After the blockade of Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck’s ferry, FDP leader Christian Lindner appealed to farmers to remain peaceful during protests. “Don’t allow yourself to be infiltrated and exploited. You have lost your way, please turn back,” said the finance minister on Saturday at the Epiphany meeting of the Liberals in Stuttgart. Protest must be proportionate and within the framework of the democratic order.
The dangerous situation in which Habeck was brought was “completely unacceptable”. “The damage to property, including the announced blockades, are disproportionate,” said Lindner, referring to past protests and those announced for the coming week. As usual, there can only be one consequence here: “Breach of the peace, coercion, damage to property – these are cases for the public prosecutor.”
Agriculture is not an industry like any other, because it has something to do with basic supplies. “This society has a responsibility for agriculture. But agriculture also has a responsibility for this society,” emphasized Lindner.
The farmers’ protest was sparked by the federal government’s austerity plans in the agricultural sector. However, the initially planned abolition of the exemption from vehicle tax has now been cancelled. The subsidies for agricultural diesel are to be phased out gradually.
Lindner defended the planned subsidy cuts. “Especially an industry that is so heavily subsidized at European and national level will not be able to avoid every contribution to consolidation.” One cannot, on the one hand, want to benefit from the now reduced electricity tax and demand additional funding for stable conversions and, on the other hand, stick to old subsidies. “If you want new subsidies, you also have to forego old ones,” emphasized Lindner.
