Germany's new Bundestag convenes in Berlin as coalition talks proceed

Berlin [Germany], March 26: Germany's Bundestag, the lower house of parliament, convened for a new legislative session on Tuesday.
Lawmakers gathered in Berlin, one month after parliamentary elections delivered a victory for Friedrich Merz's conservative CDU/CSU bloc - made up of the Christian Democrats and the Bavaria-only Christian Social Union.
The slimmed-down chamber has dropped from 733 to 630 seats after a parliamentary reform, and the members' political allegiances have also shifted, with the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) now holding almost a quarter of the seats.
The CDU's Julia Klockner was elected as the Bundestag president, the second-highest office of state in Germany behind the federal presidency.
As president, Klockner will open and close sittings, call items of business and grant lawmakers permission to speak. Klockner, from the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate, is the fourth woman to hold the position, which outranks the chancellor in terms of formal protocol.
In a speech following her election, Klockner warned that "liberal democracy cannot be taken for granted" and called for more respect in parliamentary debates.
"The way we deal with each other here and exchange arguments has an influence on social debates," she said. Lawmakers elected four deputies for Klockner, with the AfD left frustrated after its candidate failed to secure enough votes.
All German mainstream parties have ruled out working with the far-right party, a strategy referred to as a political "firewall." The opening of the new Bundestag comes as coalition talks between the CDU/CSU and the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) continue.
Together, the country's traditional political rivals hold a slim majority of seats in the new Bundestag, despite having garnered under 45% of the vote in February's election.
Source: Qatar Tribune