Why German farmers are rebelling

He wanted to get away from it all. The splendid solitude of the tiny North Sea island of Hooge was a momentary refuge from the waves of political tumult buffeting his country. But when Germany’s vice chancellor Robert Habeck returned from his holiday on Thursday, a group of furious farmers prevented his ferry from docking on the mainland. Germany’s 2024 began as 2023 ended: with public confidence in the government at a low ebb.  

The anger of farmers is currently the most visible expression of Germany’s disillusionment with the ruling coalition. Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration has manoeuvred itself into a corner from which there is no easy way out. Its problems escalated when a landmark court ruling last year deemed the government’s budget plan unconstitutional, after the coalition attempted to reallocate unused borrowing from the pandemic to a climate fund. The coalition therefore had to scramble to fill the resulting 60-billion-euro hole in the public purse – and begin to enact unpopular austerity measures.