Pick for German agriculture minister withdraws after activists storm farm

The conservative pick for German agriculture minister has withdrawn his candidacy after animal rights activists stormed his farm, prompting cross-party condemnation.

Günther Felßner, a farming lobbyist who had won the backing of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), said his wife was “in fear of life and limb” when activists climbed on to the cattle shed she was in to hang a banner and light smoke-emitting flares on Monday.

Felßner said he would withdraw his candidacy as a result of the protest, which politicians have criticised as antidemocratic. The Bavarian conservative leader Markus Söder called it an “attack on rural life” and demanded a special investigation.

Cem Özdemir, the acting agriculture minister in the caretaker government, from the Greens, posted on X: “Intimidation and threats have absolutely no place in our democracy. Not against Günther Felßner and his family, nor against anyone else.”

Referring to the farmer protests which took place in Germany last year, Özdemir said: “This applies to everyone, and it applies just as much to gallows, ferry blockades, and all other attacks.”

Radical protests have become a polarising force in Germany, with political tolerance for disruptive actions – such as climate activists gluing themselves to runways and farmers blocking streets with tractors – often dependent on the group carrying them out.

The outgoing coalition’s cuts to tractor diesel subsidies caused furious protests in 2024 that included sightings of makeshift gallows.

In January 2024, a mob trapped the Green economy minister, Robert Habeck, on a ferry with his wife when they were coming home from holiday. Ricarda Lang, the party’s co-leader at the time, was stopped from leaving a party meeting the following month by farmers who lit fires and blocked roads with tractors.

Joachim Rukwied, the president of the German farmer’s association, who previously described the ferry blockade as a “no-go”, said on Wednesday he was astonished by the protest at Felßner’s farm and deeply regretted the withdrawal of his candidacy.

“Such criminal actions are crimes and have nothing to do with freedom of expression or legitimate protest,” he said. “We must not allow these radical activists to further poison democratic discourse.”

He added that he thought activists should not be allowed to bring class action lawsuits either.

Middle Franconia police said they were investigating 13 people on suspicion of trespass, two who they understood to have climbed on to the roof and lit a flare.

Animal Rebellion, which hung the banner that read “No animal exploiter as agriculture minister”, defended its protest as peaceful and suggested Felßner was using it as an excuse to quit because his candidacy was unpopular. An online petition to stop him from becoming a minister gathered 400,000 signatures.

Felßner was fined by a court in 2018 for discharging waste on to his neighbour’s property that polluted the water and soil.He has also alarmed experts by calling on the public to “eat meat for the climate”. Animal agriculture is responsible for 12-20% of the greenhouse gas pollutants worsening extreme weather, and climate scientists have found that eating less meat is a vital step to stop the planet from heating.

“An agricultural lobbyist, convicted environmental criminal and science denier is not a suitable candidate for the agriculture ministry,” an activist from Animal Rebellion said in a statement.