Wolfgang Schäuble has given the new Bundestag one more wish: that electoral law reform should finally succeed.

The parliament, which met on Tuesday for the constituent session, has grown to 736 members, it is bigger than ever before.

The parliamentarians were able to meet again in plenary for the first time since the pandemic thanks to a cross-factional agreement.

Helene Bubrowski

Political correspondent in Berlin.

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"If we were able to do that with the electoral law, for example, I would not be sad after the bitter experience of the past legislative period, which was also for me personally personally," said Schäuble, who chaired the meeting as senior president.

"An electoral reform that deserves its name has not become a bit easier - and yet: it obviously does not tolerate any delay."

Almost 80 percent agree with Bas

Schäuble entered the Bundestag for the first time in 1972 and has been a directly elected member ever since, even in the new legislative period.

However, he can no longer exercise the office of President of the Bundestag, which he held for the past four years, as the Union parliamentary group is no longer the strongest force in the Bundestag.

At the suggestion of the SPD, Bärbel Bas was elected as the new president on Tuesday with 576 of 724 valid votes, which corresponds to 79.6 percent.

90 MPs voted against the SPD politician, 58 abstained.

"I accept the choice with all my heart," said Bas.

She didn't lift her finger herself, “but I said yes at the right moment”.

She promised: "I will be the President of all Members."

In her first speech in the new office, she also expressed herself on electoral reform.

She asked the political groups to put the issue on the agenda.

She would like a reform “that deserves the name”.

That is what the citizens expected, said Bas.

The 53-year-old SPD politician campaigned for the opportunity that this particularly young and particularly diverse new Bundestag was offering “for all of us”. And she made it clear that she definitely intends to emphasize the content of her new position. She stands for “respectful cooperation” and “an understandable policy”. Parliament should carry politics out into society. The Bundestag consciously has to take care of the middle of society, which so far has often not been so loud that it can be heard. She expects from the MPs respect for the citizens, but also from the citizens respect for the parliament.

Schäuble, to whom representatives of all parliamentary groups except the AfD expressed their thanks and appreciation, had previously spoken again, as so often in previous years, about the importance of parliament.

The Bundestag is the place where arguments are allowed, said Schäuble.

However, conflicts must be carried out “fairly and according to rules”, “passionately, but also with the serenity that can set an example for an excited public”.

He described the parliament as a "political stage and not just a notarial event to work through coalition agreements".

Here must be the space in which the variety of opinions can be openly discussed.