German chancellor, his ministers to receive resignation notices after first Bundestag session

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the ministers of his government will receive resignation notices from President Frank-Walter Steinmeier following the first session of the Bundestag in the new parliamentary term on March 25.

According to German law, the previous government will continue to carry out its duties until a new one is formed, Caliber.Az reports via German media.

Friedrich Merz, the future Chancellor, has promised to present the composition of the new cabinet by April 20.

Meanwhile, far right party doubles its number of seats, while chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz, hopes to form government before Easter.

Germany’s new parliament sits for the first time with the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) the strongest opposition faction, as negotiators seek to iron out key differences on tax and migration that are likely to dominate a new coalition government under Friedrich Merz.

The 630 members of the Bundestag, 230 of whom are newly elected, will sit in parliament at a unique time in postwar German history. The AfD has doubled its number of seats to 152, while centrist parties are overhauling the country’s military and fiscal policy in response to rising threats to European security.

The MPs taking seats on March 25 range in age from 23 to 84. The youngest is Luke Hoss, a student from the far-left Die Linke who has promised to give away most of his €11,000-a-month salary. The oldest is Alexander Gauland, a former journalist from the AfD who in 2018 downplayed Hitler and the Nazis as “just birdshit in our more than 1,000-year history”.

The new parliament contains about 100 fewer MPs than the previous one after the outgoing government reformed Germany’s electoral law to shrink persistent bloat. Fewer than a third of MPs in the new Bundestag are women, slightly below the share in the previous legislature.

By Vafa Guliyeva