Today, there's supposed to be a face-to-face meeting between Chancellor Merkel, the Agricultural Minister (Klöckner) and some protesting German farmers.
If you haven't caught the news over the past couple of months, there is a fair amount of anxiety going on within the farming community of Germany (to include France, the Netherlands and a few other European countries).
The chatter here is mostly about increasing amount of regulation, public attitudes about forcing the farmers to comply, and the cost of doing business with farm products.
What the farmers expect out of this meeting? They want the Environmental Minister (SPD Party member) to back off some of the regulations. Frankly, it's not likely to happen, and it'll just become another wedge between Merkel and this hopeless coalition situation with the SPD Party.
Adding to the problem....Klöckner has made the case frequently that the farmers need to present their problems to the public, and build up a political base to push back on their own turf.
If I were to rate problems on the political spectrum, this has moved up from a non-existent problem three years ago.....to being one of the top five issues brewing in Germany.
If present regulations are increased, it'd be safe to say that a fair number of farmers over the next decade will simply give up, and move out of the country, or you see farmers producing less, but getting paid more via marked-up prices (either by the grocery operations or by fake government tax programs). In either direction, the consumer loses.
Adding to the political 'mess'? Well, it's safe to say if you were a farmer and likely SPD voter in the past.....you won't be supporting them, or the Green Party in future elections. Does this dump some pain upon either party? You could be talking about half-a-million votes lost to both groups, and the only likely gainer would be the CDU or CSU Party group.
So expect this meeting to be either the number one or two news of the evening report.
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