The Germans are gearing up for a complicated week, and their chancellor most of all. Up in arms against the policies of Olaf Scholz's government, German farmers are organizing a "week of action" from Monday, January 8. It is expected to cause major disruption to traffic across the country, and will be under close political scrutiny due to the influence that the German far-right has intended to exert on the movement.

At the root of the mobilization was the end of a tax rebate on agricultural diesel and the creation of a tax on agricultural vehicles, two measures decided by the government as part of the budgetary tightening it was forced to undertake by the Karlsruhe Constitutional Court in its November 15, 2023 ruling.

As soon as it was announced that these two tax benefits – estimated at €900 million a year – were to be abolished, farmers expressed their anger by organizing a march in Berlin on December 19, which was attended by some 6,500 demonstrators and their 1,700 tractors. They were heard: On January 4, the government announced that it was abandoning its plans to tax agricultural vehicles and was prepared to progressively phase out the rebate on agricultural diesel by 2026, rather than abruptly ending it as of this year.

Despite this setback, farmers have not given up on their "week of action," which began on Monday morning with several road blockades across the country, notably at freeway entrances. Actions of this type are scheduled to take place almost every day, with convoys of tractors expected to converge on numerous town centers. The campaign is due to culminate on January 15 with another major march through the heart of Berlin.

If the movement has come under very close scrutiny by the authorities, it's also because of an incident that took place on January 4. In the late afternoon of that day, some 300 angry farmers were waiting for the ferry carrying the Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Habeck – who had just returned from vacation on a small North Sea island – in the port of Schlüttsiel, near the Danish border. Around twenty of them attempted to board the ferry, forcing the police to intervene with tear gas and the ferry to put out to sea again.

In the wake of the incident, which was condemned by many leaders of both the majority and the opposition, the president of the German Farmers' Federation, Joachim Rukwied, reiterated that "personal attacks, insults, threats, coercion or violence are not acceptable" and that "despite [the] discontent, there is no question of infringing on the private lives of political leaders".

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