Skip next section Leftist Gregor Gysi to give opening speech
03/25/2025March 25, 2025
Leftist Gregor Gysi to give opening speech
The 21st session of the German Bundestag is opened by the so-called “senior president” of the Left Party.
Gysi, 77, is the longest-serving member of the parliament, having held his post for almost 31 years.
He is not, however, the oldest lawmaker as the name suggests.
While the “senior president” role has previously been assigned to the eldest member, that would have been Alexander Gauland, 84, from the far-right AfD this time.
In order to not give him a free platform to speak at the opening of the new Bundestag, the rule was changed.
Gysi has promised not to “abuse the position to hold an endless speech,” telling the German local newspaper the Rheinischen Post that he would, however, “speak for a good half hour.”
https://p.dw.com/p/4sDWk
Skip next section Some Bundestag lawmakers take their seats for the first time03/25/2025March 25, 2025
Some Bundestag lawmakers take their seats for the first time
Tina Gerhäusser
In a cafe behind the passage between the Reichstag building — the home of the German Bundestag — and Paul-Löbe-Haus — another building belonging to the parliament complex — a newcomer asks if he can pay in cash before biting into his egg and chives roll.
“Oh great, the weather is beautiful, just as we go in for the first time.”
Half an hour later, the same lawmaker is sat alongside his AfD colleagues — the first party to take their seats this early in the morning.
“What are you all doing here? It starts in 40 minutes,” jokes another member of the AfD.
The few women on the AfD benches are taking a selfie, an AfD lawmaker gets his photo taken while standing at the speakers’ podium.
Next to come are the Greens. Their benches are between the CDU/CSU and the SPD.
It slowly gets fuller and louder.
This text was originally written in German.
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Skip next section What’s the demographic make up of the Bundestag?
03/25/2025March 25, 2025
What’s the demographic make up of the Bundestag?
The Bundestag may be one of the largest parliaments in the world, however, it is not the most representative in terms of Germany’s demographics. But things are improving.
This new parliamentary session is, to an extent, younger than previous ones. The average age of lawmakers is 47, but the share of lawmakers under 30 has risen to 7.5%, up from 6.5%. This is still below the 12.7% of Germans who are under 30.
The share of lawmakers with a migrant background is similarly not in line with the share of people with a migrant background in the German population as a whole — around 30% — but it has increased to 11.6%, up from the meager 5.9% just 12 years ago.
One data point that has not improved, and in fact has got worse, is the share of women in the Bundestag. Only 32.5% of lawmakers in this new session are women, and this is down from the 36% share in the last Bundestag. This is in part due to the large number of lawmakers coming from the AfD and CSU, neither of which have a women’s quota. Only 12% of AfD lawmakers are women.
You can read more about the .
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Skip next section Welcome to our coverage03/25/2025March 25, 2025
Welcome to our coverage
Thank you for joining our reporting on the opening day of the Bundestag following the February 23 election.
The new parliament is meeting with a reduced number of seats — 630, down from the 733 in the previous parliamentary session.
Events will kick off at 11 a.m. (1000 UTC) of the Left Party.
Lawmakers will then choose a new president for the Bundestag, the second highest position in the country after the federal president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
The Bundestag has to meet at least 30 days after the election, however, a new government has still not been agreed on. Friedrich Merz’s CDU, along with its Bavarian sister party the CSU, is in talks with the SPD to form a coalition government.
Merz has said he hopes for a government to be ready by Easter, which is on April 20, although the two sides have found a .
https://p.dw.com/p/4sDLL
The post New German Bundestag meets for first time since election appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
