Once a year, in summer, the chancellor answers journalists’ questions at the Bundespressekonferenz. In 2018 the Tagesspiegel wrote of Angela Merkel: Jedes Jahr ein Mal stellt sie sich den Fragen der Bundespressekonferenz. Once every year she faces the questions of the Bundespressekonferenz. It was at this summer press conference, on 31 August 2015, that Merkel said: Wir haben so vieles geschafft – wir schaffen das! We have managed so much. We will manage this. On 24 July 2024, Olaf Scholz answered questions for almost two hours. On 15 July 2026, Friedrich Merz held his second summer press conference.
politics
Fridays at Helmut Schmidt’s
In 1985 the former chancellor Helmut Schmidt founded a Freitagsgesellschaft, a Friday Society, in Hamburg. Its 25 members met during the winter semesters, on the second Friday of each month, at Schmidt’s house in Hamburg-Langenhorn. Each evening had a lecture followed by a discussion. Party membership did not matter. Until her death, his wife Loki Schmidt took care of the guests’ dinner herself. Over 175 lectures were held. The society was dissolved at the end of the winter semester 2014–15. Schmidt gave up the role of host for reasons of age, and no successor could be found.
A Week Cancelled
In April 2025, the newly elected Bundestag was due to sit in the week of 8 April. The CDU, CSU and SPD were negotiating a coalition, and they used their majority in the preliminary Council of Elders to cancel the sitting week. All opposition groups protested. The news service beck-aktuell noted that it rarely happens that the very mixed opposition agrees. The AfD’s chief whip, Bernd Baumann, called the decision unverantwortlich, irresponsible.
The Sitting Week
The Bundestag works in Sitzungswochen, sitting weeks, at least 20 a year. The Council of Elders sets their dates early, for the following year. The agendas, by contrast, are agreed shortly before each week. Every sitting week has the same shape. On Tuesday afternoon the parliamentary groups meet. On Wednesday the committees meet. Plenary sessions run all day on Thursday and until the afternoon on Friday. The second chamber, the Bundesrat, keeps its own rhythm. It meets in public session every three weeks, on a Friday, except during the summer break.
Wednesday Morning
The federal cabinet meets every Wednesday in the Chancellery, with the chancellor in the chair. The Bundestag builds its week around this. In sitting weeks, members question the government on Wednesday afternoon, after the cabinet meeting, and the session opens with reports on topics from that morning. On 3 August 2016, Chancellor Angela Merkel was on vacation. The Wednesday cabinet met anyway, with Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel in the chair. Fewer ministers than usual sat at the table, and the meeting lasted about three quarters of an hour.
1,357 Pages and 47 Recommendations
On 24 January 2012, the Bundestag set up a committee of inquiry into the crimes of the right-wing terrorist group NSU. All parliamentary groups had asked for it. After 16 months the committee presented its final report on 22 August 2013. It had 1,357 pages. Across party lines, the committee adopted 47 recommendations for the police, the justice system and the domestic intelligence service. On 28 February 2014, the federal government reported to the Bundestag on the state of implementation of the recommendations.
Eleven Hours Was Fast
Before the Bundestag votes on the federal budget, its budget committee holds a final session, the Bereinigungssitzung, literally the clean-up session. In der Sitzung wird jeder Einzelplan erneut aufgerufen. In it, every section of the budget is called up again, as a rule with the minister present. The Bundestag’s news service says the session usually lasts into the early hours of the next morning. On 4 September 2025, the session for the 2025 budget ended after eleven hours. Budget politicians called it the shortest they could remember, and the news headline was Bundesetat-Sitzung in Rekordzeit, budget session in record time.
No Car Toll
In the TV debate with Peer Steinbrück on 1 September 2013, Chancellor Angela Merkel said: Mit mir wird es keine PKW-Maut geben! With me there will be no car toll. On 27 November 2013, the CDU, CSU and SPD agreed in their coalition agreement to introduce one. On 27 March 2015, the Bundestag passed it. That day the SPD member Lothar Binding explained in a written statement why he voted yes. Fair dealing with agreements, including coalition agreements, required it. He added: Deshalb wird mit Angela Merkel heute die PKW-Maut in Deutschland eingeführt. That is why the car toll is introduced in Germany today, with Angela Merkel.
The spoken promise gave way. The signed agreement held.
Heard After 30,000 Signatures
Anyone in Germany may address a petition to the Bundestag. A public petition is published online, and others can sign it. Since 1 July 2024, a petition that gathers 30,000 supporters within six weeks reaches the quorum. Before, 50,000 were needed within four weeks. If the quorum is reached, the petitioners are as a rule heard in a public session of the petitions committee, and they present their case to the members of parliament. In 2023 the Bundestag received 11,410 petitions.
The Trainee Nurse and the Chancellor
On 11 September 2017, in the ARD program Wahlarena, citizens questioned Chancellor Angela Merkel. Alexander Jorde, a 21-year-old nursing trainee from Hildesheim, told her that the dignity of patients was violated thousands of times every day. He said that there were shifts with 20 patients for one nurse. Sie sind seit zwölf Jahren an der Regierung und haben in meinen Augen nicht viel für die Pflege getan. You have been in government for twelve years and, in my view, have not done much for nursing care. Merkel acknowledged einen riesigen Personalmangel, a huge shortage of staff. Jorde was praised on social media for his persistent questions.