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Berlin (dpa / bb) - The President of the Berlin House of Representatives, Ralf Wieland, recalled the constituent session of the first freely elected parliament for all of Berlin after reunification.

The meeting on January 11, 1991 in the Nikolaikirche opened a new chapter in the history of Berlin's unification after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Wieland said on Friday.

The first House of Representatives elected by all Berliners had entered “a new world of freedom and democracy” and dared to “venture across the city”.

"Different horizons of experience and different mentalities of the MPs initially collided," Wieland looked back.

"The division of the city, which had to be overcome first, also had an impact in the debates and in the minds of the MPs."

There was a certain degree of alienation.

Much had to be discussed and clarified fundamentally at the time, such as the question of a new constitution for Berlin.

"Today, thirty years later, we can draw a different conclusion," said Wieland.

"The common House of Representatives has long since become a parliament for everyone in Berlin - the Berlin House of Representatives."

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From the election on December 2, 1990, the CDU emerged victorious and formed a coalition with the SPD.

The governing mayor was Eberhard Diepgen (CDU).

The first session of the House of Representatives took place on January 11, 1991 in the Nikolaikirche, the place where the first Berlin city council was constituted on January 11, 1809.

The election after reunification was the second for a city-wide parliament after the Second World War.

On October 20, 1946, the city council meeting for the whole of Berlin was elected for the last time.