German farmers block roads with tractors and stage protests against plan to scrap diesel tax breaks
Farmers are blocking highway access roads in parts of Germany and snarling traffic elsewhere, launching a week of protests against a government plan to scrap tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture
BERLIN — Farmers blocked highway access roads in parts of Germany Monday and snarled traffic elsewhere with their tractors, launching a week of protests against a government plan to scrap tax breaks on diesel used in agriculture.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's unpopular three-party coalition infuriated farmers last month by drawing up plans to abolish a car tax exemption for farming vehicles and the diesel tax breaks. The proposals were part of a package to fill a 17-billion-euro ($18.6-billion) hole in the 2024 budget.
The government on Thursday climbed down partially, saying that the car tax exemption would be retained and the cuts in the diesel tax breaks would be staggered over three years. But the German Farmers' Association said it was still insisting on the plans being reversed fully and would go ahead with a “week of action” starting Monday.
In some areas, farmers used tractors to block entry roads to highways early Monday. There was disruption due to convoys of tractors in and around some cities, too. Production at a Volkswagen auto plant in Emden in northwestern Germany was stopped because access roads were blocked, preventing employees from getting to work, German news agency dpa reported.
Among demonstrations across the country, several hundred tractors and other vehicles gathered in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.
The protests are under scrutiny after a group of farmers on Thursday prevented Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck from disembarking a ferry in a small North Sea port as he returned from a personal trip to
Read more on abcnews.go.com
