European Central: German Farmers Paralyze The Nation
John Macdougall ┃ Barron’s
German farmers are determined to make their pain be felt throughout the nation. Farmers are leaving their farms and driving tractors and trucks to Berlin in order to block traffic and bring awareness to their grievances. The protests in the last few weeks come at a bad time as the national government is trying to also prevent the far-right AFD party from gaining support. The AFD (Alternative for Germany) is an anti-immigrant and Euroskeptic party founded in 2013 and has particularly been successful in Eastern Germany. As the European Parliament elections occur in early June, the stakes are high for German Chancellor Scholz is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The SDP is a center-left political party and Germany’s oldest political party still in existence. If he fails, he risks the AFD winning a large share of Germany’s seats in the European Parliament. AFD has taken the opportunity to add fuel to the fire by accusing the government of cronyism, embezzlement, and war-mongering.
German farmers were angered by the announcement that the government would no longer give tax rebates for new agricultural vehicles and eliminate diesel subsidies. This led 3,000 tractors, 2,000 trucks, and 10,000 people to block the streets of Berlin on January 15th. The German government has since softened its tone, reoffering the tax rebates for new agricultural vehicles and phasing out the diesel subsidies over several years. Farmers however are not satisfied and said that more food will have to be imported. Cem Özdemir, the German agricultural minister and a member of the Greens, has been supportive and sympathetic of the farmers and argues that the protests were partially caused by a lack of dialogue with farmers. The problem for Chancellor Scholz is that the nation is legally bound to maintain a balanced budget since 2009 when it was added to the constitution. The decision to make cuts to agriculture subsidies was a result of a court ruling in late 2023 which limited how the national government could use remaining emergency relief funds from the pandemic. This is because the 60 billion in leftover relief is debt that Germany did not use during the pandemic. Constitutionally, Germany can only use this debt during a pandemic or recession.
Farmer Protests Earlier This Millennium
Despite being less than a quarter into the new millennium, these protests are not the first large protests from European farmers. In 2009, EU dairy farmers protested by dumping massive amounts of milk. In Germany, farmers dumped seven thousand liters of milk directly in front of national agricultural ministry buildings while farmers dumped three million liters in Belgian fields. Farmers additionally refused to fulfill deliveries. This was a result of EU farmers having to pay an average of 40 euro cents to produce a liter of milk, yet were paid only 20 cents per liter.
Problems with overproducing milk are not novel, and they occurred when the EU was first founded as well. As a solution, the European Commission created milk quotas to cap milk production in 1984. In 2003, the Commission planned to phase out the quotas by 2015, giving farmers twelve years to prepare themselves. The purpose of phasing out milk quotas was to liberalize the market, yet in reality it lead to an overproduction of milk and made it even more difficult for dairy farmers to remain profitable. Multiple global economic crises during that time and a Russian ban on imported food from the EU made a bail out from the EU necessary to prevent farms from failing. Agriculture is an increasingly difficult profession as mergers and vanishing subsidies create pressure on small farmers to adapt or fold. This is very apparent in France, where a farmer commits suicide every two days. Farmers feel despair over financial problems and when they feel there is no way out, they sometimes unfortunately decide to end their lives.
Protests amongst German farmers are not the first in recent times in Europe. Farmers have not only been protesting in Germany, but also in the Netherlands, France, Romania, Poland, Slovakia, and Bulgaria. The first farmer protests in recent times were in the Netherlands. In 2019, the BBB (Farmer-Citizen Movement) was founded as a political party to represent the interests of farmers. This same year, a court ruling to lower nitrogen emissions led the government to declare that the number of livestock farms and animals kept would need to be reduced. Farmers were angry and assumed the government would forcefully shut down farms, so 2,200 tractors shut down highways on October 1st, 2019 to protest. While the BBB briefly led the polls, in the end it did not do well in the national elections, finishing sixth with 4.7 percent of the vote. Instead, Gert Vilders, Party for Freedom (VVD) won the election. The BBB temporarily led in political polls due to its stance against environmental regulations created by the Dutch government in an effort to decrease emissions, yet Vilders won the latest parliamentary election on an anti-immigrant and anti-Islam platform. Wilders is known for his particularly harsh stance against Islam and although he officially withdrew the proposal this month, Wilders first proposed in 2018 legislation to ban the Quran and mosques in the Netherlands. It is yet to be seen whether Vilders will be able to construct a coalition government, as centrist right-wing parties are unwilling to work with him. By withdrawing his proposed legislation, some parties may change their minds about working with him.
Dutch Farmers Fear Repeating History
In The Netherlands, protests were also fierce because of the country’s unique history with food following World War II. The continent’s economy was devastated and the majority of Dutch citizens survived through subsistence farming. However, the nation also relied heavily on imported food. The Dutch government realized that the nation could improve the standard of living for its citizens if it assisted in increasing food production and reduced its dependence on food produced in other nations. There are concerns that the Netherlands will make itself vulnerable if food importation increases while Dutch farms close. These concerns are not completely unfounded, as nations worldwide have struggled with inflated food prices due to a decrease in exports from Russia and Ukraine. For 26 nations, Russia and Ukraine usually provide over fifty percent of their wheat.
Other Farmer Protests In EU
Farmers protesting in France have gained attention on X and Reddit due to taking drastic measures such as spraying government buildings with manure. Supermarkets have also been targeted with manure left in parking lots due to allegedly refusing to pay fair prices to farmers. German farmers also transported manure to Berlin to place in front of the Bundestag (German parliament building), yet changed their mind after discussions with police. These protests are motivated by taxes and social charges.
In Eastern Europe, trade disputes with Ukraine have led to farmers and truck drivers protesting and blockading trucks from Ukraine crossing national borders. This can be observed in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The European Union created solidarity lanes for Ukrainian agricultural products to be exported through the EU due to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is limited in their ability to export products through the Black Sea as normally done. However, farmers and truckers from Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and Romania are arguing that Ukrainian products are flooding their markets and impacting the ability of farmers to compete in Eastern EU member states. Part of this is due to cheaper labor costs and the use of cheaper pesticides not allowed in the EU. The Slovak Agricultural Ministry discovered that Ukrainian grain contained a pesticide that EU farmers are prohibited from using. They argue this puts EU farmers at an unfair disadvantage.
Conclusion
German politicians are in a difficult situation with a lot to lose. While maintaining a balanced budget, the German government must find a way to make peace with farmers while also avoiding the AFD from using the situation to gain more support among voters. What is clear is that Europe is currently experiencing a domino effect of farmer protests. This will not only impact European Union member states at the national level. It will have repercussions for the entire European Union during June elections for the European Parliament. The European Union also needs to find a solution to allow Ukrainian agricultural products to be exported though the EU while preventing these products from flooding local markets. Pushback from environmental legislation aimed at lowering the emissions from the agriculture industry also must be confronted for the financial difficulties it burdens upon farmers. The European Union for the time being needs a solution to provide financial support for farmers. If not, protests such as those seen in Germany can spread throughout the EU. Unfortunately for national and EU-level politicians, these are significant tasks to accomplish.
