Climate fund fraud: the real reason for farmers’ protests in Berlin

After blocking German roads with their tractors for a week, hundreds of farmers marched towards the center of Berlin this Monday to protest. agricultural subsidy has been ordered by the government of Olaf Scholz, Tractor has put the executive on the ropes, having already withdrawn and will continue to subsidize agricultural activity, although for the time being it retains plans to eliminate subsidies for agricultural diesel altogether.

According to what a police spokesman told EFE, it was estimated in the afternoon 8,500 people and 6,000 vehicles According to the organizers themselves, the German Farmers’ Union (DBV), there were around 30,000 people around the Brandenburg Gate.

This is a signal “to the politicians in Berlin” that “it cannot continue this way,” said DBV president Joachim Ruckewiedt, addressing the crowd, who said the farmers’ mobilization was “the most severe since German reunification. Is “big”.

The sector alleges that it is not possible to run livestock operations or farm the land without public assistance. This is a highly penalized area, especially due to the measures of green deal The European Union, which is not ready to accept this order of the German government. But why did Scholz have to cut public farm aid? The key to everything lies in the German climatic background.

climate fund

During the coronavirus pandemic, the German government approved the creation of a support fund to mitigate the impact of Covid. However, that money was not spent and the government decided to allocate it to climate action initiatives Climate and Change Fund

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Connected

In November last year, the German Constitutional Court declared that this transfer of funds was unconstitutional And stopped the money. The ruling forced social democrats, environmentalists and liberals to rebalance the issues. state general budget Adhering to the country’s strict fiscal rules, which meant a cut of Rs 17,000 million in the general budget. And one of the areas most affected by these cuts has been rural areas.

At the same time, spending on the Climate and Change Fund, the controversial extraordinary fund at the center of the constitutional decision, has been cut by 12 billion this year and 45 billion by 2027.

Despite the fact that the Executive chaired by Olaf Scholz has made concessions and agreed to maintain the circulation tax subsidy for agricultural vehicles and Gradually eliminate agricultural diesel subsidies

Contrary to what was initially planned, this is not enough for the industry.

Farmers say that in the current situation of falling prices of agricultural products, removing the subsidy of 21.48 cents per liter of diesel will reduce their income by one-third. Many of them say the outlook is so bad that many companies will not be able to survive.