German farmers protest with tractors against austerity measures

By Riham Alkousaa and Swantje Stein

BERLIN (Reuters) - Hundred of German farmers and their tractors gathered in central Berlin on Monday to protest against the government's plans to cut diesel subsidies and tax breaks for agricultural vehicles next year as part of Berlin's 2024 austerity measures.

After a constitutional court ruling last month that cancelled 60 billion euros of earmarked debt, the federal government last week announced plans to save around 900 million euros ($983.34 million) annually in subsidies for farmers.

According to next year's budget, a partial tax refund on agricultural diesel, along with a tax exemption for agricultural vehicles, will be abolished to meet the saving targets - a measure farmers said would threaten their livelihood and the competitiveness of Germany's agricultural sector.

Farmers protested the planned cuts at the Brandenburg Gate, carrying placards reading "YOUR POLITICS ARE A DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST FARMERS" and "TOO MUCH IS TOO MUCH! IT'S OVER NOW!" parking a number of tractors along Berlin's Strasse des 17. Juni boulevard in central Berlin.

Germany's DBV and LSV farmers lobbies called for the protest last week and on Monday threatened to organise further country-wide demonstrations if the measures were implemented.

"Then from January 8th we will be present everywhere in a way that the country has never experienced before. We will not accept this," DBV President Joachim Rukwied said.

The cuts, agreed by the ruling coalition leaders of the Social Democrats, Greens and Free Democrats, could cause dispute not just within the coalition, now opposed by FDP liberals, but also within the Greens party itself, as Greens Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir joined the farmers in Monday's protest.

"I will do everything in my power so that this won't happen this way, ladies and gentlemen," Ozdemir said.

ADDITIONAL BURDEN

Farmer Jule Bonsels from the western Rhineland region said the tax break cancellation meant an additional financial burden of some 20,000 euros per year.

"I personally find this unacceptable. We must give young people prospects, and these plans totally kill it," she added.

Government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit on Monday said decisions on the 2024 budget were in place and won't be reopened, adding that the details of implementation were still being examined.

The cuts also aim to help reduce greenhouse emissions in the country's agriculture sector that was responsible for 55.5 million metric tonnes of greenhouse emissions last year, roughly 7.4% of the country's total.

Environmental groups said farmers could bear the financial burden of the cancelled subsidies, citing profits made from rising food prices and other agricultural subsidies that are still in place.

"With all understanding for the farmers - making agricultural diesel cheaper by the state is expensive, harmful to the climate and should be abolished," Greenpeace agricultural expert Martin Hofstetter said in a statement on Monday.

Erwin Decker, a wine farmer in Germany's Black Forest region, said implementing the planned cuts would force many family-run farms to close across the country.

"What are we supposed to do? The land is there. It has to be harvested and if it turns into a jungle, no one gains anything," Decker said.

($1 = 0.9152 euros)

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa,; Editing by Miranda Murray and Ed Osmond)