President by right of age of the Bundestag

The President by right of age (Alterspräsident) is the longest-serving member of the German Bundestag (until 2017 the oldest by age).

President by right of age of the Bundestag
Alterspräsident des Deutschen Bundestages
Seal of the Bundestag
Incumbent Peter Ramsauer since 26 December 2023
Presidium of the Bundestag
Style	Mr. President (when addressed in the Bundestag)
Type	Presiding officer
Status	acting
Seat	Reichstag building, Berlin
Term length	Contemporaneous to legislative period
Constituting instrument	Standing rules of the German Bundestag
Formation	7 September 1949
First holder	Paul Löbe
Deputy	Next longest serving member of the Bundestag
Website	www.bundestag.de

Role

The role of the President by right of age is defined in the standing rules of the Bundestag: Currently (since 2017), the position is held by the longest-serving member of parliament, with discontinuous terms of office being added together. If two members of parliament have been in office for the same length of time, age is decisive. Before a change to the standing rules in 2017, the position was held by the oldest member. He or she shall preside over the Bundestag during the opening session of each legislative term until the President of the Bundestag has been elected; for this purpose, he is authorized to appoint temporary secretaries, who remain in office until the election of regular secretaries in a later session. Apart from the opening session, he or she shall also preside over the Bundestag at any given time, if both the President and all Vice Presidents are incapable of attending. However, the latter case has never occurred, as of 2024.

It is common practice for the President by right of age to give the first speech of the new legislative period, in which he outlines what he considers to be important tasks for Parliament in the coming years.

There have been cases in which the longest-serving or oldest MP has declined to hold the position: Konrad Adenauer, for example, who was the oldest member of the Bundestag for many years, set the precedent of a sitting chancellor renouncing the dignity. In this case, according to standing rules, he is replaced by the MP who has served the second longest time (previously: the next oldest).

List of Presidents by right of age of the Bundestag

#	Portrait	Name	member of parliament (since 2017)	Term of Office	Time in office	Parliamentary Group	Legislative periods	Notes
1		Paul Löbe (1875–1967)		7 September 1949 – 7 September 1953	4 years, 0 days	SPD	1st
2		Konrad Adenauer (1876–1967)		6 October 1953 – 19 April 1967	13 years, 195 days	CDU/CSU	2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th	During the 2nd, 3rd and 4th legislative periods, Adenauer refrained from presiding over the opening session due to his position as Chancellor. In each case, the function was assumed by the next oldest member of parliament: In the 2nd and 3rd Bundestag this was Marie Elisabeth Lüders (FDP, 1878–1966) and in the 4th Bundestag Robert Pferdmenges (CDU/CSU, 1880–1962)
3		Arthur Enk (1894–1976)		19 April 1967 – 20 October 1969	2 years, 184 days	CDU/CSU	5th	Enk became the oldest member of parliament due to the death of Adenauer in the middle of the current legislative period; he never presided over the Bundestag
4		William Borm (1895–1987)		20 October 1969 – 13 December 1972	3 years, 54 days	FDP	6th
5		Ludwig Erhard (1897–1977)		13 December 1972 – 5 May 1977	4 years, 143 days	CDU/CSU	7th, 8th
6		Johann Baptist Gradl (1904–1988)		5 May 1977 – 4 November 1980	3 years, 183 days	CDU/CSU	8th	Gradl became the oldest member of parliament due to the death of Erhard in the middle of the current legislative period; he never presided over the Bundestag
7		Herbert Wehner (1906–1990)		4 November 1980 – 29 March 1983	2 years, 145 days	SPD	9th
8		Egon Franke (1913–1995)		29 March 1983 – 18 February 1987	3 years, 326 days	SPD	10th	Franke refrained from presiding over the opening session of the 10th Bundestag as he was under investigation for embezzlement at the time (he was later acquitted). The function was assumed by the next oldest member of parliament, Willy Brandt (SPD, 1913–1992)
9		Willy Brandt (1913–1992)		18 February 1987 – 8 October 1992	5 years, 233 days	SPD	11th, 12th
10		Alfred Dregger (1920–2002)		8 October 1992 – 10 November 1994	2 years, 33 days	CDU/CSU	12th	Dregger became the oldest member of parliament due to the death of Brandt in the middle of the current legislative period; he never presided over the Bundestag
11		Stefan Heym (1913–2001)		10 November 1994 – 31 October 1995	355 days	PDS	13th
12		Alfred Dregger (1920–2002)		31 October 1995 – 26 October 1998	2 years, 360 days	CDU/CSU	13th	Dregger became the oldest member of the Bundestag, as Heym had resigned his seat; he never presided over the Bundestag
13		Fred Gebhardt (1928–2000)		26 October 1998 – 16 August 2000	1 year, 295 days	PDS	14th
14		Hans-Eberhard Urbaniak (born 1929)		16 August 2000 – 17 October 2002	2 years, 62 days	SPD	14th	Urbaniak became the oldest member of parliament due to the death of Gebhardt in the middle of the current legislative period; he never presided over the Bundestag
15		Otto Schily (born 1932)		17 October 2002 – 27 October 2009	7 years, 10 days	SPD	15th, 16th
16		Heinz Riesenhuber (born 1935)		27 October 2009 – 24 October 2017	7 years, 362 days	CDU/CSU	17th, 18th
17		Wolfgang Schäuble (1942–2023)	1972–2023	24 October 2017 – 26 December 2023	6 years, 63 days	CDU/CSU	19th, 20th	Schäuble refrained from presiding over the opening session of the 19th Bundestag as he stood for election as president of the Bundestag and did not want to preside over his own election. The function was assumed by the next longest-serving member of parliament, Hermann Otto Solms (FDP, 1980–2013 and 2017–2021)
18		Peter Ramsauer (born 1954)	since 1990	since 26 December 2023	122 days	CDU/CSU	20th	Ramsauer became the longest serving member of parliament due to the death of Schäuble in the middle of the current legislative period; as yet, he has not presided over the Bundestag

Trivia

To date, 17 different people have held the status of oldest or (since 2017) longest-serving member of the Bundestag. Of these, ten have actually presided over the Bundestag in their capacity as President by right of age during an opening session, while seven have never had the opportunity to do so. Five times, another Member of Parliament presided over the Bundestag in an opening session as a substitute for the oldest/longest-serving member; in each case, this was the second oldest or second longest-serving member at the time.

Only one person presided over three opening sessions of the Bundestag:

• Willy Brandt (10th, 11th, 12th)

Four members managed to preside over two opening sessions:

• Marie Elisabeth Lüders (2nd, 3rd)
• Ludwig Erhard (7th, 8th)
• Otto Schily (15th, 16th)
• Heinz Riesenhuber (17th, 18th)

Nine members presided once over an opening session:

• Paul Löbe (1st)
• Robert Pferdmenges (4th)
• Konrad Adenauer (5th)
• William Borm (6th)
• Herbert Wehner (9th)
• Stefan Heym (13th)
• Fred Gebhardt (14th)
• Hermann Otto Solms (19th)
• Wolfgang Schäuble (20th)

Only one person has held both the positions of president of the Bundestag and president by right of age at the same time:

• Wolfgang Schäuble (longest serving member 2017–2023; president 2017–2021)

External links

• Standing rules of the German Bundestag