Read the video transcript here
It was like always in previous years.
And this time different.
At 11 a.m., President of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble addressed the plenary session.
Wolfgang Schäuble voiceover
»
Dear colleagues.
Please take a seat!"
Wolfgang Schäuble
"
I welcome you to the constituent session of the 20th German Bundestag."
Wolfgang Schäuble is the Member with the longest membership in parliament.
So he opened the meeting as senior president.
However, right at the beginning, the AfD requested that the 79-year-old should not lead the Bundestag session, but Alexander Gauland, who is a year older.
Schäuble took note of the motion nonchalantly.
Wolfgang Schäuble
»
Dear Colleagues, since my position as the senior president is still contested at the moment, I cannot push for compliance with the rules of procedure as I have done over the past four years.
So please don't overwhelm me. "
Schäuble - witty, personable and humorous.
That is how he has chaired the meetings over the years.
The MPs have come to appreciate his manner.
Michael Grosse-Brömer Parliamentary Managing Director of the CDU / CSU
»
You carried out this office in a prudent, impartial and dignified manner.
You defended the Bundestag against attacks from outside and inside, and above all the fair balance between the majority and the opposition has always been a particular concern of yours.
Thank you very much for that! "
Carsten Schneider Parliamentary Managing Director of the SPD »I couldn't imagine a better age president than Dr.
German politican.
«
A little strange, but a normal process: Schäuble finally has to put a vote on being voted out of office.
Wolfgang Schäuble
»
Who votes for the AfD's proposal?
Who is against?
Who abstains?
Apparently that is nobody.
Then the application of the AfD against the votes of the AfD with the votes of the rest of the house is rejected.
And so it remains that, according to Paragraph 1, Paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure, the member who has been in the Bundestag for the longest time takes over the chairmanship and Michael Grosse-Brömer has already impressively demonstrated that it is obviously me.
So I am looking forward to taking over the chairmanship and for future debates on the rules of procedure, if any, I will add that from now on I will again make sure that speeches on the rules of procedure are really only spoken on the rules of procedure. "
The government bank remained vacant today.
There were greetings from Schäuble in the direction of the audience:
Wolfgang Schäuble
»
And then I greet the Federal Chancellor, Dr.
Angela Merkel, today in an unfamiliar place. "
The first session after a federal election is like the first day of school for those new to parliament.
Schäuble had some advice for them.
Wolfgang Schäuble
“
Please allow me to make a personal comment to you, our new colleagues: With this mandate, which has been granted to you for a limited period of time, and incidentally, one can never know exactly how long it will really take exceptionally fulfilling work towards you.
And at the same time a grueling and engaging time.
With all the political vigor, working on the open stage requires protecting the private too. "
Wolfgang Schäuble has been a member of the German Bundestag since 1972.
In 2017 he became President of the Bundestag.
That time is coming to an end with the new government.
Wolfgang Schäuble
“It is up to
us whether the citizens give this people's representative body what parliamentary democracy is based on, namely their trust.
Thank you.
Please don't touch me too much. "
At the end there was a standing ovation for the grand seigneur of the German Bundestag
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
