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On the sidelines of Chancellor Scholz's visit, farmers from the region are demonstrating against the current federal government.
© Christoph Schmidt/dpa
Olaf Scholz had a jam-packed schedule in South Baden on Tuesday.
At various stations he was always greeted with applause - but also with loud whistles.
Freiburg/Emmendingen - Whether farmers with tractors and chickens, women with protest posters or Palestinian flags: During his visit to southern Baden on Tuesday, Chancellor Olaf Scholz was repeatedly greeted by demonstrators with whistles and posters.
Hundreds of farmers had already brought around 240 tractors to Freiburg that morning and protested against the agricultural policy of the traffic light coalition.
All in all, things remained peaceful at the numerous appointments in Freiburg and neighboring Emmendingen.
During a speech by the SPD politician at the groundbreaking ceremony for a large new development district in the university town, the farmers drew attention from hundreds of meters away with loud whistles, screams and a concert of honking.
The Baden Agricultural Association (BLHV) had announced in advance that a delegation actually wanted to exchange ideas with the Chancellor.
The farmers also wanted to hand the Chancellor a catalog of nine demands - from stopping the conversion of agricultural land into settlement and traffic areas to abolishing all taxes on biodiesel.
But because of the tight schedule, this was initially not possible.
Scholz answers farmers
In the afternoon the message finally reached the Chancellor.
The Baden wine queen 2022/2023 made it to Scholz and handed over the list of topics.
“Our demands made it to the Federal Chancellor!
“Jessica Himmelsbach was able to hand it over straight away,” said the BLHV.
They received a kind of answer hours later - the head of government had now arrived in Emmendingen, where, at the invitation of the local SPD member of the Bundestag Johannes Fechner, he spoke to around 120 citizens for much longer than planned.
Scholz made it clear that the idea could not be that agriculture only works with allowances and subsidies.
However, he emphasized that politicians are working on reducing bureaucracy.
“What we are trying to do is reduce this incredible jungle of regulations,” said Scholz in response to a question from a farmer.
Anyone who wants money from the state will still have to fill out forms, said the Chancellor.
He couldn't promise anything else.
But there should be fewer documentation requirements.
High security precautions
During the groundbreaking ceremony, the farmers had to demonstrate hundreds of meters away from Scholz for security reasons - and were disappointed about it: "It's sad that politicians and the police have so many concerns, even if we haven't been guilty of anything so far." said Michael Fröhlin from the BLHV Müllheim district association at the rally.
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16,000 people will live in the planned Dietenbach district.
In order to curb the housing shortage in Germany, Scholz believes such new urban districts must be built.
“Municipalities need further support and more money for affordable housing,” said Freiburg’s mayor Martin Horn (independent).
However, there is resistance to the huge project in the west of Freiburg.
Farmers complain about the loss of agricultural land due to the construction of the district.
Conservationists criticize that deforestation destroys the habitat of animal species worthy of protection.
For security reasons, the area was cordoned off and aircraft were temporarily not allowed to fly over it.
Numerous police officers were on duty.
There had been cooperation discussions with those involved in advance.
Farmers in Germany have been protesting against the federal government's policies for weeks.
The focus is primarily on the planned subsidy cuts for agricultural diesel.
On Ash Wednesday, a protest in Biberach an der Riß got so bad that the Greens canceled their political Ash Wednesday event at short notice, including with Federal Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir.
Heat pumps, war and right-wing extremism
Following the groundbreaking ceremony, Scholz found out about, among other things, research into more climate-friendly heat pumps and photovoltaic systems at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE, which, thanks to special color effects, are hardly noticeable on listed buildings, for example.
In the early afternoon, he met socially committed citizens behind closed doors at the Europa Park stadium of the Bundesliga soccer team SC Freiburg for a conversation about democracy and cohesion, before he first visited the German Diary Archive in Emmendingen.
“What is collected here is very important,” Scholz wrote in the guest book.
At the subsequent citizens' discussion, the Chancellor was bombarded with all sorts of questions.
Among other things, it was about anti-Semitism, the consequences of Corona, the debt brake and crafts.
Scholz reiterated his stance on the war in Ukraine: “There will be no German and NATO troops on Ukrainian soil.” Everything must be done to “prevent this war from escalating, into a war between Russia and NATO comes".
The issue of right-wing extremism was also of particular concern to Scholz.
“We are all challenged,” he emphasized.
He thinks the demonstrations against the right are great, but people should also show in private or in sports clubs: “We are more.
And we won’t put up with it.” dpa