A group of German farmers enraged by cost-cutting plans affecting the country’s agricultural industry barred the EU state’s deputy chancellor from disembarking a ship on Thursday, sparking criticism from both the government and the opposition.
Robert Habeck, Germany’s economics and climate minister, was barred from exiting the ship after returning to the mainland from the small island of Hooge, where he had been on vacation. According to Germany’s DPA news agency, farmers barricaded a jetty at Schluettsiel on the North Sea shore, forcing Habeck to return to the island.
According to police, more than 100 people took part in the roadblock, and roughly 30 officers were dispatched to the area, some of whom used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.
Farmers slammed Chancellor Olaf Scholz last month after his unpopular government unveiled plans to reduce agriculture sector subsidies as part of a larger package aimed at plugging a €17 billion ($18.6 billion) gap in Germany’s 2024 budget. Farmers demonstrated in Berlin last month and have promised to do it again.
Habeck’s spokesperson told DPA that he would have been pleased to discuss the subsidies dispute with the farmers, but that “the security situation did not allow for a dialogue with all farmers,” later adding that a “offer made by the government” was rejected.
On Thursday – ahead of the protest involving Habeck – Berlin said it would partially roll back the planned measures. It said it would retain car-tax exemptions on farming vehicles, while also staggering reductions in fuel tax for diesel used in agricultural settings.
However, the German Farmers’ Association said the government’s amendment to the subsidies pullback didn’t go far enough, and that protests planned for next week would still go ahead.
A spokesperson for Scholz’s office, Steffen Hebestreit, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that the blockade of Habeck’s ferry was “shameful and violates the rules” of a functioning society. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said the protest “discredits the cause of many farmers who demonstrate peacefully.”
Meanwhile, Hendrik Wust of the opposition Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) tweeted that “this transgression is absolutely unacceptable” and that the incident “must have consequences.”
Germany’s financial revisions occurred after the country’s top court reversed an earlier decision to divert €60 billion ($66 billion) in funds allocated for sectors harmed by the Covid-19 epidemic to other purposes, including climate change mitigation.
According to sources, Habeck returned to the mainland via another vessel overnight after the blockade.
