thousands of Tractors arrived by everyone Germany This Monday the center of Berlinin a first massive protest against the cuts approved by the coalition Olaf Scholz to solve your problem Budget crisis. The protests in the German countryside are focused on Abolition of agricultural diesel subsidiesone of the points agreed by the tri-party in view of the blockage of 60,000 million euros resulting from a ruling by the Constitutional Court (TC).
The tractor drivers marched in various columns through the city center, including the government district and the area around the landmark Brandenburg Gate. They carried banners with slogans such as “We are fed up,” “Don’t play with our existence,” and “You are killing the country.”
The measure adopted by the group of three Social Democrats, Greens and Liberals attacks the existence of large and small agricultural businesses, according to the press releases. Addressing the concentration of tractor drivers was the Minister of Agriculture, environmentalist Cem Özdemir, who expressed his own opposition to the abolition of these subsidies.
The minister had to face loud boos, but also some applause in recognition of his courage to at least show his face in front of the union concerned. “I neither agree nor have I ever accepted these cuts. The government knows my opinion and I will work to ensure that its impact on the sector is minimal,” he said.
Constitutional judgment
After four weeks of intense tension, Scholz's coalition last week announced an agreement to resolve the budget crisis triggered by the Constitutional Court's ruling without generating new debt. The Chancellor warned that some cuts would be necessary, but assured that these would not affect large environmental projects and would be limited to “climate-damaging” subsidies.
The origin of the problem lies in the decision of the TC, which declared unconstitutional the diversion of a fund originally created to alleviate the effects of the pandemic to other goals. This process violated the principles of Debt brake, an instrument that limits debt to 0.35% of GDP, except in exceptional situations such as the pandemic. The Scholz government's aim was to provide then unused loans amounting to 60,000 million euros for the Technology and Climate Renewal Fund, which, in the TC's opinion, was a violation of this principle.
While the Social Democrats and Greens have sought a suspension or reform of the debt ceiling, their liberal partners, the party of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, insist that this instrument is sacrosanct.
The austerity measures imposed by Lindner's department have meant that this has to be done reformulate the 2024 budgetswith savings of 17,000 million euros, as well as the approval of a supplementary budget for 2023. Scholz has assured that the debt brake will be adhered to next year, except for emergencies due to the course of the war in Ukraine.
In addition to diesel subsidies, subsidies for the purchase of electric cars, which were intended to promote the ecological conversion of the vehicle fleet, have also been abolished with immediate effect.
The Green They are currently the tripartite partners that will be most affected by austerity. The cuts primarily affect the Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection, led by the Green Robert Habeck with the rank of Vice Chancellor in Scholz's coalition. However, Habeck himself warned that the agreements reached should not be touched again because it would be very difficult to reach a consensus.