second World War. Companies are going bankrupt in droves, freight forwarders can no longer pay drastically increased tolls, ever-increasing electricity and energy costs as well as more and more taxes on CO2. Many are on the verge of extinction or are already extinct, freezing because heating costs are rising exorbitantly.
On Thursday, January 4th, the government backtracked somewhat, and decided it would not end the farmers’ tax break on agricultural diesel immediately, but will reduce the subsidy by 40% this year, 30% in 2025, and will end it from 2026. Also, the abolition of preferential treatment in vehicle tax for forestry and agriculture is no longer planned.
However, the German Farmers’ Association (DBV) is still not pleased. Its president, Joachim Rukwied said:
This can only be a first step. Our position remains unchanged: both proposals for cuts must be taken off the table. This is clearly also about the future viability of our industry and the question of whether domestic food production is still desirable at all.
Elsewhere, Rukwied criticised the behaviour of the farmers who demonstrated against Habeck. “Personal attacks, insults, threats, coercion or violence are not acceptable,” he said. Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens) called participants in the protest “fanatics” and “radicals,” and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) tweeted: “Where words are replaced by rabble, and arguments by violence, a democratic boundary has been crossed.”
Politicians from the governing social democrats and the liberal FDP, as well as opposition centre-right CDU denounced Thursday night’s protests.
Right-wing opposition AfD’s co-leader Alice Weidel accused the Economy Minister of escaping instead of seeking dialogue.
Habeck himself acknowledged on Friday that the mood of the country “worries me.”
The minister has every right to be worried, as the budget cuts, the attack on farmers and the government’s green agenda is causing ever-growing concern among the population. According to the latest opinion polls, the governing parties are in their worst position since they came into power two years ago. In that time, the social democrats have dropped from 26% to 12%, the Greens from 15% to 10.5%, the liberal FDP from 11.5% to 4.5%, meaning the latter would not be able to enter parliament. Meanwhile, the centre-right CDU/CSU alliance has gained in the polls by 10 percentage points, and stands at 34% overall, while the stigmatised AfD now enjoys the backing of 24.5% of the electorate.
