BERLIN: Furious farmers opposed to Berlin’s plans to cut tax breaks for agriculture used tractors to block roads across Germany on Monday, kicking off a series of crippling strikes sinking the country deeper into a winter of discontent. In Berlin, dozens of tractors and lorries stationed in the city centre blasted their horns to signal their anger at the start of a planned week of action. Rail workers will likewise launch a three-day strike on Wednesday, with unions seeking a pay rise to compensate for months of painfully high inflation.

Workers in sectors across Germany, from metallurgy and transport to education, have turned to industrial action in recent weeks. Wage negotiations have taken a bitter turn as Europe’s biggest economy struggles with weak growth. “We are exercising our basic right to inform society and the political class that Germany needs a competitive agricultural sector,” German Farmers Association President Joachim Rukwied told Stern magazine.

“That’s the only way to ensure the supply of high-quality, homegrown food.” Farmers began gathering on Sunday evening at the Brandenburg Gate landmark in the heart of the government quarter in Berlin. The sector has been up in arms over government plans to withdraw certain tax breaks for agriculture this year. “We simply don’t get enough money for what we produce, while we work 365 days a year,” said Jenny Zerbin, 34, told AFP in Berlin.

Tractor blockade

“We want to support farmers,” said Zerbin, who set off from her home in the region of Brandenburg on Sunday to take part in the protest with her son. Farm vehicles blocked the centers of cities including Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Bremen, with up to 2,000 tractors registered for each protest. Outside cities, demonstrators targeted motorway access ramps, snarling traffic in a coordinated nationwide show of discontent.

Police reported blockades and major disruptions due to slow-moving tractor convoys from the early morning hours across Germany. Authorities in the rural northern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania said all of its autobahn ramps were impeded. The protest also caused disruptions at Germany’s borders with France, Poland and the Czech Republic, causing traffic to back up at crossing points, according to local media and German police.

Thousands of protestors had already descended on Berlin to protest against the planned subsidy cuts in December, blocking roads and dumping manure on the street. The protests prompted the government to partially walk back the reductions on Thursday. A discount on vehicle tax for agriculture would remain in place, while a diesel subsidy would be phased out over several years instead of being abolished immediately, the government said.

‘Pure anger’

The agriculture sector however said the move did not go far enough and urged Berlin to completely reverse the plans, which were announced after a shock court ruling forced the government to find savings in the budget for 2024. “We simply can’t continue to do business like this. Agriculture is going to the wall,” said Sebastian Schuman, 34, who works in the sector.

Schuman told AFP at the protest in Berlin that he felt “pure anger” when the cuts were announced after households had been hammered by months of high inflation. “You have to think about what the consequences are. Food prices are going up. Everything is becoming more expensive,” he said. Late on Thursday, around 30 agitated protestors targeting the reforms trapped Economy Minister Robert Habeck and other passengers on a ferry, preventing them from disembarking. The demonstration was widely condemned by government figures for its implicit threat of violence. — AFP