Bundestag re-elects parliamentary President Lammert ahead of coalition talks
Germany’s lower house of parliament has re-elected Norbert Lammert as
president of the Bundestag. The first meeting of the new parliament came
a day ahead of the first coalition talks between the CDU and SPD.
Lawmakers convened in the Bundestag in Berlin on Tuesday for the
inaugural meeting of parliament following the September 22 election in
which Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives cruised to victory.
The main topic on the agenda was the election of a new parliamentary president to lead the lower house for the next four years. As expected, Norbert Lammert of Merkel's Christian Democrats was re-elected, this time with almost 95 percent of the 625 votes cast. Lammert has held the job since Merkel first took office in 2005.
Tuesday's meeting came a day ahead of the first formal coalition talks
between Germany's two largest parties, the Christian Democrats (CDU) and
the Social Democrats (SPD), who are seeking to form a so-called "grand
coalition government." This comes after a series of exploratory talks
between leaders of the CDU and both the SPD and the Greens since the
September 22 general election.
The two parties governed in a previous grand coalition under Chancellor Merkel between 2005 and 2009, when her CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) had won just four more seats than the SPD. This time, however, many SPD members fear any coalition with the CDU/CSU will see them as clearly the junior partners, after Merkel's bloc fell just five seats short of a majority in last month's election.
Leading Social Democrats, though, have said that they are determined to get a number of key policy issues that they campaigned on into any coalition agreement with the conservatives. Among these is a general minimum wage, something which the CDU/CSU have repeatedly ruled out.
Although the term of Chancellor Merkel's previous coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) also ends on Tuesday, it is to remain in office on a caretaker basis until a new coalition agreement has been reached. The Free Democrats were the conservatives' preferred coalition partners, however in last month's election they failed to gain the minimum five percent of votes needed to enter the Bundestag.
pfd/kms (dpa, Reuters, EPD)
The main topic on the agenda was the election of a new parliamentary president to lead the lower house for the next four years. As expected, Norbert Lammert of Merkel's Christian Democrats was re-elected, this time with almost 95 percent of the 625 votes cast. Lammert has held the job since Merkel first took office in 2005.
The two parties governed in a previous grand coalition under Chancellor Merkel between 2005 and 2009, when her CDU and its Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) had won just four more seats than the SPD. This time, however, many SPD members fear any coalition with the CDU/CSU will see them as clearly the junior partners, after Merkel's bloc fell just five seats short of a majority in last month's election.
Leading Social Democrats, though, have said that they are determined to get a number of key policy issues that they campaigned on into any coalition agreement with the conservatives. Among these is a general minimum wage, something which the CDU/CSU have repeatedly ruled out.
Although the term of Chancellor Merkel's previous coalition with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) also ends on Tuesday, it is to remain in office on a caretaker basis until a new coalition agreement has been reached. The Free Democrats were the conservatives' preferred coalition partners, however in last month's election they failed to gain the minimum five percent of votes needed to enter the Bundestag.
pfd/kms (dpa, Reuters, EPD)
