A day in the Bundestag
What does the everyday life of young federal politicians look like? We have asked some of them, including the youngest MP.
How are young people in Germany shaping politics? We have spoken with three members of the Bundestag: Hakan Demir (37, SPD), Emilia Fester (23, Alliance 90 / The Greens) and Catarina dos Santos (27, CDU).
You were all elected for the first time as members of the Bundestag during the 2021 Federal Election. What does a typical day there look like?
Dos Santos: When I arrive in Berlin on Monday at the start of a sitting week, the first thing I do is talk with my team. After that I have digital sessions and sometimes give interviews. Then, in the evenings, there’s the party’s regional group meeting of North-Rhine Westphalia of which I’m a member. On Tuesdays I take part in three working group meetings from morning to mid-day: the digital committee, the Europe committee and the legal affairs committee. The parliamentary group meets in the afternoon. On Wednesdays, the three groups I mentioned meet up. Thursdays and Fridays are plenary session days. But the plenary assembly is rarely attended by all members of parliament, because most only come when the topics of their particular committees are being debated. After that, I travel back home on Fridays.
Demir: I start the sitting week by discussing what’s on the agenda together with my team. There are numerous fixed schedules in the sitting weeks, for instance working group meetings, parliamentary group meetings, committee meetings and personal attendance obligations in the Bundestag plenary sessions. The Council of Elders sets out the dates and agendas beforehand. I mainly take part in the plenary sessions that deal with the areas for which I’m responsible.
Fester: Every day is different. It’s easy to describe the Wednesdays of the sitting weeks: in the morning I have phone meetings with my office team. This is followed by the first committee meeting, usually my main committee on family, senior citizens and youth. The meeting is sometimes followed by press meetings, then the plenary sitting starts at 1 p.m. In the evenings I generally try to catch up with my youth section via videoconferencing. And occasionally there are also informal evenings for networking with other members of parliament.
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