Parliament: New Bundestag is constituted on March 25th

The newly elected Bundestag will come together on March 25th – a good four weeks after the Bundestag election – to his constituent session at 11 a.m. This was the agreed council of the parliament in Berlin, as the German Press Agency learned.

The transition body, consisting of the still incumbent Bundestag President Bärbel BAS (SPD) and representatives of the newly formed factions, is responsible for the date of the first session, as well as for daily and seating arrangements. The topic of seating was said to be postponed.

Little time for plenary hall conversion

According to the Basic Law, the new Bundestag must meet at the latest on the 30th day after the election. March 25 is the last possible day. According to reports, the representatives of all political groups were up to the SPD and Union for an earlier appointment.

The parliamentary managing director of the left, Christian Görke, told the dpa: “In our opinion, the 21st German Bundestag could be convened immediately after March 14th.”

The planned change of the Basic Law in the quick procedure with the old Bundestag raised legal concerns about the left. Therefore, she applied for the earliest possible convene of the new Bundestag in order to be able to deal with the questions and draft laws raised as soon as possible in the new Bundestag, explained Görke.

Organizationally, preparations are more difficult this time and there is particularly little time to convert the chairs in the plenary hall. The reason: In the next two weeks, the old Bundestag will be convened for two special meetings (13th and 18th March). After that, there is only a week left. With 630 MPs, the new Bundestag is 103 seats smaller than the old one. Fewer parties are also represented.

Old Bundestag is supposed to soften debt brake

The special meetings go back to plans from the Union and the SPD, which had agreed to relax the debt brake in their exploratory negotiations in order to enable higher defense spending. In addition, it is about the planned so -called special fund of 500 billion euros to finance infrastructure measures to boost the economy.

The old Bundestag should still decide on the corresponding changes to the Basic Law, since the Union and SPD would no longer achieve a necessary two-thirds majority in the new way to gain the AfD and left gains for their plans.

What happens at the constituent session

At the constituent session, a new President of the Bundestag will be elected in a secret election. Traditionally, the strongest faction gets this position. Vice presidents are also chosen – also secret. President and Vice President lead the Bundestag sessions and guards about compliance with the parliamentary order. You can admonish MPs, withdraw the word or even exclude them from plenary and committee meetings.

It is common for a vice president to be chosen from each faction. However, the AfD has always been empty here since it moved into the Bundestag in 2017. All of their candidates failed. It will probably be no different in the new Bundestag, even if the AfD insists in the face of its growth. Union and SPD have already signaled that their ranks will not have any approval.

The rules of procedure of the Bundestag stipulates that each faction provides at least one vice president. The Basic Law also stipulates that they have to be elected. In a decision in 2022, the Federal Constitutional Court had referred to it and made it clear that the claim of a parliamentary group was subject to the election when the presidium was occupied.