Break and departure in one day: On this Tuesday, the newly elected Bundestag meets for the first time.
Wolfgang Schäuble loses his senior position, Angela Merkel receives her certificate of discharge.
Berlin / Munich - For a moment, just a few minutes, the usual picture will appear again. Once again Wolfgang Schäuble will sit on the Presidential Square, across from the MPs, whoever gives a speech at the desk will have him behind their necks. But the impression that everything is as it always is is deceptive. Schäuble, the old fox of the CDU, has to vacate his place soon.
As the senior president, he can, if he wants, open the constituent session in the Reichstag building this Tuesday at 11 a.m.
He is the first to be asked because he is the longest serving member of the Bundestag since 1972.
But because his Union is no longer the strongest parliamentary group since the election debacle at the end of September, Schäuble's task ends with a few protocol phrases.
He will not be re-elected as the regular President of the Bundestag *, the post goes to the SPD * and its MPs Bärbel Bas.
New Bundestag meets: Schäuble himself laid the basis for his departure as President of the Bundestag
Schäuble's farewell, the way back to the ordinary MP, is one of the breaks on this special Tuesday in Berlin.
He probably won't show any bitterness or resentment.
“I'm prepared for that and it's not a problem for me,” he said recently.
But he imagined it differently.
Schäuble wanted to stay in office.
But with his massive commitment to the unfortunate Union chancellor candidate Armin Laschet, he himself laid the foundation for the election defeat and his departure.
Some in the Union faction, especially in the CSU, feel satisfied.
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The admission wristband: Due to the corona rules, only vaccinated, recovered or tested members of parliament are allowed to take a seat in the Bundestag.
© Kay Nietfeld / dpa
New Bundestag meets: Corona intervals not possible due to the number of MPs
The Bundestag will look different than usual. With 736 members, the parliament is crammed full anyway.
This is only possible without corona intervals, because this time the 3G rule applies.
Unvaccinated MPs must, according to the
Tagesspiegel
, present the parliamentary doctor and her team with test certificates that are not older than 24 hours.
Those who meet 3G receive a black, red and gold ribbon as access permit.
Those who refuse 3G, some MPs of the AfD possibly, have to take a seat on a separate grandstand.
Acutely infected MPs such as AfD parliamentary group leader Tino Chrupalla are not in the hall at all.
Video: Patriarch Schäuble withdraws
New Bundestag meets: AfD candidate for the office of Vice President probably does not get a majority
The first votes will be exciting.
Bas is undisputedly elected President of the Bundestag, incidentally, in terms of protocol, a higher office than that of Chancellor.
But there is already a problem with the vice-presidents.
The Union fought for its vice-president until the very end, before Yvonne Magwas (41) from Saxony prevailed * - the CSU was left with nothing to their annoyance.
The AfD * will again send a candidate into the race, but who has no prospect of a majority.
The Left * will again nominate the former PDS MP Petra Pau, a majority is likely.
Only the candidacies of Claudia Roth (Greens), Aydan Özoguz (SPD) and Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP *) are certain.
New Bundestag meets: Merkel is no longer sitting on the government bench
The day is also unusual for the Chancellor.
Angela Merkel will receive her discharge certificate from the Federal President in the late afternoon.
At the same time, however, she and her ministers must remain in office - “until his successor is appointed”, stipulates the Basic Law in Article 69.
This obligation should only be refused in the case of a serious illness.
It may well be a longer phase, 30 to 171 days in history so far.
However, the traffic light alliance is planning a chancellor election in the first days of December.
The power of the executive government is formally not limited.
However, political tradition dictates that the ministers who are still in office are particularly restrained.
And practice shows: They are more cautious because they no longer have a parliamentary majority behind them.
Merkel will also show this symbolically from this Tuesday: She takes a seat in the official gallery of the Bundestag, not on the government bench.
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