As of: February 26, 2024, 12:46 p.m
By: Kilian Beck
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Things were “conciliatory” at the annual meeting of the otherwise loud “Free Farmers” in Brandenburg.
Only Hubert Aiwanger railed against the federal government.
Schönwalde-Glien – Cowboy hats, filter coffee and an audience dressed in tweed frame the appearance of Hubert Aiwanger (Free Voters) in Schönwalde-Glien, Brandenburg.
The Bavarian Deputy Prime Minister appeared at the annual meeting of the “Free Farmers” at the weekend.
The co-chair of the BSW, Amira Mohamed Ali, was also invited as a guest speaker.
The “Free Farmers” are a small interest group that appears louder than the established farmers’ association.
At their annual meeting, the mood was “almost conciliatory,” the
taz
wrote in its weekend edition about the unity that was said to have prevailed between the two small parties.
Aiwanger's self-dramatization: He wants to show the traffic light government in Berlin what a rake is.
© Lennart Preiss/dpa
Aiwanger rails against the federal government – farmers “have to take what’s left”
The loudest protest against the federal government's agricultural policy was expressed by Aiwanger, whose frequent participation in farmers' protests was recently sharply criticized by business associations and by his coalition partner the CSU.
“The federal government does not understand the farmers,” said the Bavarian Economics Minister at the beginning.
The “Free Farmers” published a summary of his speech on their YouTube channel on Monday (February 26).
He sees the farmers “under pressure” at the “end of the value chain” and have to “take what is left”.
The state actually has money to support agriculture, but it is “sunk away in citizens’ money,” the
taz
quoted Aiwanger as saying.
In the past financial year, according to the German Farmers' Association, the average profit per agricultural business was over 100,000 euros.
Agriculture is a highly subsidized industry.
Since the subsidies from the European Union are largely calculated based on the area cultivated, the subsidies paid out in absolute numbers in Brandenburg, where Aiwanger spoke, are significantly higher than in the south.
This was shown by an analysis by the
German Institute for Economic Research
with data from 2022.
BSW boss Mohamed Ali is against free trade and the “market dictates of individual countries”
There is a need for a “fundamental realignment of agricultural policy,” said Mohamed Ali (BSW) to the farmers.
This includes breaking the “market dictates of the retail trade”, large slaughterhouses and large dairy companies.
The foreign politician also spoke out against the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement and “as a whole” against “all so-called free trade agreements” that lead to “our markets being flooded with cheap agricultural products”.
Her speech can also be found on the organization's YouTube channel.
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Farmers affected by “cancel culture”?
Right-wing radical symbols at “Free Farmers” protests
According to the
taz
, she described the “Free Farmers” and their protests as victims of “cancel culture” who had been unfairly placed in the right-wing corner.
During the protests in Berlin, which were co-organized by the “Free Farmers,” symbols of the ethnic-nationalist rural people movement and gallows were repeatedly shown.
After some back and forth, the Lower Saxony regional association has now distanced itself from gallows symbolism.
On Saturday, the organization protested in Magdeburg against an event with Green Party leader Ricarda Lang. In the meantime, the protest escalated: garbage cans and tires were burning.
Mohamed Ali had to ask for patience when it came to detailed political questions, as the state party programs were not yet ready.
One participant, who introduced himself to the
taz
as an “interested person, conservative in values and left of center,” said that the Left had made a bit of a mistake with the farmers in the region in the past by relying too much on agricultural cooperatives.
These are successor organizations to the agricultural production communities that existed in the GDR.
Aiwanger wants to get into the Bundestag – political scientist sees little chance
In keeping with this criticism, Aiwanger conjured up the “middle-class, property-driven milieu” that must “hold out” with the farmers in protest against the traffic light government, which repeatedly “hits them in the back of the knee.”
In September, Brandenburg will elect a new state parliament.
In surveys, the Free Voters are around five percent.
The BSW fluctuates between the low single-digit and double-digit percentage range.
Aiwanger would like to lead his party into the Bundestag in 2025.
However , the Mainz political scientist Jürgen Falter gave him
little chance in an
interview with merkur.de .
(
kibec
)