Germany: Govt official calls for president to come from east

The German government’s commissioner for eastern Germany has called for the country’s next president to come from the east, saying eastern Germans remain underrepresented in positions of power.

Elisabeth Kaiser, a politician with the center-left Social Democratic Party, told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung newspaper that none of Germany’s current top political leaders comes from eastern Germany.

“That can quickly create the impression that eastern Germans play no role in leading our country and are only sitting at the children’s table,” Kaiser said.

“I think the time is right for an eastern German head of state again,” she added. “Why shouldn’t the next federal president be a smart woman from eastern Germany?”

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier’s second and final term ends in March 2027. Germany’s Federal Convention is due to elect his successor on January 30.

Joachim Gauck, who was born in Rostock and served from 2012 to 2017, is the only president from eastern Germany since reunification.

Kaiser also said significant differences remained between eastern and western Germany in income, wealth and representation in leadership positions.

“These differences must be overcome in order to truly complete German unity,” she said.

Good day from the DW newsroom in Bonn.

It’s easy to forget these days, but this city on the Rhine River was once the capital of West Germany. Even after reunification on October 3, 1990, the government and parliament stayed here until the big move to Berlin in 1999.

And here’s something else that’s sometimes easy to forget: Germany has a president.

The chancellor runs the government, while the president has a largely ceremonial role. That’s one reason Frank-Walter Steinmeier may not be a familiar name outside Germany.

But the job comes with an important role as a national voice — especially on days like German Unity Day.

Steinmeier is due to deliver his final Unity Day speech as president today.

Meanwhile, attention is already turning to who should succeed him when his term ends next year.

Stay with us here for these stories and more of what Germany is talking about today.