in Germany, farmers are increasing their actions and saluting “the courage of the French”

Many German farmers have been demonstrating since the beginning of January against the end of certain tax benefits. But some are coming to doubt the effectiveness of their movement, while the protest is gaining momentum in France.

Grumbling, everywhere. While the mobilization of the agricultural world is spreading across Europe, in Germany, where the protest started, farmers have been increasing the blockades of city centers and highways for more than a month. Very mobilized, they are protesting in particular against the removal of tax advantages on agricultural diesel. As in France, everyone has the feeling of being abandoned and misunderstood.

On her farm 200 km south of Berlin, Alexande Otto raises 400 dairy cows and also produces cereals. At 34 years old, the young farmer employs 45 people. And he has done his calculations: the end of the exemption on diesel will cause him to lose 100,000 euros each year. “We have 25 tractors, four combine harvesters. With the glyphosate ban pending, we have to work more and more with the machines, so we need more diesel. With the increase in personnel costs and fodder, it’s difficult.” The young operator therefore had to resign himself to postponing his investments and in particular the installation of a new milking parlor.

“A bureaucracy pushed to excess”

Near Leipzig, Diana Lehmitz grows barley, wheat, rapeseed, corn… She has gone to demonstrate several times in Dresden. “We have been unhappy for years, we have so many regulations, so many prohibitions and excessive bureaucracy. It’s really heavy.” she admits.

“We have been silent for too long, far too long”

Diana Lehmitz

at franceinfo

In Dahme, 2 hours from Berlin, the mobilization does not weaken. That evening, 300 farmers met, the flashing lights of around sixty tractors sparkling in the night. With his feet in the snow, Guido warms up near the big campfire. “We must continue. We cannot give up now, he believes I’m self-employed, so is my wife, and we can’t get by anymore. If this continues, we’ll all go bankrupt. The government doesn’t want to see what’s happening in the streets.”

“We watch with envy the courage of the French on television”

Some farmers question the effectiveness of their gathering. After a month of blocking, they got nothing. The mobilization of French farmers inspires Marco, 53 years old. “We, the Germans, are too wise. We watch with envy on television the courage of the French and the actions they take to attract attention. With the ‘yellow vests’, the farmers, they cut the roads , they made fires, dumped manure and we said to ourselves: ‘oh, we should do that too’. But we don’t dare…”

Recently, the far-right AfD party has been increasing its signs of support for farmers, a few weeks before the regional elections. Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned any attempt to recover the movement.