President of the German Bundestag

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Current President of the German Bundestag is Bärbel Bas since 2021

The President of the German Bundestag (German: Präsident des Deutschen Bundestages or Bundestagspräsident) is the person that is in charge of the meetings of the German Bundestag, the parliament of Germany, whos duties is similar to a speaker. In the German order of precedence, the office is ranked second after the President and before the Chancellor.

Elections and customs[change | change source]

The President of the Bundestag is elected by all members in the Bundestag, during a special time of the election period. The President has to be a member of the Bundestag. Until the election is over, the Father of the House is in charge of the Bundestag.

Usually, the President is part of the largest political party. The President can be reelected, but again he must be a member of the Bundestag again. The President also always has a Vice President[1] (German: Vizepräsident des Deutschen Bundestages or Bundestagsvizepräsident).

Duties[change | change source]

The Presidents most important duty is to take charge of the meetings of the Bundestag. He decides the order of speakers and opens and closes the debates, and makes sure the meetings take place properly. If a big disruption happens, he has the power to not allow a certain member from meetings for up to 30 days.

List of presidents[change | change source]

Political parties   CDU   SPD

Portrait Name
(Born–Died)
Term of office Political party/parliamentary group Legislative periods
Took office Left office Days
1 Erich Köhler
(1892–1958) (aged 66)
7 September 1949 18 October 1950 1 year, 41 days CDU/CSU 1st
2 Hermann Ehlers
(1904–1954) (aged 50)
19 October 1950 29 October 1954 4 years, 10 days CDU/CSU 1st, 2nd
3 Eugen Gerstenmaier
(1906–1986) (aged 79)
16 November 1954 31 January 1969 14 years, 76 days CDU/CSU 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th
4 Kai-Uwe von Hassel
(1913–1997) (aged 84)
5 February 1969 13 December 1972 3 years, 312 days CDU/CSU 6th
5 Annemarie Renger
(1919–2008) (aged 88)
13 December 1972 14 December 1976 4 years, 1 day SPD 7th
6 Karl Carstens
(1914–1992) (aged 77)
14 December 1976 31 May 1979 2 years, 168 days CDU/CSU 8th
7 Richard Stücklen
(1916–2002) (aged 85)
31 May 1979 29 March 1983 3 years, 302 days CDU/CSU 8th, 9th
8 Rainer Barzel
(1924–2006) (aged 82)
29 March 1983 25 October 1984 1 year, 210 days CDU/CSU 10th
9 Philipp Jenninger
(1932–2018) (aged 85)
5 November 1984 11 November 1988 4 years, 6 days CDU/CSU 10th, 11th
10 Rita Süssmuth
(born 1937)
25 November 1988 26 October 1998 9 years, 335 days CDU/CSU 11th, 12th, 13th
11 Wolfgang Thierse
(born 1943)
26 October 1998 18 October 2005 6 years, 357 days SPD 14th, 15th
12 Norbert Lammert
(born 1948)
18 October 2005 24 October 2017 12 years, 6 days CDU/CSU 16th, 17th, 18th
13 Wolfgang Schäuble
(1942–2023) (aged 81)
24 October 2017 26 October 2021 4 years, 2 days CDU/CSU 19th
14 Bärbel Bas
(born 1968)
26 October 2021 Incumbent 2 years, 150 days SPD 20th

References[change | change source]

  1. "Presidents and Vice Presidents". Retrieved 20 March 2012.[dead link]