German farmers stage tractor protests over government subsidy cuts

German farmers have teamed up with truckers to stage the biggest protests in their history against government cuts to subsidies.

Hundreds of tractors and trucks brought the streets of Berlin to a standstill on Monday 8 January, as part of coordinated nationwide demonstrations in cities, including Hamburg, Cologne and Bremen.

Farmers are incensed about their government’s plans to gradually phase out tax breaks for diesel used in agriculture and abolish a car tax exemption for farming vehicles.

See also: Dutch farmers protest against government emissions targets

The proposals by Germany’s three-party coalition government are part of a package to fill a €17bn (£14.65bn) funding hole in the 2024 budget.

“We are exercising our basic right to inform society and the political class that Germany needs a competitive agricultural sector,” said German Farmers’ Association President Joachim Rukwied, speaking to Stern magazine.

“That’s the only way to ensure the supply of high-quality, homegrown food.”

Farmers in fellow continental European countries, including Austria, Romania, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium and France are travelling to Germany in their tractors to offer solidarity to German farmers.

Last year, farmers in the Netherlands staged similar mass protests against their own government’s plans to target the agricultural sector to reduce carbon emissions.