(19 Mar 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Berlin, Germany – 19 March 2025
1. Wide of German Parliament
2. Close of glass dome of the German parliament
3. Glass dome from the inside
4. Wide of members of the German parliament
5. SOUNDBITE (German) Bärbel Bas, president of the German parliament:
"I would like to thank the craftsmen who are starting right now to rebuild this hall for the constituent meeting. In overtime and at the weekend."
6. Wide of members of the German parliament applauding
7. Close of someone drilling
8. Close of chairs with dome in the background
9. Close of worker tightening screw
10. Mid of workers
11. German eagle with sign in front of it, reading (German): "German parliament"
12. Close of sign reading (German): "German parliament"
13. Mid of drill in front of the German eagle
14. Mid of workers
15. Mid of map of the chairs
16. Close of worker working on chair
17. Close of cables on desk
18. Worker tightening chair
19. Pan of cables on desks
20. Various of worker adjusting cables
21. Mid of cables on desks
22. Pan from dome to chairs lying on the floor
23. Various of workers carrying chairs
24. Various of new chairs in parliament
25. Aerial view of seating arrangement in parliament
STORYLINE:
Workers on Wednesday started rearranging the blue seats in the chamber of the lower house of the German parliament, or Bundestag, following Germany’s election results.
After each election, the chairs and desks are unscrewed and put back into place in line with the results, with aisles demarcating the seats held by different parties.
As per the Feb. 23 election, the new parliament will be made up of five groups. Lawmakers from the strengthened far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany will sit at one end of the semicircle of seats, with the Left Party at the other end and center-right and center-left parties in between.
The new parliament will seat two parties less than it previously did, as the Free Democrats and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance lost their seats last month. The total number of lawmakers also shrank to 630 from 733 because of a change to electoral laws.
The Bundestag sat in Bonn for half a century from 1949, until 1999, several years after Germany was reunited, lawmakers moved to the Reichstag in Berlin, which was redesigned by British architect Norman Foster with its landmark glass dome.
The 21st Bundestag will hold its first session Tuesday. It is unclear when it will be able to elect a new chancellor, since election winner Friedrich Merz is still in talks to form a coalition government.
It is however expected to elect its new speaker. The strongest party traditionally takes that job, and Merz’s conservative Union bloc has nominated prominent lawmaker Julia Klöckner.
Uncommonly, the outgoing Bundestag worked until the very last moment. On Tuesday, it approved plans to loosen Germany’s strict debt rules to enable higher defense spending and set up an enormous fund for investment in its creaking infrastructure.
Outgoing speaker Bärbel Bas thanked the workers who would rearrange the chamber “in overtime and at the weekend” as she closed Tuesday’s special session.
AP video by Fanny Brodersen
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