On Tuesday (March 25, 2025) the new Bundestag in Berlin elected Julia Klöckner as its new president. A senior politician of the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Klöckner is considered a confidante of party leader and likely new chancellor, Friedrich Merz. When he announced Klöckner's nomination, Merz said: "Parliament is the heart of our democracy, and the president's job will be to protect this heart." Klöckner is only the fourth woman to hold the office since 1949.

"I have firmly resolved to always fulfill my tasks impartially, calmly and undauntedly, stay clear on the matter, while connecting with others," Klöckner said in her acceptance speech. 

The 52-year-old Klöckner is known as a feisty conservative who likes to get involved in a wide range of public debates. In January of this year, before the national election, she caused a stir by posting a combative statement on Instagram: "You don't have to vote AfD for what you want. There is a democratic alternative: The CDU." This was seen by critics as both a trivialization of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and an admission that the CDU had adopted its extreme anti-refugee stance.

It was not the first time that Klöckner had taken a populist line: In 2015, when refugees came to Germany in large numbers from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, Klöckner demanded that they be legally obliged to integrate into society. In 2023, she also reposted a false claim on social media that dental care for asylum-seekers had cost the German state €690 million ($746 million) in the previous year.

Nor is her appointment to the new Bundestag role without some controversy: Klöckner gave up her position as CDU treasurer after NGO Lobbycontrol pointed out that, as Bundestag president, she would be tasked with overseeing party donations. She said that she had planned to give up the post anyway before taking on the new job.

A not-always-straightforward career path

Klöckner is the daughter of a winegrower from the western state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Among her prestigious early roles was as German Wine Queen in 1995, an office that involves more than 200 public appointments a year.

Trained as a journalist, Klöckner led the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in her home state from 2010 to 2022, during which time she spent four years, from 2018 to 2021, as Federal Agriculture Minister under Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Environmental organizations criticized Klöckner for ineffective policy making and an alleged closeness to the food industry — particularly Nestlé: In 2019, she was accused of openly advertising for the international food processing giant by posting a video on social media in which she appeared beside Nestlé's Germany chief and praised it for reducing the amount of sugar in its food — campaigners have long called on Germany to introduce a sugar tax.

Klöckner has also had her share of political setbacks: In state elections in 2011 and 2016, she failed in her bid to head the government of Rhineland-Palatinate.

Close to Merz

The Bundestag president is formally the second highest post in the German state — after the federal president, but above the chancellor. And while there is no formal regulation stipulating this, the office is always held by the largest parliamentary group, in this case, the CDU/CSU.

The president usually chairs the Bundestag's plenary sessions and supervises the laws governing the parliament. He or she also represents the parliament as a whole, speaking at commemorative ceremonies such as the one held every year on January 27 to mark the Holocaust. The president sometimes also speaks during state visits by foreign heads of government or heads of state.

The president is obliged to respect the rights of all the parties, which is why the post is often held by someone with extensive parliamentary experience who is held in high regard by all parliamentary groups and parties. This was particularly the case with Wolfgang Schäuble , a CDU veteran of several Cabinet posts, who was Bundestag president from 2017 to 2021. Klöckner, by comparison, is a less experienced, and some would say a more divisive figure.

This article was originally written in German.

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