German agriculture minister vows no more concessions to farmers’ demands

BERLIN — Germany’s agriculture minister criticized a mob that tried to intimidate the economy minister over subsidy cuts for farmers and vowed that the government would make no more concessions on the issue despite plans for nationwide rallies next week.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition watered down plans to cut agriculture subsidies as part of its 2024 budget on Thursday after hundreds of farmers protested in central Berlin last month against the prospect of losing the tax break entirely.

But the diluted plans, which the president of the German Farmers’ Association said did not go far enough, prompted demonstrators to block Economy Minister Robert Habeck from disembarking from a ferry in northern Germany on Thursday night.

Videos of the blockade show dozens of people in reflective vests gathered on the pier in Schluettsiel, prompting the ferry carrying Mr. Habeck back from an island holiday to turn back.

“We have corrected our position” on the subsidies, Agriculture Minister Cem Ozdemir told broadcaster ARD, who added that the government had not given in to the farmers’ demands. “I didn’t buckle and I’m not buckling. We have found a good solution. We now all stand by it together,” Mr. Ozdemir said.

“But what happened (to Habeck) is people who don’t care about German agriculture. They have wet dreams of upheaval.”

Mr. Scholz also criticized the blockade, calling it shameful on social media platform X. “With all due respect for a lively culture of protest, no one should be indifferent to such a brutalization of political morals,” he wrote early Friday. — Reuters