German parliament holds opening session

Germany's new parliament convened for the first time on October 24th since the September 24th elections in Berlin.

The parliament as a whole has become larger than ever. The parliament now holds 709 members over the previous 631. Bundestag now consists of six parliamentary parties in all. This is the highest number of parties since 1957. There is also significantly less women in the new parliament, but more lawmakers with immigrant roots along with the average age of members dropping only slightly.

One of the first areas of business was to choose Wolfgang Schauble from Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Party (CDU) as the president or speaker.The choice of Schauble was expected. He was elected with a wide majority of 501 votes in his favor.

The president of the Bundestag, the German parliament, is usually a member of the largest party. In Schauble’s acceptance speech, the 75 year old political veteran urged parliamentarians not to lose sense of fairness and respect. These remarks could be read as warnings to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, who had promised after the national election on September 24 to “hound” the established parties.

Schauble stated, “Over the past months, our country has heard expressions of contempt and humiliation. They have no place in a civilized society based on cooperation. We shouldn't get into fist fights, even verbal ones.” Schauble said this in response to the AfD’s vow to “take back our country and people”. It will be interesting to see how the new parties fit into the parliament and what change in Germany occurs.

Sources:

http://www.dw.com/en/germanys-new-bundestag-who-is-who-in-parliament/a-41082379

http://www.dw.com/en/new-german-parliament-convenes-for-first-time/a-41084326

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/world/europe/german-parliament-far-right.html