Rocked by two weeks of farmers’ demonstrations against cuts in diesel subsidies, Germany now faces hundreds of disaffected hauliers protesting, as they assembled in Berlin Friday morning to oppose plans for raising road tolls and carbon taxes on their industry.
Approximately 1,500 trucks paraded along the A13 road towards Berlin in a two-kilometre long convoy before paralysing the city centre on Friday afternoon. Truckers are getting organised against recent government tax hikes and foreign, predominantly Eastern European, drivers undermining wage rates.
Vorbeifahrt des kompletten LKW-Korso auf der A13 in Richtung #Berlin. Mittlerweile ist der Korso über zwei Kilometer lang.#b1901 pic.twitter.com/DLwcADNrl3
— Marcus Fuchs (@mr_marcus_fuchs) January 19, 2024
Demonstrations led by the truck drivers lasted into Friday evening.
With their sector under threat, truckers had already joined the farmers’ protests of previous weeks. To date, attempts to reach a compromise between the ruling traffic light coalition and farming groups have fallen through, as the government clings to its Net Zero commitment. Despite signals that the traffic light coalition would acquiesce to some farmer demands, the German Bundestag’s Budgetary Committee this week locked in many of the proposed green austerity measures leading to speculation that the protests could rumble on.
“When it comes to costs, the industry has reached its limits,” truckers’ representative Daniel Constant declared in a German radio interview. Hauliers hope that Friday’s rally could put pressure on the government in Berlin.
Speaking ahead of the rally, freight company owner Marc Kampmann blamed a new CO2 surcharge and a recent spike in toll prices for the unease felt by truckers, adding that the entire business model of the sector was threatened increasingly by the policies of Germany’s green-left rulers.
The truckers were joined in solidarity by a smaller contingent of farmers, who had already converged on the capital to coincide with the organic food show, Berlin International Green Week.
The signs that yet another sector could be mobilising against Germany’s traffic light coalition is bad news for Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose government has been undermined by rising energy prices, poor foreign policy, and a €60 billion constitutional ruling that has jeopardised their lofty plans for a green transition.
Germany faces yet another week of agrarian demonstrations, with Deutscher Bauernverband president Joachim Rukwied predicting an “eruption” of protests in the coming days and weeks.