Frank-Walter Steinmeier Elected President of Germany
The former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was voted in on Sunday by a parliamentary assembly made up of 1,260 MPs and representatives of Germany’s 16 states
IsraelDefense
| 13/02/2017
Steinmeier with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Photo: AP)
Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democratic party, had guaranteed the support both of his own center-left bloc and Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Party, who between them hold a majority of 923 seats in the assembly.
In his acceptance speech, Steinmeier, 61, said Germany should be an “anchor of hope” while democratic institutions were under threat across the globe. “As the foundations are shaking elsewhere, we have to prop up those foundations even more strongly,” he said
Despite the role being largely ceremonial, past German presidents have aspired to act as a moral authority in debates of national and international importance. Steinmeier succeeds Joachim Gauck, 77, a former Protestant pastor and East German civil-rights activist.
The former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was voted in on Sunday by a parliamentary assembly made up of 1,260 MPs and representatives of Germany’s 16 states
Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democratic party, had guaranteed the support both of his own center-left bloc and Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Party, who between them hold a majority of 923 seats in the assembly.
In his acceptance speech, Steinmeier, 61, said Germany should be an “anchor of hope” while democratic institutions were under threat across the globe. “As the foundations are shaking elsewhere, we have to prop up those foundations even more strongly,” he said
Despite the role being largely ceremonial, past German presidents have aspired to act as a moral authority in debates of national and international importance. Steinmeier succeeds Joachim Gauck, 77, a former Protestant pastor and East German civil-rights activist.
