Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner has taken to the stage in front of thousands of jeering farmers protesting against tax rises and told them there is no money for further subsidies.
The protests have heaped pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition as it struggles to fix a budget mess and contain right-wing groups.
“I have respect for every politician who is prepared to come to us,” said Farmers’ Union head Joachim Rukwied, who at one moment had to take the microphone from Mr Lindner and beg the crowd to stop jeering for long enough to listen to him.
At a later meeting with protest leaders in parliament, coalition legislators promised, without giving details, to unveil proposals on Thursday that would lower farmers’ costs while making their sector “sustainable”.
Complaints ranging from high energy costs to competition from Ukrainian grain have driven farm protests around Europe in recent months.
On Monday, Romanian farmers protested near border crossings with Ukraine, a vital lifeline for Kyiv’s war effort, to drive home their demand for more public support.
The original article contains 583 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Germany’s Finance Minister Christian Lindner has taken to the stage in front of thousands of jeering farmers protesting against tax rises and told them there is no money for further subsidies.
The protests have heaped pressure on Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition as it struggles to fix a budget mess and contain right-wing groups.
“I have respect for every politician who is prepared to come to us,” said Farmers’ Union head Joachim Rukwied, who at one moment had to take the microphone from Mr Lindner and beg the crowd to stop jeering for long enough to listen to him.
At a later meeting with protest leaders in parliament, coalition legislators promised, without giving details, to unveil proposals on Thursday that would lower farmers’ costs while making their sector “sustainable”.
Complaints ranging from high energy costs to competition from Ukrainian grain have driven farm protests around Europe in recent months.
On Monday, Romanian farmers protested near border crossings with Ukraine, a vital lifeline for Kyiv’s war effort, to drive home their demand for more public support.
The original article contains 583 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 70%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!