BERLIN — Germany’s newly elected parliament held its first meeting on Tuesday. The 736-member lower house, or Bundestag, on Tuesday elected as its new speaker Baerbel Bas of the centre-left Social Democrats, which emerged from last month’s election as the strongest party.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the meeting although she is no longer a lawmaker. She was sitting on the visitor stands of parliament.
“The citizens are looking to us, and their expectations of parliament are rightly high,” said Wolfgang Schaeuble, the previous speaker. “We all should continue to do everything we can to meet their expectations.”
Schaeuble, 79, a conservative veteran and former finance and interior minister, is the longest-serving member of parliament. He has been a lawmaker since 1972, according to AP.
In his opening speech, Schaeuble also called for a quick reform in electoral law to prevent further bloating of the Bundestag. It has a record 736 lawmakers now — up from 709 during the last term.
The parliament’s new speaker, Bas, has been a member of the Bundestag since 2009. The 53-year-old was a deputy leader of her party’s parliamentary group in the outgoing parliament and its spokeswoman on health, education and research.
